Question DX7 Printhead Dented/Destroyed? Visible damage. No ink is printing at all. How did this happen? Help?!

[AlbertaCommercialPrinter]

I think I'm already coming to terms with the fact that this printhead is completely finished. So my questions are, and I will very much appreciate some insight from anyone:

How could this have happened?
Is it my fault?
How do I explain this to my boss?
How do I keep my job?

I went on leave for a couple weeks during which our Mimaki Cjv150 sat idle. Printer performed correctly prior to my absence. Printer was maintained as normally, auto-maintenance functions, but no printing was performed. I return and the printer is unable to print anything whatsoever. Not a drop of ink is leaving the printhead. Tried a custody wash, various washes, cleaning, nothing makes any difference.

Upon visually inspecting the print head, it looks dented/damaged/destroyed (see photos below).

The metal face is dented.
It seems to be somewhat delaminated.
If I touch it with my finger, I can feel it moving freely of the rest of the printhead somewhat on the side that appears dented.

Was this a head strike? Improper maintenance?

This shop is a bit of a weird situation. There are a few cats that live in here. One just had kittens. Sometimes they climb on the equipment. I wonder if a cat could have caused this somehow?

I am the only person with meaningful printer experience here. Could another employee have messed around with this printer and damaged it while I was away?

The printing side of this business has already been a financially difficult and I'm tasked to get it profitable... I fear that when I notify management about this, they will fire me and cut their losses and sell off all the printing equipment.

Help!

 

[Solventinkjet]

It's definitely cooked for good. It had to have been a head strike but my best guess is not on simply vinyl or something like that. That damage comes from hitting something hard like a screw driver left on the platen or similar. If you came back and it was like that but not erroring out, someone had to have seen it happen and aren't talking. The machine would have errored out and would be beeping and throwing a jam error. If you print on magnet material, it can cause damage like this when there's a head strike as well.

If the head is anywhere from 3-5+ years old, you got the expected life out of it. You would have had to change it sooner rather than later anyway in that case so that might be an argument to save your job! But yeah, that doesn't just happen due to poor maintenance. Something hard got in the way of the head while it was moving.

 

[AlbertaCommercialPrinter]

It's definitely cooked for good. It had to have been a head strike but my best guess is not on simply vinyl or something like that. That damage comes from hitting something hard like a screw driver left on the platen or similar. If you came back and it was like that but not erroring out, someone had to have seen it happen and aren't talking. The machine would have errored out and would be beeping and throwing a jam error. If you print on magnet material, it can cause damage like this when there's a head strike as well.

If the head is anywhere from 3-5+ years old, you got the expected life out of it. You would have had to change it sooner rather than later anyway in that case so that might be an argument to save your job! But yeah, that doesn't just happen due to poor maintenance. Something hard got in the way of the head while it was moving.

Oh man, your explanation gives the best scenario for me, as to what's to blame here, from my perspective anyway... Maybe I keep my job I hope.

Thanks so much for your insight... I just couldn't figure out what happened here, and a guy can't help but blame himself thinking he made some unknown error.

Appreciate the comment about the remaining life of the printhead, that will probably help everyone here take the news more easily.

 

[DL Signs]

Another common head destroyer is media clamps. Look at them and see if there's any signs of damage, it should have left some scrapes/ marks on, or bent/ deformed one if that was the culprit. Always good to inspect those regularly to make sure they aren't bent at all, or worn out and loose enough to snag a head.

 

[Gettin'By]

If that machine has a print log I'd look and see if it ran while you were away. If it printed fine right before you left, I seriously doubt it was like this.

 

[netsol]

Another common head destroyer is media clamps. Look at them and see if there's any signs of damage, it should have left some scrapes/ marks on, or bent/ deformed one if that was the culprit. Always good to inspect those regularly to make sure they aren't bent at all, or worn out and loose enough to snag a head.

media clamps are the first thing i thought of
one of mine ate a black printhead very recently

 

[DL Signs]

media clamps are the first thing i thought of
one of mine ate a black printhead very recently

A Roland I used to run ate a few, their media clamps were terrible.

 

[AlbertaCommercialPrinter]

Another common head destroyer is media clamps. Look at them and see if there's any signs of damage, it should have left some scrapes/ marks on, or bent/ deformed one if that was the culprit. Always good to inspect those regularly to make sure they aren't bent at all, or worn out and loose enough to snag a head.

The media clamps look fine, I don't think this was the case, although I did have it happen once they were bent and caused a head strike -- good mention!

 

[AlbertaCommercialPrinter]

It's definitely cooked for good. It had to have been a head strike [...]

Update: For anyone interested, here are more photos and a small video of the printhead after removing it from the printer. Any further insight? Note the scratches.

https://imgur.com/a/lSbr4TO

 

[Terry01]

That is not a sideways strike

 

[DL Signs]

Wow... That thing took a beating!

If ya' ever figure out what happened, let us know. We're curious like that.

 

[AlbertaCommercialPrinter]

That is not a sideways strike

Do you mean you think the printhead hit something that fed towards it with the material? Or that something struck the printhead from that side? (For clarity, the dent/damage is on the side where the material is fed from, the back side of the printer.)


You don't think something small... Allen key... pebble... something like that, could have got under the head while it was scanning and caused that? Like maybe it didn't damage the first couple centimeters of the head as it made contact, but rolled with friction and then pressed in harder?

IDK I'm so confused about this. It's driving me crazy that I don't know exactly what happened. Like, a head strike like that seems to explain it... but still who put something on the platen? Why can't I find any other evidence? So confusing.

 

[Zoogee World]

Do you mean you think the printhead hit something that fed towards it with the material? Or that something struck the printhead from that side? (For clarity, the dent/damage is on the side where the material is fed from, the back side of the printer.)


You don't think something small... Allen key... pebble... something like that, could have got under the head while it was scanning and caused that? Like maybe it didn't damage the first couple centimeters of the head as it made contact, but rolled with friction and then pressed in harder?

IDK I'm so confused about this. It's driving me crazy that I don't know exactly what happened. Like, a head strike like that seems to explain it... but still who put something on the platen? Why can't I find any other evidence? So confusing.

If there isn't anything sticking out in the printer (or fallen into any holes on spots inside) and you can move the carriage from side to side without catching anything, I'd say whatever it was got moved and if no one is taking responsibility, might be best to move on and get it fixed. That damage wasn't from rubbing anything, that was a major strike and it would have errored out, no way it just went back on itself. Someone saw it beeping and either took away the evidence and reset it or just reset it.

 

[JBurton]

Did the boss finally get a chance to try and print on magnetic while you were away?