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I Received my Wit-Color Ultra 9000 dual dx5 printer

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chris190

New Member
Greetings,

I know several people here are interested in this so here is the info I have so far regarding the printer I got and where I'm at with it at the moment:

The model I got is the ultra 9000 1602s (1.6meter ot also maximum with that media would fit in is 61.5" ) dual dx5 printhead solvent based.

Here are some detailed pictures of the printer itself inside my garage and also some close ups of the parts:

http://www.sendspace.com/pro/o91j35

My impressions of it is that for the money I paid $6500 + $45 money transfer fee + $713 shipping seems to be very good. Nice design and doesn't fell too raw......

It comes with 2 CDs one is the printer software the other is the RIP (maintop ) software...all in all once installed looks like there are 3 diff programs that you can run at the same time to use with this printer.

Program 1 is "Ultra 9000" which is the main printer software, in which when you start can select if you want to use the machine with the left printhead only, both printheads or the right one. Once in the software you can control pretty much all the options on the prints from there....any adjustments are also done in this software...etc...

Program 2 is the MainTop RIP which you can import JPG...TIFF etc files and then you export then as a PRN file which you can then import into the Ultra 9000 software and print.......at least that's what I've done now when testing

Program 3 is called Print Manager and it looks like the Mimaki Rasterlink software where you see all the jobs....and their statuses....etc...but I haven't figure out how to print from here....or if I should print from this software at all....will see

I still have alot of homework on to how to figure out all of the above as the manual doesn't say much about them.

So I got everything installed.....put some cleaning solution into all the ink cartiges .... pumped cleaning fluid through all the ink lines into the heads...etc..... then I added the ink.... did the same ... ink pump .. .then ink flush ...

Everything seems to be working fine excepty only issues I'm having now is on head # 2 (right) black and cyan nozzles do not fire up when I do an ink flush.... I can see all the vaports from CMYK firing up pretty good on head #1 ... and on head #2 I only see Yellow and Magenta..... I did a cleaning and ink pump and unk flush... and nothing.... still the same thing....so I'm not sure but i have to research more on this as my 1 litter waste tank got full from all my tryings......

and yes I did check the seal on the capping with the head and it looks like it's sealing fine....so I was told it might be vapor lock....

So before I can do the head allignment and adjustment (software and hardware) I have to figure out the problem above

I will let you know more very soon....

Regards,

Chris
 
SightLine

SightLine

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Interesting and nice to see some detailed photos of it. Few things that I see right off that strike me. 7 cartridge slots seems odd to me. I see no head wiper. DX4 style oversize printhead dampers on the DX5 heads with nothing really securing them. You can see the DX5 manifold in picture 1685 where they sit somewhat precariously on top of the DX5 manifolds nipples. The DX5 manifold has rectangular slots on top to specifically properly align DX5 head dampers which are a totally different design. Having had both DX4 and DX5 head Mimaki's I've tried using the DX4 dampers for flushing DX5 heads. They do work okay for that but are not nearly secure enough as the DX5 manifolds nipples are considerably shorter than DX4 manifold nipples. That being said there may be some issue with the ink train that would not work well with the valved style DX5 dampers on there but then again they might work just fine or even better. Hard telling without some experimenting.

Overall though it looks like a farily solid well built machine. Looking forward to reading more about the experience and testing as well as actual production with it. :)
 
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chris190

New Member
Hi,

There are 2 head wipers (blue in color) one for each head in there.... I adjusted their height and they wipe the head good.... I check with a flash light the head when I moved the carriage all the way to the left..

Regarding the dampers.... yes they're not alligned but I've seen the vids on youtube of other ultra 9000s they they're all weird positioned like they...but they print perfect....so I don't know.... but they do sit on the manifold nipples just like that held by the little rubber seal thats on the damper...

One other thing I want to mention is when I did an ink pump and/or cleaning I can see the ink in the dampers going down into the heads when the pumps are working so I know some ink is going through..




SightLine said:
Interesting and nice to see some detailed photos of it. Few things that I see right off that strike me. 7 cartridge slots seems odd to me. I see no head wiper. DX4 style oversize printhead dampers on the DX5 heads with nothing really securing them. You can see the DX5 manifold in picture 1685 where they sit somewhat precariously on top of the DX5 manifolds nipples. The DX5 manifold has rectangular slots on top to specifically properly align DX5 head dampers which are a totally different design. Having had both DX4 and DX5 head Mimaki's I've tried using the DX4 dampers for flushing DX5 heads. They do work okay for that but are not nearly secure enough as the DX5 manifolds nipples are considerably shorter than DX4 manifold nipples. That being said there may be some issue with the ink train that would not work well with the valved style DX5 dampers on there but then again they might work just fine or even better. Hard telling without some experimenting.

Overall though it looks like a farily solid well built machine. Looking forward to reading more about the experience and testing as well as actual production with it. :)
Click to expand...
 
HulkSmash

HulkSmash

New Member
interesting.. thanks for the write up. Any warranty on a brand new items that doesn't seem to work?

Be sure to test speeds and quality. And then follow up! thanks
 
artbot

artbot

New Member
i'd get a set of dx5 dampers and put them on one head. do a bit of testing. i'm not sure of their advantages but certainly they are more complex/developed than the dx4. maybe all those channels and reservoirs do something special?

keep us posted for sure! also, is there enough ribbon to do a data swap between head one and two to isolate the cyan/yellow thing?

what is with the 7 carts? that makes my brain hurt.
 
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chris190

New Member
Hi Coloradosigns,

The printer comes with 1 year warranty supposely...... however I did contact wit-color with questions regarding testing and setup so far and they've responded back within 24 hours and they tried to help me......so I'm happy with their customer service so far....

I don't want to draw a conclusion yet that something is not right with it because I have more options of testing stuff out, but should something be in fact defective with it it will most likely be the head ....as so I was told ...... In that case I will contact them with documentation and pictures or whatnot and I have a feeling that they will work with me to remediate the problem.....

Other than one of the heads not firing properly everything else seems to work just fine...... I did print 3 pictures with it and it does print....

I don't have a lot of time but I have a lot of patience and I'm willing to learn... so I'm sure sooner or later I will get to the bottom of this and get this thing working properly... :)
 
artbot

artbot

New Member
keep the faith chris! the videos of the ultra 9000s on youtube show that this printer can be very dialed in. i'm especially curious about the proprietary fuzzy dot tech that is discussed in their literature. that one video of it printing one pass at 700 sfph seems like a real money maker.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6RHt4jlRPaA
 
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chris190

New Member
HI Artbot,

Yes the head ribbons are equal in size for each head so I should be able to do fast swap on the head board.... if that doesn't work then I will pull head # 2 out and check the ribbon connection....take it out and put it back in...... then test again...

if that doesn't work then I will order DX5 dampers and while those come in I will try to disable head #2 and just print with head #1 as it looks like I have that option when I start the printer software... I can choose to use only head #1, both or only head #2.....

One question.... if I pull the head one for let's say 30 min or so... do I need to clean it and flush the ink out of it with solvent first or can I pull it out with the ink in it?



artbot said:
i'd get a set of dx5 dampers and put them on one head. do a bit of testing. i'm not sure of their advantages but certainly they are more complex/developed than the dx4. maybe all those channels and reservoirs do something special?

keep us posted for sure! also, is there enough ribbon to do a data swap between head one and two to isolate the cyan/yellow thing?

what is with the 7 carts? that makes my brain hurt.
Click to expand...
 
artbot

artbot

New Member
you have a couple options to keep the head safe. one i'd set it in a low dish filled with cleaning solution. you'll need this here and here over time. dx5s are a bit big but i figure you could go to a walmart cooking section and find some kind of bowl. for dx4s i use a cupcake pan and bridge the heads across the edge so that the heads platen just kisses the surface of the cleaning solution. as for flushing, that would be overkill if it's going right back ink. as for a bit longer storing of the head, say overnight, you can get a very small hypodermic needle and squirt a small amount of cleaning solution down the manifold nipples. the nipples of the dx4's actually have four tiny holes at the top. the small needle can fit inside these holes without putting pressure on the head risking leaking solvent over the pcb. the dx5 may be similar.

the seven carts. what is the deal with seven carts. did you photoshop out a cart just to screw with us?
 
SightLine

SightLine

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LOL on the 7 cart comments....

As far as a dish for storing a head wet temporarily..... the bottom half of a glass butter dish works fantastically. Just the right size for a head to sit on the edges with a quarter inch or so of liquid in the dish for the nozzle plate to sit in. :)

They probably have a doc somewhere that shows what they were thinking with 7 cartridge slots. Maybe CMYKLcLmW? Dunno.... :help
 
A

anix

New Member
Maybe Chris will give us an udate before long. I hope he is having good luck with the set up.
 
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