You should never need to adjust your capping height on the JV33 and CJV30s. In my almost 10 years as a certified Mimaki tech, I have never done it once. Normally when your are sucking air it is due to the cap top just being worn out, dirty and/or the bottom of the head is dirty and causing the seal to break. That's 99% of the time. The 1% is usually either a pump/tube has broken or, more commonly, the slider is worn down and needs to be replaced. The capping height should be done at the factory and basically never touched again. Also, a very common issue I run into is people forget to take the rubber stopper off the old cap top and put it on the new one. If that isn't on there, you will suck air no matter what.
My problem is:
- capping base / frame new (so slider and spring are new)
- capping top new (blue rubber factory cap on 3rd outlet is in place)
- pump new
- pump hoses all new (including those 2 from cap top to coupler)
- pump cleaning cycle works 100%
- Print head had been removed and flushed & surface very clean
- Followed the guide for ADJUST > Capping (3 mm from top turn, etc)
Annnnd... still sucks air with colors dropped out.
I got a little closer by loosening the 2 screws that hold the capping station BASE/FRAME down and pulling the frame towards me/front of printer as much as possible. Now instead of nearly free air leak, it's about 10% air leak and I can actually pull ink through the waste line now (with one capped & cartridge valves open).
No fun because over the past few days that I've been playing with this I see that the print head itself is actually OK. At different times every channel has had pretty good test draws. I just get complete drop outs of colors because the cap top isn't sealing well.
