Help needed... Mutoh Falcon Outdoor Jr.

[SellersSign&Design]

I finally got around to finishing the refurb on my printer today. New print heads, dampers, O-rings, capping station, pump and inks. I thoroughly flushed all lines before I started putting it back together. I have ran 3 manual cleanings and several test prints without much change in the results. This is what I have:

Can anyone tell me what to do from here? Do I need to soak the heads or is there something else I'm missing? I have not done any head adjustments or changed the head ranks.

 

[Wraps ink]

acetone

get a paper towel fold it over a few times and put a good amount of acetone and hold it firm against the heads and hold for about 2 min. get a large syringe and pull ink through the heads by placing the syringe on the waste tank lines push the print head tight against capping station while pulling on the syringe until you see ink flowing into the syringe. that should fix it.( for now)

 

[CRD]

If all is new I would not use aceton or any solvent yet on the head surface. that is emergency only trick.
Use the single syringe trick as mentioned first. If the cappingstation and pump are new check for the tubes being open.
If the old tubes are used this is the first thing to check for free flow from cappingstation output to the waste tank.
Check if the capping foam is drained with ink.
If still dry then the pump cappingstation are not working but that might be cause the tubes are blocked.
Also take care if the tubes are blokced ink is not pumped in the machine as it can not flow to the waste bottle.
Leave the machine open at the right had side until all works fine.

Head rank and head adjustment setting are a later issue to take care of.

Paco

 

[SellersSign&Design]

All of the lines at the capping station/pump and going to the waste bottle are new. I disconnected the two lines going to the bottle and tried to pull ink through (I did this when I first put it back together). Just like the first time, one line pulled easily and the other took some more suction and didn't flow as much ink. I noticed some spillage of color ink around the color part of the capping station also.

 

[SellersSign&Design]

Ok so I disconnected both lines going to the waste tank and pulled ink through with a syringe again. After that I put them in a clear glass jar so I could see if they are flowing. Both lines continued to flow a little bit of ink in the jar and then stopped. I ran another nozzle check and had no improvement, but I noticed the colored ink spilled over around the color side of the capping station again. Does this mean that side isn't sealing against the head correctly?

 

[CRD]

Dampers should be half filled with a syringe first and then placed on the head. Then disconnect the tube from capping to pump and use the syringe to pull ink. Check if the foam is getting wet and the three colors are nicely seperated. The head must be on the capping and pushed fully rigth during suction. Then connect the capping tubes to the pump and pull ink with the syringe at the exit of the pump. Then in the Uitlity menu do a power cleaning for the colors. Check with the regular selftest the printout.

Let us know the result.

Paco

 

[SellersSign&Design]

[SUP]I only have two factory cleaning carts and one wash cart that can be filled with cleaning solution... I'm guessing I need 3 factory wash carts to run a power clean on the color side?[/SUP]

 

[SellersSign&Design]

Now I have bigger problems. I started the power clean not knowing I need 4 cleaning carts. It did the black side, then I had to stop it because I don't have enough cleaning carts. I ran a test print afterwards and have no black. So I tried pulling ink through and couldn't get anything. I traced the lines back all the way to disconnecting the damper and pulling directly from the line there, and finally got ink. But when I re connect the damper and try to pull from the bottom of it I get nothing...

 

[CRD]

I did not mentioned the WASHING or Dump or Initial.
You mixed up.
In the menu go to Utility then scroll to Clean where you have two options Standard and powerfull and to do colors or black.
Do not select washing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! or other functions.
As you already did remove the damper and use a syringe to get the ink in the tubes from the cartridge.
You might need to detach and attach to get more volume to suck.
Use regular color cartridge or black for all corrresponding four lines.
If inktube is filled upto the damper mount the damper and half fill it. then perfom the rest already described.
Do not use the washing function or cleaning cartridge is machine is used regularly before.

Paco

 

[SellersSign&Design]

That was a dumb mistake by me. I misread your post and put it through the washing cycle. I got the black back up and running... that washing cycle really threw a wrench in things! Now that I am back to where I was, I will do the cleaning cycle tomorrow and report back on what happened. Thank you for the help!!!

 

[CRD]

Ok go to hear black is woking again. Take a deep breath and a good sleep.
get fresh tomorrow.........

Paco

 

[SellersSign&Design]

Ok go to hear black is woking again. Take a deep breath and a good sleep.
get fresh tomorrow.........

Paco

Ok... I have done two powerful cleanings and there are no changes in the test prints.

 

[CRD]

Explain what you have done after your sleep.

Paco

 

[SellersSign&Design]

---

I did a powerful cleaning and then a nozzle check with no changes. I then disconnected the lines going from the pump to the capping station and ran cleaning fluid through the pump and drain lines to make sure all of that was clear, which it was. I did another powerful cleaning and still had no changes. After that I dusconnected the magenta ink line from the damper and used a syringe to pull suction on the line to make sure it was getting ink, which it was. All dampers are half full like they should be also. But even after all of that there is no change in the color nozzle check.

 

[CRD]

If the head is on the cappingstation and pushed to the rigth hand side.
Place a tube on the exit of the cappingstation and hook it to a syringe and suck with the syringe.
Listen if you can hear air sound. If you do then the problem is not a full closed capping but there is a air leak.
As you have also replaced the pump you might have the frame of the pump to low.
Loosen the single front screw and try to lift the whole pump frame in the front 1 or 2 mm.
If you can, pull color ink into the foam with the syringe and the capping must be colored with sharp CYM colors.
Do you get ink in the syringe while the head is on the capping and sucking with the syringe?

Paco

 

[SellersSign&Design]

When I slide the head all the way over and pull with the syringe from the capping station I hear a slight noise at first then I get some ink flow, but when I stop the suction and pull the head off the capping station the ink is pooled up and running over out of the color side. Also when I run a cleaning cycle I get ink flow to the waste bottle on the color side, but I also get air bubbles coming out.

 

[CRD]

Hmmm,

The manual pull and pool up in the capping station is a sign the head is flushed through with ink and then the next test print should give better printout.
Are the new heads really new or are they refurbished?

Paco

 

[SellersSign&Design]

They are supposedly brand new, purchased from cmyk parts. I had a spare capping station so I swapped them to see if that had an effect. After the swap the print head would not dock properly, it would try to seat over the capping station and then pop back out. So I swapped the old capping station back in... and now I have the same problem with it. The head won't stay over it when it goes to "park". I'm guessing that's an adjustment issue?

 

[RG]

Have you gone through the control panel and told the printer to re-set the "Home Position"? To stop it from popping out, there is a piece of metal that needs to be bent slightly downward. You should be able to see it if you have the right-side cover off the printer.

 

[SellersSign&Design]

Have you gone through the control panel and told the printer to re-set the "Home Position"? To stop it from popping out, there is a piece of metal that needs to be bent slightly downward. You should be able to see it if you have the right-side cover off the printer.

I figured I would post an update. I still have not heard back from CMYK parts after multiple calls and emails. I got the home position fixed, and also ordered a new print head cable for the color head from Solvent Inkjet. The cable came in, and I installed it but I was still getting the same bad nozzle checks. So I called Solvent Inkjet to see if they had anymore ideas. I spoke to a very knowledgeable guy named Robert who told me several things to try, the last of which was removing the head and gently pushing cleaning fluid through it with a syringe to check and see what nozzles were open. When I tried that there were multiple nozzles missing from the cyan and magenta, which were the colors giving the worst test prints. I alternated between gently pushing fluid through the print head and also dipping it about 1/16" into a bowl of cleaning fluid and pulling fluid back through the head. It is now sitting just slightly submerged in cleaning fluid. In about another hour I will try to push/pull fluid through again and see if there is any change. So... correct me if I am wrong, but the fact that I can push cleaning fluid through and have multiple nozzles missing rules out and electronic problem correct? How can a new print head be "clogged"?

Also, a little side note just FYI: The people at Solvent Inkjet were nice enough to help try to diagnose the problem even though this color print head did not come from them. I did order some parts from them, but not the print head. Shipping on everything I have ordered from them has been very fast and all parts have been top quality. I am going to make a separate post in the appropriate forum about the positive interactions I have had with them, they are a great company to work with and go out of their way to try to help get your printer going again.