Ink contamination - VS-540

[SignMeUpGraphics]

Hi all,


After 2.5 years of excellent printing, this one has crept up on me. For some reason, I'm getting some cross contamination between colours. Primarily black being printed when yellow should be firing. I've attached some images to show the results. Several cleanings have not resolved the problem completely, as the top couple of yellow nozzles are firing black, leading to a "dirty" yellow being printed (which fades to a *nearly* clean, but not 100% yellow). Zooming into the yellow image will show light amounts of black being fired into the yellow spot colour PR-01K (100%Y). There is also a small bit of cyan being sprayed at the beginning of magenta. The source of the problem is likey to be the same. I could not attach my test print for white, bit it cross contaminates slightly with cyan also.


The printer was serviced in July and captop and wipers replaced as part of the maintenance kit. Genuine inks have always been used since new.


Do I have a dreaded faulty head, or can I get myself out of this mess somehow?



Any help at all would be appreciated, as I can't get a Roland tech out until mid January now.

 

[rjssigns]

Only time I had cross contamination was with third party inks. Tab wouldn't stick out to signal an empty cart. Then it would start siphon feeding from the full cart. (SP540V two colors per head)

 

[Mosh]

Dampers? I had magenta and yellow mix, but not black and yellow.

 

[Solventinkjet]

Usually with cross contamination I start with checking if the cap top is draining properly. If it is not draining all the way, test the pump tube to see if it is clogged. If the pump is clogged, that's your problem. If the pump isn't clogged and the cap still does not drain properly, change the cap top. If everything is flowing properly underneath the head, change the dampers and o-rings. If that doesn't work, your head could be damaged inside causing the ink to flow between channels (Very rare).

 

[AceHigh]

Not sure how the VS is setup under the heads, but I will tell you how I cured a similar issue on our VP-540. Just like others have stated, it's most likely something with a dampers or the docking station not draining properly. When I fixed ours it was siphoning from one docking station to the other and it caused the issue at the start of the print just as yours is. Under the docking station there is a small drain tube for each color, but they then form a "Y" and the drain/suction pump is actually pulling them together. It depends which two are connected, but if the yellow and black are connected, then that is a good starting point. We got some large syringes from an animal feed store and hooked one to each line and sucked the ink through each one individually with the heads in the docking station. Then we moved the heads off the docking station and put some cleaning solution on the docking station caps and sucked that through as well. Then we put the heads back and did them again just to double check.
I recommend getting 1 syringe for each color that way you don't compound the problem yourself. I still have my set and use them anytime I want to do a good cleaning. It's really easy to get in and do it, just takes a screw driver and the syringe. I would check it out and let us know if it helps.
Good luck,
Carl

 

[SignMeUpGraphics]

The captop seems to be draining away quite nicely. I drop a bit of cleaning solution in there during a manual clean, and it always manages to suck it all down into the waste bottle without leaving any pooling.
I might pull off the drain pump tubes and flush them out anyway. I have had trouble with the tube that drains the metallic away in the past.

I think it might be the dampers, but I have zero experience in that regard. Does anyone have access to a service manual for the VS range?

Thanks for the answers so far. I'll try everything that is suggested and report back with what I come up with.

 

[SignMeUpGraphics]

Just an update... it was a dead head

Installed new head and re-calibrated and we're back up and running again.

 

[player]

How much did that cost?

 

[SignMeUpGraphics]

I was extremely fortunate, in that Roland here in Australia offer a 3 year "heads-and-all" warranty if you use genuine inks and get your printer serviced every 6 months, so it was replaced for no charge.
I can't praise them enough for their policy and ability to repair the printer the day before Xmas.

 

[player]

Wow good deal!

Merry Xmas for you thanks to Roland.

Cheers