Head Stike... possible causes?

[theeventsource]

Hey everyone!

Just had this happen to us, but not sure quite the cause. Whilst docking itself this week, the printhead carriage on my JV3-160 made a loud noise and "bumped" into place onto the capping station. I soon thereafter discovered that my yellow printhead was not printing through the middle of its test pattern. Looking at the capping station, I discoverd that the screen for the black printhead cap was laying outside of the cap. My theory is that the screen came loose and the yellow printhead (which would be the first printhead to come into the capping station) caught it which made the noise and "bump" that I heard. Examination of the yellow printhead at the inspection station shows a scratch right across the dead center of the yellow printhead.

1) Has this ever happened to anyone else?
2) Since I can't verify that the screen was in place or not in place before I heard the noise, could the capping station be out of alignment (someone told me that there is a way to align them) and that the scratch is caused by one of the screwheads on capping station?
3) How can I prevent screens from coming lose in the future?

I just don't want this to repeat itself once we get the new head, so if anyone has had this problem or knows about aligning the capping station I would appreciate your feedback.

Thanks!

 

[iSign]

if you don't clean around the capping station well enough, the ink residue will gunk up around there & will get sticky. I've had the rubber seal get yanked off the 1 of the 4 capping station reservoirs, about 5 times so far, in 3 years. I've also had the screens come out 2 or 3 times. I think it is always a result of getting behing in my cleaning, which I am pretty good at (getting my staff to do )

 

[wrapman jamz]

Not cleaning the capping stations properly and completely has cost me plenty in the past. I think I'll clean my printers right now...bye

 

[signage]

If you guys are having problems of the screws coming loose I would use some thread lock on them, just be sure to use the lowest strenght!

 

[ChicagoGraphics]

The little metal screens are suppose to be removed freely, you should take them out daily and clean them 3 prongs as well as the caps. When your rubber caps start to fly off thats when you need a new capping station or the capping station has to much suction and need to be adjusted.

 

[BRUSHMARKS]

we have had the screens pop up in the past as well never affected our printing though. best thing to do its keep the capping station clean so the ink doesn't dry and pull th escreen loose.

 

[Printhead]

I doubt the screen popped out. Most likely the capping station didn't lower enough causing the carriage to crash in it. I had this problem on a JV5 and i guess both machine have a similar mechanism. Check on the left side of the capping station, if our machines are the same there will be a small black piece of metal sticking up vertically, about 3/8" x 1.5", screwed in place on the plastic on the station. This piece of metal fits in an optical reader on the carriage. If you have an head strike on the capping station again you just have to move this piece slightly, about 1/16 or 1/32, one way or another, and see if that fixes the problem.

 

[gabagoo]

Clean those capping stations every day!!!!! the gunk builds up pretty quick. Preventitive maintainence is a must with solvent based printers (Eco too). I use a foam tip around all the stations. I notice it seems to build up along the bottom closest to the front of the machine more and it seems pretty sticky.