FUJI 2504 Acuity printhead problem

[Kiran]

Hi Folks,

We have a Fuji (Oce) 2504 Acuity, and we were having a problem with the black ink reservoir not filling, which turned out to be a bad ink filter. We replaced the filter, and the printer ran great for a day or two.

Now, the black print heads are completely unresponsive. If I do a purge, ink pours out of them like it should, but when you print or do a nozzle check, you get nothing. I've tried swapping the ribbon cables between the blacks and cyans, and the cyans print where the blacks should, but still nothing out of the blacks. This ruled out the carriage board and the ribbon cables. There's no reservoir fill issues now with the new filter.

I did a quick purge on the black and everything went as expected. The ink isn't bubbling (indicating air.) It drips out like it always has.

I'm really at a loss as to what could be wrong. To have BOTH black printheads quit at the same time, while not impossible, seems very unlikely. And I'd really like to avoid paying $7K for two new heads if I can help it.

Thanks,

Kiran

 

[DSC]

Hi Folks,

We have a Fuji (Oce) 2504 Acuity, and we were having a problem with the black ink reservoir not filling, which turned out to be a bad ink filter. We replaced the filter, and the printer ran great for a day or two.

Now, the black print heads are completely unresponsive. If I do a purge, ink pours out of them like it should, but when you print or do a nozzle check, you get nothing. I've tried swapping the ribbon cables between the blacks and cyans, and the cyans print where the blacks should, but still nothing out of the blacks. This ruled out the carriage board and the ribbon cables. There's no reservoir fill issues now with the new filter.

I did a quick purge on the black and everything went as expected. The ink isn't bubbling (indicating air.) It drips out like it always has.

I'm really at a loss as to what could be wrong. To have BOTH black printheads quit at the same time, while not impossible, seems very unlikely. And I'd really like to avoid paying $7K for two new heads if I can help it.

Thanks,

Kiran

Have you replaced the micron filter in front of the purge valves on top of the manifold?

It is the four filters that stick through the cover.

I just had the same issue on my 250gt and that was the problem..

I had flushed with a syringe, and some liquid was sucked back up in the filter (clear so we couldn't tell) I replaced it and all is well..

 

[Kiran]

Have you replaced the micron filter in front of the purge valves on top of the manifold?

It is the four filters that stick through the cover.

I just had the same issue on my 250gt and that was the problem..

I had flushed with a syringe, and some liquid was sucked back up in the filter (clear so we couldn't tell) I replaced it and all is well..

I will try this! No ink appears to be in the filter but I will replace it and give it a try. I'll let you know the outcome.

Thanks,

Kiran

 

[Kiran]

Well, thanks for the suggestion, but still no black printing. I replaced the filter but the old one isn't clogged. I also pulled the floats and the black looks fine; ink about 1/2 way up the float.

My next guess is to flush the black heads with the flush solution someone suggested in another thread.. I forget at the moment what it was called.

Kiran

 

[DSC]

So.....

Any luck?

 

[Kiran]

Unfortunately, no. I flushed the heads with alcohol.. they're spraying fine (and were working perfectly before dying.) It's not an ink or headboard issue, as far as I can tell.

I reseated all of the printhead cables, inspected them all. Still same issue. Over the weekend the yellow ink tube on top of the filter worked itself free and hemorrhaged ink all over the place. Took the paint right off the floor.

Anyone have a source for these printheads other than Fuji? I saw someone else ask this but there were no responses.

Kiran

 

[Kiran]

Sorry to bump this.. but we're still wondering if there's a source for the Acuity printheads, other than Fuji.

We're also interested in selling our Acuity, if anyone's interested. Works fine but needs two black printheads.

Kiran

 

[AlsEU]

Do you have correct temperature value on the screen? If it is correct (around 47 C degrees), communication between the printhead and the carriage board seems to be ok. Did you have a chance to check the log file?

 

[MrNick86]

Hey guys,

Sorry for barging into this thread, but I think this is a similar topic.

I recently have started at a new shop with a different flatbed other than the POS CET I have worked with for the past 3 years. This Fuji Acuity HD 2504 seems to be a much more refined machine than the CET. However, I am having ink flow problems to the black heads.

Our Fuji seems to barely purge ink through the black heads, one more so than the other. I was contemplating on cleaning the ink pump thinking that it may be gunked up and cannot push ink hard enough. The filters supposedly have been replaced before it was purchased 6 months ago. Maybe the line is plugged up? I would run a black ink flush, but we only have expired ink and it wont let us perform that, lol. I doubt that expired ink is the culprit of ink not flowing through the heads. The heads do print, but I cannot flush it hard enough to clear the nozzles, and it seems to get worse the more I clean and flush it, at least from the maintenance station. I really would like to try the ink flush process, I might need to bug the boss for a new bag of ink as we have 2 full expired inks on hand.

I would like some advice as to where to start before seriously tearing into this machine.

Thanks so much.

Nick

 

[UVRay]

Maybe it's the Carriage Board. You could try taking a ribbon from the cyan head and plugging it into the black head next to it and see if it fires. If it does, then you know something's wrong with the black drivers on the board.

 

[klmiller611]

I don't know specifically what it takes, but I purchased some replacement printheads for our Agfa Anapurna from www.digiprint-supplies.com. They can answer questions via a message board. Don't be put off by it being in Brussels. I finally figured out what I needed late on Friday afternoon, probably 8 pm Brussels time, at least, and it shipped Monday with a Wednesday arrival. Their prices were better than I found anywhere but China, and was a bit suspect of them. Several others on this board had recommended them.

The reason I followed the thread was we had actually considered the Fuji Acuity before buying the Anapurna.

Best
Ken

 

[juststrummin]

Black heads

Our Fuji seems to barely purge ink through the black heads, one more so than the other. I was contemplating on cleaning the ink pump thinking that it may be gunked up and cannot push ink hard enough. The filters supposedly have been replaced before it was purchased 6 months ago. Maybe the line is plugged up? I would run a black ink flush, but we only have expired ink and it wont let us perform that, lol. I doubt that expired ink is the culprit of ink not flowing through the heads. The heads do print, but I cannot flush it hard enough to clear the nozzles, and it seems to get worse the more I clean and flush it, at least from the maintenance station. I really would like to try the ink flush process, I might need to bug the boss for a new bag of ink as we have 2 full expired inks on hand.

Does anyone have an answer for the above problem? I have a similar issue.