First time with cleaning cartridges

[Joop]

I used the cleaning cartridges for the first time since I am going to Vt for a week... This is how it went, just wondering if it was normal:

I put them in, and went to "head wash", it then told me to take the cartridges out.
It was making some noises for 5 min or so, then asked me to put the cleaning cartridges in.
It made more noise... then asked me to take them out.
More noise... in again!
Some more time went by, it completed the head wash, and now it said "unrecognized ink" or something like that. I did this on the 24th, when it was done I turned the printer off.

Is this how it was supposed to go?

Thanks for any input, I leave for Vt on Sunday!

 

[Jeff South Florida]

it sounds like you were close enough. When you ran the head wash it wanted you to remove the ink carts. It then pumped the ink from the lines. It asked you to put the cleaning carts. in to clean the lines and fill them. Then you turned it off. Did you look at the ink lines. They should have been clear. They might of had a light tint from the ink. You should be ok when you turn it on. You might have to go to service mode to do an ink fill.

 

[Joop]

it sounds like you were close enough. When you ran the head wash it wanted you to remove the ink carts. It then pumped the ink from the lines. It asked you to put the cleaning carts. in to clean the lines and fill them. Then you turned it off. Did you look at the ink lines. They should have been clear. They might of had a light tint from the ink. You should be ok when you turn it on. You might have to go to service mode to do an ink fill.

Thanks for the response, I just checked the lines and the ones I see are all solid colors. So I would put the cleaning ones in and run an ink fill?
Where do I find "ink fill"? I should have mentioned that I have a valuejet 1604. Dunno if that information is for the printer I have or not.

 

[Joop]

Well now I decided to do another head wash with the cleaning carts just in case. I powered on the machine, inserted the cleaning carts., and now the display reads:
[KCMY]Not Original

Duh printer! Shouldn't this perform a head wash automatically when i put the cleaning carts in?

So I try to do a head wash from the menu, and I get the same message.

Help!

 

[Joop]

wow, nobody uses cleaning cartridges around here?

 

[CheapVehicleWrap]

I just LOVE the broken English and pictures in the docs of my new 64" valuejet. The instructions suggest AND show you use 1 cleaning cartridge. A verification call to signwarehouse confirmed my suspicions that all 4 are needed. Sorry, I can't help... I
l'll be doing the initial cleaning next week.

 

[MVIP]

Can't help with cleaning, but why didn't you just leave printer on for the week.

Seems expensive to flush all the ink out just for a week.

-Matt

 

[Joop]

Can't help with cleaning, but why didn't you just leave printer on for the week.

Seems expensive to flush all the ink out just for a week.

-Matt

Well I was low on ink anyway, and I will be not using the printer for longer than just a week it looks like. I am in the process of getting some jobs together but many of them won't be ready for install until mid Jan.

The manual is rather vauge, and doesn't even have some of the terms in the menu listed in the glossary, like HEAD WASH!

Thanks anyway guys. I leave tomorrow at 11 so if anyone can fill me in before that...

 

[Biker Scout]

If your lines don't go clear, that means that your capping station is not creating full vacuum. I ran the cleaning cycle with the cartridges probably 5 times, and for some reason, the cleaning cartridges never lost any fluid.

It wasn't until I had an issue a few weeks ago that forced me to take apart the machine to de-gunk the lines and make sure the print head was level and flush. (Which was my problem)

This meant that all of those "Ink Recharge" sessions I did, and cleaning cycles did absolutely nothing, other than run out the volume timer on the chips aboard the ink cartridges. The printer "thinks" X number of ml of fluid has past the print head, when in fact nothing ever did. I've got several "Full" cartridges, that the printer tells me is empty.

I finally remedied the wacky chip cards by buying some after market chips on e-bay, just to get use out of my totally full Mutoh Cartridges. The cards are good for 440 ml.

 

[Joop]

If your lines don't go clear, that means that your capping station is not creating full vacuum. I ran the cleaning cycle with the cartridges probably 5 times, and for some reason, the cleaning cartridges never lost any fluid.

It wasn't until I had an issue a few weeks ago that forced me to take apart the machine to de-gunk the lines and make sure the print head was level and flush. (Which was my problem)

This meant that all of those "Ink Recharge" sessions I did, and cleaning cycles did absolutely nothing, other than run out the volume timer on the chips aboard the ink cartridges. The printer "thinks" X number of ml of fluid has past the print head, when in fact nothing ever did. I've got several "Full" cartridges, that the printer tells me is empty.

I finally remedied the wacky chip cards by buying some after market chips on e-bay, just to get use out of my totally full Mutoh Cartridges. The cards are good for 440 ml.

You were right. I figured out that there wasn't a good vacuum when I noticed the head height was set to high. I had to go into diagnostics and make it think there was ink in it, then lower the head height. Once I put the cleaning carts in and ran a head wash I could actually see the lines being cleaned this time.

The only problem is I put the carts in and out too many times so it thinks there is not cleaning fluid in there I guess. I called Mutoh about it and they said the printer should be fine as long as the lines look clear.

Well I hope my troubles help someone else in the future!
Thanks for the help.