Hp9000 various problems please help

[dbot]

Hi everyone.

We recently bought a second hand Hp9000 to compliment our 8000.
Upon getting the machine we have found that you have to do cleans to frequently during printing.

The machine is 2years old and has done 5500mts of printing.

After a normal clean all nozzles are firing perfectly. IQ print looks great.
After sending a job we are getting a maximum of 2mts before the banding gets bad. The problem colours are black, magenta and cyan.
I have dropped the heat right down to 45,30,35. But still nothing seems to help.

On the colour band the black has some oversray.
When printing bidirectional, when the head comes back for the second pass it doesnt print as clean as the first pass.
Sometimes after pausing the print for a few mins the banding actually gets worse! Sometimes though it gets better.
I am printing at 8 pass as well to help the problem but still we cannot resolve it.

Someone has suggested dampers which i want to order next week and install.

What is the likely hood that its the heads. With my experience after this age the heads should still be fine.

 

[Quix]

I had similar issues (overpray and starvation), until I changed Ink
Which brand are you using?

 

[rjssigns]

HP 900 issues

Are you using 3rd party inks? If so that is what caused your problem. (Bold statement, No?) I do not own an HP but a Roland. I tried to save money by using third party inks and ended up with catastrophic failure and any money I "saved" went right out the window and then some because of clogged heads and lines. Besides scrapping $900 of their junk ink. The printer just flat quit. Fortunately I switched to a different company with an ace tech, and although it was expensive he got the beast running again with a lot of work and OEM inks. Haven't had a problem since and ink consumption is down also.
If you are using OEM inks then i would say dampers also and as far as the "overspray" that may be caused by a dusty reader strip. This is what the optical sensor uses to relay carriage position. And the dust will cause the carriage to oscillate and create overspray. Another banding problem can be clogged pump lines not allowing the heads to purge correctly. With crummy ink they will clog from both cap top and exhaust sides of the pump. Just my two cents.

 

[dbot]

Hi Guys

We on OEM 790 inks.
I am about to change to SAM inks though. We have been running SAM inks on our 8000 for the last 6months and havent had a days problem.

I think im going to get a tech round next week to replace dampers and "O" rings. Its gonna be expensive because i have to pay for his flights and a full days labour but i think it will be worth it in the end so he can give the machine a once over.
Whats your thoughts on non HP dampers. I can get HP ones for eq $150 each and 3rd party for $30 each.
Im gonna replace the capping stations & wiper sponge as well.

Im just praying its dampers and not heads!

FYI i did a head clean last night with the pad. Took it out this morning. Found quite a bit of junk on the pad hairs, fluff etc. Weird thing though. The black and magenta ink hardly came out on the pad all the other colors bleed out nicely. Do you think that could be a damper prob as well?

I would also love to get under the heads and have a good look and clean all the rubbish manually on the outsides of the head. What is the easiest way to access there? I hate how closed up the machine is compared to the 8000.

 

[rjssigns]

Hey dbot

Not sure if this is any help since I run a Roland, but I use 3rd party dampers, cap-tops and wipers. I was skeptical so I ordered 1 damper to take apart to measure and inspect. Using digital calipers I found the dampers to be spot on spec with an OEM. In fact the filter area is larger which is a good thing. What are my qualifications? I spent over 20 years doing precision assembly and qualification on everything from plate making to splicing equipment for the paper industry. Got to use instrumentation so sensitive that a dust particle would give an out of spec reading.
As far as the 3rd party ink deal... I didn't have any initial problems either for many months, but then it was tech call after tech call until the printer just flat quit. The pigments, processing and carriers are not as refined. Regarding pigments: If the particles are not of the correct size they will start to build up and eventually clog nozzles. Different solvent make-ups will not allow a thorough flush of lines thus leading to clogs.
IMHO if you are running hundreds maybe thousands of liters of ink and running almost non-stop then you could probably get away with 3rd party inks since you will have made a ton of money in a short span of time. But also figure in the cost of a catastrophic failure that will require a tech. Just sayin'
I keep my $900 of unopened 3rd party inks displayed prominently in my work area as a very expensive reminder.

 

[fetus007]

Hi, it is possible that this is a problem of ink, but I think that it is also a problem of voltage of print head, you must reduce the voltage on the Advanced menu ' ph vot offset ". to confirm print and when you have a banding, make hold and wait some time, resume print if you recovered nozzles so the it is a problem of voltage.
Good luck

 

[Freese]

Sounds like it's time to upgrade to an HP L25500

at the price, it almost makes too much sense

 

[dbot]

Latex.. No thanks.

No impressed with finish of print.
Excesive heat on material i can see bringing problems.
Power Consumption is also something that can bite you in the back if you not careful. As much as they say its cheaper to run i think after all the hidden costs that arise i doubt it will be.
Also in our climate solvent still rocks, latex lifespan in the african sun has not been proven yet.

I do love the idea of replacable print heads though. However im sure that a next generation will have stronger printheads. They build them to last only so long so that they can lock you in to spend money on consumables forever.
Also the other comsumables like the head cleaning cartridge has such an elaborate design. The manufacture cost of something like that much be ridiculous.

Im gonna give it a couple more years for it to prove itself fully expecially lifespan. Then i will look into latex more seriously.
For now i will stick to my smelly solvent with great colour pop thanks

 

[d fleming]

Dampers and o rings are not that tough to do yourself and save a ton of $$$ on a visit from a tech. I have done mine on my Seiko and while it was a little nerve racking at first I have no problem tearing into that sucker now. There is an excellent forum for your machine at signfreak.com where you can get info from some very talented and generous people.

 

[J Hill Designs]

yeah I also would definitely start with new dampers/orings - sounds like textbook ink starvation

 

[JoeBoomer]

Going from an hp9000 to an hp l25500 is the best thing we've ever done. I was a skeptic too, but ask yourself how many other posts you see about people trying to fix banding on their latex printer?

 

[HilltopSigns]

hp 9000

I have owned an hp9000 now for about 4.5 years i would say try bumping the voltage on the heads slightly this can sometimes correct some of the problems you are seeing. I have also had success getting around this problem by adjusting the amount of passes the heads make before heading back to the capping station. I would also highly recommend http://www.grafxnetwork.com/ they have helped me greatly in the past year and a half with creative solutions to problems i have had that no other tech had tried. After fighting color and banding problems like you are experiencing they were able to come in and restore the machine to almost oem quality. while heads do sound like part of the issue you might be able to fudge it. just my 2 cents

 

[Typestries]

Don't forget the cap tops and primer pumps. They get dirty and worn don't seal as well or pump as well and will contribute to what you are seeing.

All are easy to change yourself and are relatively cheap parts

 

[Aqua5]

Hi everyone.

We recently bought a second hand Hp9000 to compliment our 8000.
Upon getting the machine we have found that you have to do cleans to frequently during printing.

The machine is 2years old and has done 5500mts of printing.

After a normal clean all nozzles are firing perfectly. IQ print looks great.
After sending a job we are getting a maximum of 2mts before the banding gets bad. The problem colours are black, magenta and cyan.
I have dropped the heat right down to 45,30,35. But still nothing seems to help.


Your issues can be many potential fixes. The overspray could be from carriage height, deflection, printhead alignment or voltage to name a few. You should run the bi-di test for the K printhead and see how the alignment is. Make sure your carriage is in the lowest position to your substrate. Try running this on some type of PS vinyl if you can. My feeling is if you print fine in 1 direction and not the other it's likely that your bi-di is out of alignment.

The other thing to do is make sure your heat setting are within 5-6 degrees from the front and the platen. I usually run mine at around 35-38F and 30-33P. The rear I'd boost up to no less than 40 but no more than 50. It all depends on coverage and media type. You have to try different settings to see what works best.