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Question Fuji Acuity 1600 need help for Printerhead change, service manual

Thilo

New Member
Hey guys,

we are a little custom Kiteboard Manufacture and own our printer now around 3 years,
and do our prints on a glass and plastic sheet.
Bought the printer used and made for now the the little service by our self.

Now i have the problem that yellow ink is complete missing.

Was busy with fuji and figured out that it will be the subtank sensor or a "dead" Printerhead.
Ink is ripping when do the subtank maintance and all head holes are clean and open no error showing.

So my guess is the dead head.

My question is,
can someone give me advices how to change the printer head,
how to get it out from the carriage.
Do i have to demount the whole carriage with all the heads,
or can i reach and demount it from the front separate?

Does someone have a service manual for that printer?

Hope someone is up for and can help me out?

Regards,
Thilo
 

AlsEU

New Member
It's not required to remove the whole carriage, it's possible to replace heads one by one. But it may be tricky, as the electric cables inside the carriage are very thin and you have to be careful (they are in front of the heads partially, especially cables to UV diodes).
The general procedure is as follows:
- remove covers
- backup the parameters
- discharge the ink from the whole path (only the colour with malfunctioning head)
- remove or move parts, which block access to the head
- remove the head itself (together with the subtank, they are connected mechanically
- swap the subtank for the new head
- put the new head inside the carriage (this part may be difficult, sometimes it takes 10-20 minutes, especially for not an experienced person)
- fill the system (channel) with the ink (there's a separate procedure for this)
- setup the new head parameters (voltage, head slant, front-back alignment, SiDir and ReDir calibration)
- verify the printing quality and set the parameters for each printing mode, if required

As you see, it's not an easy task and requires knowledge and some special equipment, i.e. ink flush in pouches, flushing adapters, very long Allen key (without it you won't reach the screw at the rear of the head). Maybe it would be better to call the service?
And how do you know it's the head itself? Do you have any errors (except the missing channel)? Were any diagnostics made?
 

Thilo

New Member
It's not required to remove the whole carriage, it's possible to replace heads one by one. But it may be tricky, as the electric cables inside the carriage are very thin and you have to be careful (they are in front of the heads partially, especially cables to UV diodes).
The general procedure is as follows:
- remove covers
- backup the parameters
- discharge the ink from the whole path (only the colour with malfunctioning head)
- remove or move parts, which block access to the head
- remove the head itself (together with the subtank, they are connected mechanically
- swap the subtank for the new head
- put the new head inside the carriage (this part may be difficult, sometimes it takes 10-20 minutes, especially for not an experienced person)
- fill the system (channel) with the ink (there's a separate procedure for this)
- setup the new head parameters (voltage, head slant, front-back alignment, SiDir and ReDir calibration)
- verify the printing quality and set the parameters for each printing mode, if required

As you see, it's not an easy task and requires knowledge and some special equipment, i.e. ink flush in pouches, flushing adapters, very long Allen key (without it you won't reach the screw at the rear of the head). Maybe it would be better to call the service?
And how do you know it's the head itself? Do you have any errors (except the missing channel)? Were any diagnostics made?
Thanks for your reply!

This is already a helpful beginning.
I would say except of the points from the backup and setup for the new head i can do that.
Do you think you can explain me how to do the backup and setup?

I have flushing ink, i have flushing adapters and know how to flush and ink fill up procedure works.

It is for now a guess from Fuji after the i explained the way, he lost the color and some checked values.
Either the subtank sensor or a dead printer head is the idea from them.

The parameter wich i checked was in the menu
#PARAMETER-SYSTEM PARAMETERS from 62 to 69

62= -560
63= -1690
64= 0
65= 434
66= 453
67= 373
68= 384
69= 313

They said the 0 from 64 (yellow) is a indication for a dead printer head.


How it happened:

Before the winter i flush always the ink route and heads to bring him in the winter sleep and wake him up in spring.
I did the ink fill up procedure as always at spring tine and a nozzles test print.

All the colors was directly back between 20% and 70%, also yellow with around 30%.
Then i started to clean and got all colors better and better till 100% just yellow was fallen down to 10% douring the cleaning.

Then i decided to flush the Printer head manuell with a injection. For that i disconnected the ink hose from the head and flushed with alcohol.
First was just a couple of holes open and after 2-3 times was all holes free.
After flushing i did the ink fill up procedure for yellow again to get rid of the air.
From there on the nozzles was complete gone.
Did the subtank maintance a couple of times without success.
Maybe the head flushing was not a good idea.

Yeah the service would be for sure the better way, just they ask for the repair 4500.- till 6000.-.
We are a small manufacture for Kiteboards not a print shop and do just our simple low quality prints.
For that price of the repair i need to think about if we not just sell it for spare parts because we can not spend so much for the repair.

Also was thinking about to change the heads.... yellow and light magenda to have at least almost every color back.
As is said, we do just simple grafics, i can live with when i don´t have the full color spectrum.
 

AlsEU

New Member
The parameter wich i checked was in the menu
#PARAMETER-SYSTEM PARAMETERS from 62 to 69

62= -560
63= -1690
64= 0
65= 434
66= 453
67= 373
68= 384
69= 313

They said the 0 from 64 (yellow) is a indication for a dead printer head.
According to the manual, "any values below 200 or above 500 are abnormal". Values above 500 are usually due to the missing nozzles. Values below 200 could be clogged filters or other problems with the ink line, such as degraded ink pumps and missing nozzles.
How does your Y pump work? Is rotation stable? Is the cover not broken? What is the colour of the ink pump cover - transparent blue or transparent clear? Blue covers were the first version, they were pretty weak and were replaced by stronger clear covers. I don't think there's a leak from the ink tubing inside the pump, as you would notice it. When you replaced this tubing for the last time? They are degrading over time and need replacement, as when they're harder, the calculation of the ink flow (parameters #62-69) is wrong. The replacement should be done after 200 hours of the pump rotation and you should see the warning, but it is very often switched off by the operator.
Is the temperature in the head correct?
When you replaced the Y ink filter for the last time? Maybe it's clogged?
When you do the ink flow calibration, does the Y ink level sensor work properly? Shows the H and L values within a time similar to other channels?
To do the backup of the parameters you need a special software named "Firmware update tool" (of course it's not public software, it's available only for service engineers).
 

Thilo

New Member
According to the manual, "any values below 200 or above 500 are abnormal". Values above 500 are usually due to the missing nozzles. Values below 200 could be clogged filters or other problems with the ink line, such as degraded ink pumps and missing nozzles.
How does your Y pump work? Is rotation stable? Is the cover not broken? What is the colour of the ink pump cover - transparent blue or transparent clear? Blue covers were the first version, they were pretty weak and were replaced by stronger clear covers. I don't think there's a leak from the ink tubing inside the pump, as you would notice it. When you replaced this tubing for the last time? They are degrading over time and need replacement, as when they're harder, the calculation of the ink flow (parameters #62-69) is wrong. The replacement should be done after 200 hours of the pump rotation and you should see the warning, but it is very often switched off by the operator.
Is the temperature in the head correct?
When you replaced the Y ink filter for the last time? Maybe it's clogged?
When you do the ink flow calibration, does the Y ink level sensor work properly? Shows the H and L values within a time similar to other channels?
To do the backup of the parameters you need a special software named "Firmware update tool" (of course it's not public software, it's available only for service engineers).
Can you tell me what the 64 - 0 means at the parameter? Fuji said 64 is yellow and it looks tike it is not responding.

The cover of the ink pump and tubing is also ok.

Filter was also my idea, ordert it and will change it today.

I don´t know how to do the ink flow calibration or how to check it, can you explain me please?
 

AlsEU

New Member
Can you tell me what the 64 - 0 means at the parameter? Fuji said 64 is yellow and it looks tike it is not responding.

The cover of the ink pump and tubing is also ok.

Filter was also my idea, ordert it and will change it today.

I don´t know how to do the ink flow calibration or how to check it, can you explain me please?
Ink flow calibration test checks the ink pump performance and can diagnose subtank sensor problems. During the test, the subtank is repeatedly emptied and filled and the time taken to do this is measured and used to calculate the ink pump performance. You can see on the LCD screen information from the ink level sensors (H is for the high level of ink, and L is for the low). Parameters #62-69 store the results of this test for each channel (the sequence is similar to the ink cartridge sequence).
You'll find this test in the #TEST - SENDING TEST position. You choose the channel (or channels), then don't change any other parameters. Remember, that this test uses some ink from the pouch.
 

Thilo

New Member
Ink flow calibration test checks the ink pump performance and can diagnose subtank sensor problems. During the test, the subtank is repeatedly emptied and filled and the time taken to do this is measured and used to calculate the ink pump performance. You can see on the LCD screen information from the ink level sensors (H is for the high level of ink, and L is for the low). Parameters #62-69 store the results of this test for each channel (the sequence is similar to the ink cartridge sequence).
You'll find this test in the #TEST - SENDING TEST position. You choose the channel (or channels), then don't change any other parameters. Remember, that this test uses some ink from the pouch.
Thanks for your reply.
I will check the ink flow calibration.
 
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