DX5 Head Sonic Cleaning?

[Hot Vinyl]

Ok I'm needing all your help. I appreciate any response. I have a Mutoh 1204 that I need to get the head unclogged again. I have tried the little charge clean several times. I have a new Maintenance Station in it. It has gone from only having 1 block of black instead of 2 and now I am missing most my black and most of my red. And it seems to be getting worse. I did have a clog in the red ink line but fixed it. I see red being pulled through the tube and black.
I have done a head soak on the maintenance station but it didn't do any good.
So now I am thinking of doing a sonic clean on the head. I am worried though since I heard terrible storied of destroying the head. And since everyone knows these heads are 1200-1500 I am reluctant.

Has anyone done this before? and what kind of tips can you give me.

Thanks guys for all your help again.

 

[Zoogee World]

Never done it or really thought about doing it, but if you were, you'd need to build some sort of contraption to hold the print head and only let a little of the bottom part where the film is, as if you were to submerge the entire thing, you'd probably fry it.

 

[Gino]

Done it to several of our heads, but had it done by a professional. Over the years, I only lost one head, but it couldn't be saved anyway. Too far gone. Saved I think 4 heads all total.

 

[Solventinkjet]

In my opinion, head recovery systems, at least for the Epson heads, are useless. Head nozzles fail in 2 main ways. 1 is they become physically deformed which cleaning won't fix ever. 2 is they become clogged with cured ink. A lot of the time you can flush solution through and unclog the head. If you can't push solution through to unclog it with pounds of pressure on a syringe with solvent, a small cavitation bubble from an ultra sonic cleaner isn't going to knock it loose. Most of the time when these recovery systems work, it's simply because they flushed solution though, not the ultra sonic that clears the clog. It's one of those things that sounds good on paper but in practice doesn't really do anything in my opinion.

 

[Hot Vinyl]

Done it to several of our heads, but had it done by a professional. Over the years, I only lost one head, but it couldn't be saved anyway. Too far gone. Saved I think 4 heads all total.

Gino,

Can you talk me through the process you did. It sounds like you were quite successful. And I am pretty savy on doing things myself but like to have instructions. On line I have found to many different ways to feel totally confident. I would appreciate any info you can provide.

Thanks
Diane

 

[Gino]

You missed the part where I said..... we had it done by a professional. Generally it worked. We lost 1 out of 5 becasue it was too far gone. I learned not to wait so long.

 

[Hot Vinyl]

Oh. Who did you use?

 

[hybriddesign]

Global garage offers it and I haven’t used them for Head cleaning but they have a good reputation in the resale market (we bought our Zund flatbed through them) and I wouldn’t think they’d offer it if they weren’t at least fairly good at it.

 

[BigDogPrinterMan]

Global garage offers it and I haven’t used them for Head cleaning but they have a good reputation in the resale market (we bought our Zund flatbed through them) and I wouldn’t think they’d offer it if they weren’t at least fairly good at it.

Bought a printer from them too. Was a good experience.

 

[netsol]

you can contact vlad, who designed the printhead doctor

In my opinion, head recovery systems, at least for the Epson heads, are useless. Head nozzles fail in 2 main ways. 1 is they become physically deformed which cleaning won't fix ever. 2 is they become clogged with cured ink. A lot of the time you can flush solution through and unclog the head. If you can't push solution through to unclog it with pounds of pressure on a syringe with solvent, a small cavitation bubble from an ultra sonic cleaner isn't going to knock it loose. Most of the time when these recovery systems work, it's simply because they flushed solution though, not the ultra sonic that clears the clog. It's one of those things that sounds good on paper but in practice doesn't really do anything in my opinion.

we have not had a terrible experience

In my opinion, head recovery systems, at least for the Epson heads, are useless. Head nozzles fail in 2 main ways. 1 is they become physically deformed which cleaning won't fix ever. 2 is they become clogged with cured ink. A lot of the time you can flush solution through and unclog the head. If you can't push solution through to unclog it with pounds of pressure on a syringe with solvent, a small cavitation bubble from an ultra sonic cleaner isn't going to knock it loose. Most of the time when these recovery systems work, it's simply because they flushed solution though, not the ultra sonic that clears the clog. It's one of those things that sounds good on paper but in practice doesn't really do anything in my opinion.

 

[netsol]

solventinkjet's opinion is very similar to dave from solventprinterconversion (2 of the most knowledgeable people i know in this field.)
we have had some success, with a chinese printhead doctor knockoff (which may not be typical), but my first rule is to do the cleaning very early, kind of like treating cancer, the earlier you start, the better the results.

still, i would suggest you speak to vlad, who invented the original PRINTHEAD DOCTOR, he has a chemist developing new solutions for cleaning different ink types, (sadly, not for mine). they also offer cleaning services if they feel your head is worth a try . if vlad thinks you have a good chance of success, you can evaluate the costs of sending your head to canada (i think of it in the same way you might travel to texas to have open heart surgery performed by an expert in the field)

Recovery Fluids

Recovery fluids for Print Head Doctor

digitalsigntech.net

if you call during the normal business day, you can speak to vlad, (the other expert in this area) & balance the opinions of these experts while making your decision.

having done this many times, i wonder if you are not better off, buying a new head & captop & pretty much assuring yourself several trouble free years of printing. (it pains me to part with $1300 if i am not sure it is necessary)

keep in mind, "recovery" doesn't always have a happy ending (especially not long term)

 

[andycc17]

This guy did a ultra sonic cleaning with a canon printhead. He said to use a high frequency ultrasonic cleaner 75hz or higher that has smaller bubbles to clean printheads. The YT has good info. hope it helps.

 

[netsol]

solventinkjet's opinion is very similar to dave from solventprinterconversion (2 of the most knowledgeable people i know in this field.)
we have had some success, with a chinese printhead doctor knockoff (which may not be typical), but my first rule is to do the cleaning very early, kind of like treating cancer, the earlier you start, the better the results.

still, i would suggest you speak to vlad, who invented the original PRINTHEAD DOCTOR, he has a chemist developing new solutions for cleaning different ink types, (sadly, not for mine). they also offer cleaning services if they feel your head is worth a try . if vlad thinks you have a good chance of success, you can evaluate the costs of sending your head to canada (i think of it in the same way you might travel to texas to have open heart surgery performed by an expert in the field)

Recovery Fluids

Recovery fluids for Print Head Doctor

digitalsigntech.net

if you call during the normal business day, you can speak to vlad, (the other expert in this area) & balance the opinions of these experts while making your decision.

having done this many times, i wonder if you are not better off, buying a new head & captop & pretty much assuring yourself several trouble free years of printing. (it pains me to part with $1300 if i am not sure it is necessary)

keep in mind, "recovery" doesn't always have a happy ending (especially not long term)

i don't think there is any other type of ultrasonic cleaner
out of curiosity, i will break out the frequency counter