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Dude, where's my ink?

C

cencalprinter

New Member
I have a JV3-130SP2 and it cycles ink through the heads every hour on the hour. I have spoken to Mimaki several times and the company that sold me the printer, trying several things (sleep clean, ect.), but no luck. It still cycles ink every hour, with the printer off or on. Anyone have this problem, or am I on my own here. Anything is better than nothing, so advise, comments, verbal abuse, anything is welcome. Dude, there goes my ink and profits.
 
MobileImpact

MobileImpact

New Member
Your machine cycles every hour, because it NEEDS to. If not the ink could dry in the heads and you could be buying new heads. The amount of ink that actually pumps during that cycle is minimal.
 
threeputt

threeputt

New Member
Don't have the same machine but my machine recycles if the sub-power is on. (which is always) Your machine may be similar. I think it's just the program's way of protecting against ink dry-up.

Not to worry.
 
C

ColesCreations

New Member
Anyone know how to change it to 1 hr 30 min or 2 hr? probably still ok, and 33% less ink wasted.

I am SURE Mimaki has set this to the very conservative side, to sell more ink!

Ours does the same thing.
 
TheSnowman

TheSnowman

New Member
Ours cycles, but yea, cause it has to. I did have trouble however for the first few months w/ it thinking it was doing an initial fillup of ink, and would just pump out ink for 15 - 20 minutes at a time...which they also told me was normal...until I finally understood things (not ever owning a printer before) and they finally said it shouldn't be doing that...but they sent me another set of inks...so I guess I'm sorta happy w/ how they handled it.
 
MobileImpact

MobileImpact

New Member
yes it can be changed, but I would suggest you do NOT. The amount of ink is MINIMAL. It's only a couple CC's every hour.

It can be changed, hell it can be turned off if you want to roll the dice. You need to be in Service Mode and get into the parameters to do it. Exactly what parameter it is depends on the Firmware you are running. Call Mimaki Tech and they can give you the details, and hopefully talk you out of messing up your machine.
 
C

cencalprinter

New Member
Thanks guys. This is my first printer and I've only had it for 9 months. Everything is new to me so I'm soaking this knowledge up like a biskit. It's a huge investment for a little guy like me, and I havn't really pushed the digital to customers too much for lack of knowledge on printing. I guess I need to start printing to keep my inks on material, and not in the plastic resevoir. I'll be a regular on here so I appologize in advance for my "beginner" questions. The salesman who sold me this printer didn't spend half the time we agreed upon here teaching me this stuff, so now you're all I got in the q & a department. Anything based on your experiences is truly appreciated.
 
C

ColesCreations

New Member
mwoodson44 said:
Can you elaborate?
Click to expand...


Probably has to do with all the much more interesting faults / problems on the Mutoh's? :rolleyes:

We Mimaki-owners only have boring faults, I guess, and not as many, judging by the amount of threads in the Mutoh-forum:Big Laugh

We are also beginners with the Mimaki, only 2 months, we like it, but have had our share of start-up problems, mostly due to poor support from the seller.

What setup do you have?
 
MobileImpact

MobileImpact

New Member
Well, I can tell you, I own a couple Mimakis and a Mutoh and each one has their own set of issues. It's the nature of the animal, whether or not is says Mimaki or Mutoh or Roland, there is gonna be something going on.

Kevin
 
gabagoo

gabagoo

New Member
I was the same way a year ago. I was freaking out that, I as you, did not have a lot of digital to print and the cost of ink and all. You will get used to it and it really does not cycle very much of it. Over time you will get worried if you don't hear it cycling through ink lol. I sometimes wonder when ink is low just why it seems to last so long as when ink is low the machine does not clean the heads, that sometimes worries me now.
 
D

DARLAK

Guest
mostly due to poor support from the seller
Click to expand...

which usually means i didn't know what the phuck i was getting into when i bought the machine.....

i was there once...
 
TheSnowman

TheSnowman

New Member
Sometimes if I haven't printed anything in a while, I'll print somethin' fun to just hang on the wall for a month, then throw away. I'd rather waste a little ink on some cheap vinyl, than put it in a "biohazard" container. But, like they say, it is a very little amount being wasted over time.
 
P Wagner

P Wagner

--
A couple of cc's of ink consumed each hour would not apear (to me anyway) to be a nominal amount of ink. 2 cc x 24 hours = 48 cc of waste ink per day?

With cartridges of 220cc's per color, that would be about 1 cartridge of ink wasted every 5 days on average?!?

Even if the amount of ink used in each cleaning was only 1 cc, that is still 1 wasted cartridge for each 10 days? That cannot be right, can it?

Bob
 
P Wagner

P Wagner

--
I hate to break it to you, but 1 cubic centimeter (cc) is the same volume as one mililiter (ml). 2 cc/ ml per hour = 48 cc/ ml per day. 48 cc's (ml's) of ink wasted each day is not a "very small amount of ink" - it is a substantial amount to spill into a waste container each day. That is why I am questioning the amount used in each cleaning cycle.

Bob
 
C

ColesCreations

New Member
Our waste bucket is now full, in less than 3 months, I guess it's around 2 l, 0r almost 5 440 ml cartridges @ $110 ea. (or $200 from our local dealer).

This amounts to 2000 ml in around 2000 hrs, so 1 cc (or a quarter)/hr is about right...

That's $40 / week, and maybe not too bad anyway:smile:
 
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