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Ink Heat System Error - Oce 360XT

Pica Grove

New Member
I came into the shop this morning and saw an error on my printer that reads Ink Heat System Error. The machine is an Oce Arizona 360XT. Has anyone had this error before, if so was it an expensive fix?

Thank you

Eric
 

SignMeUpGraphics

Super Active Member
We get this happening when the print room temperature is very low (winter time).
Generally we just hit the ink heater button on the control panel again and it will eventually warm up.
The error gets displayed when the printer cannot reach operating temp in 20 minutes I believe.
 

AlsEU

New Member
Do you have proper (more or less) temperature value on the screen? If yes, try to get the proper ink temperature as usual. If you have strange values (like 1000 deg or 70 or 0 or N/A or something similar), one of the thermistors in printheads may be damaged. You may also check, if the heater in carriage works fine - just remove the carriage cover and find the heater (it's a long brown plate on the ink manifold). For more checkings you need a SDS key. First thing to check is the temperature value on the screen.
 

DravidDavid

New Member
Oce strikes again...

It could be either of the two heaters that heat the ink that is on the way out or as the above post pointed out, sensors in the print head.

We recently had this issue with our 250GT.

- Flushing the coolant system and filling with brand new coolant solved the issues for a time, but it popped up again a few weeks later. It turned out all the heads were at temperature except one of the Magenta heads which was below the threshold. This forced the average temperature down and the printer stopped the warming process.

If your printer is coming up on it's annual service, replace the coolant and see what happens. It's cheaper than replacing a head. You will need a service key to check sensor data from each print head.

Just so you know, it's often caused by flush working it's way up in to the electronics of the print head after weekly head swabbing. You must go around the edges of each print head with a dry swab to collect any flush that may be sitting around that could do any damage. There have been many reports of heads dying because of this.

Good luck!
 

Pica Grove

New Member
Thanks for the info. So if its replacing a print head, I think I saw those listed at $5000 each, yikes. I noticed you titled your post Oce Strikes Again, do these machines need replacement parts regularly?
 

DravidDavid

New Member
Thanks for the info. So if its replacing a print head, I think I saw those listed at $5000 each, yikes. I noticed you titled your post Oce Strikes Again, do these machines need replacement parts regularly?

I'm probably the worst person on the forum to ask this question...Because I'm probably the only one that would say yes every time and don't buy one.

We have had issues to NO END with our 250GT. It's only now just starting to calm down and we are needing to do the lamps sometime soon.

We spend 5K a year on a service contract and have had upwards of 30K worth in components replaced. To give you an idea of Oce's price list, a 500W no name brand ATX power supply that runs the computer under the hood will set you back $1050.00. I could walk down to my local electronics shop and pick one up for $50.00, or a reliable name brand for $70.00.

- Lamp housings
- circuit boards
- power supplies for the computer and both lamps,
- two print heads, (yellow and magenta, one of which is already playing up)
- pressure gauge (which Oce refused to replace at first as I would be the first person in Oce history to say my gauge was broken according to our service people. Our service guys came back out to re-asses the gauge because even their top dog didn't believe it was broken.)
- Ball valves for the vacuume table
- Vacuum tape for undearneath the metal sheet on the vacuum table
- De-ionizer bar
- Tap filters (on multiple occasions)

Techs have visited us at least twice for each issue, to the point where THEY were joking I should just put a mattress on top of it and let him sleep there.

Like I said...Good luck! lol

Just as I post this, we are now getting an ink delivery system problem...Apparently it's just the pump in the gantry telling the computer it's nearing end of life. Great.
 

Nate1n22

New Member
I've ran a Arizon 360 for the last two years and it's a terrible machine. In the last couple months I've had to change a yellow printhead because the head shorted out. The carriage drive belt snapped a couple weeks ago for no reason. The next day I was getting carriage motion errors, and a tech had to come back out and replace brushes.
Just in the last 2 weeks I've had problems with my heads dropping a bunch of nozzles, and one wipe of the heads brings them back. They recommended changing the degas modules, which are $650 a piece. I changed the white and black ones and it didn't fix it.
Just in this week I've had to change a Z Axis sensor and cable because of a "Z Axis Error" Today I had another carriage motion error and they want me to replace the servo motor which is $1500. They also charge $500 for ONE BRUSH. They told me this particular model has problems with the motors going out... So why is that my problem? It should be like a recall on a car...
This same time last year we had to replace gantry boards, carriage boards, servo motors, firewire cables, and Z Axis motors..

I have had this ink heating system error, and it went away on it's own.
 

ToTo

Professional Support
Ink heat timeouts are normaly because of insufficent circulation of coolant fluid. Check pump and dampener in the right side of gantry.
Or maybe one of the triac boards has blown. Heaters can be checked by Hand. There are a heater in the carriage and near the coolant pump.
 

DougWestwood

New Member
Coolant

Hi there,

Others have posted about the coolant/ink heat correlation, and I have found the same thing.
Low levels of coolant, and the ink won't heat up to start level.

Also, as noted above, if you have one head that is heating up WAY over normal,
that will mess with the other sensors and keep ink from getting warm. Typically,
a head with that problem needs replacement.

We use two FUJI Acuity tables here, which are just OCE machines re-branded.
I have also used an OCE 250GT at another shop. Printheads are insanely expensive.
Have experienced many of the same problems: coolant pump leak/death, lamp
replacement, uneven ink distribution, motherboard death/shortout, etc.
Not to the point where we are driven crazy. I guess we are somewhat lucky by comparison.

Still, the FUIJ version of this machine I think is much better than the OCE.
There are some upgraded parts between the machines, but with the FUJI
I only use ONE MATERIAL PROFILE. The OCE made dozens a necessity.
We keep them running pretty constantly, so we haven't reached the breaking point
of being stuck in downtime too often. Still profitable to run.

- Doug Vancouver
 

Pica Grove

New Member
For our printer is was a blown pump dampener that caused the error. It's some unit in front of the coolant pump to save it from over pressure. This was blown completely and was leaking coolant all over the inside of the cover. The dampener was very expensive. While this cover was off we noticed a cooling fan was not working. There is a return fan on that end of the machine which is basically a small computer fan. Exactly the same wires, material, motor, everything....$200. So if that fan ever goes out, get one online for $10-20 and replace it yourself. Maybe even splurge and get some with LED lighting!!

The coolant also started to leak over the top of a yellow print head. This was fixed but not before some fluid dripped and ran down the print head face and dried on there. I'm still trying to clear the crud out of that print head 2 months later. So if you notice coolant collecting on an ink head clean immediately and overnight cleanings as well. The color of the fluid looked like yellow ink but when it dries it's white and crusty. A real mess. Since the replacement of an ink head is $4300, I'll continue to try to clean it.

The parts were exessively expensive for what they were and if they are marking up a $10 computer fan to $200 I can't imaging what the other parts really cost Oce/Canon

My opinion of Oce and Canon went down the toilet after this repair. Paying $225k for the printer was expected - I did not expect that kind of blatant and arrogant raping to occur on repair parts. Completely uncalled for.
 

DravidDavid

New Member
The color of the fluid looked like yellow ink but when it dries it's white and crusty. A real mess. Since the replacement of an ink head is $4300, I'll continue to try to clean it.
Thanks for the tip! I'll make sure I put it on my list of things to look out for!

The parts were exessively expensive for what they were and if they are marking up a $10 computer fan to $200 I can't imaging what the other parts really cost Oce/Canon
Totally agree with the excessive pricing! We are lucky we were under a pricy service contract, which we initially thought was not worth it. Now you certainly won't find me telling people it's a waste of money!

Our no-name FSP computer power supply for the 250GT keeps popping. I'm a technician, so could have popped up to the local computer store, purchased one with more wattage for $60.00 and had it installed within 30 minutes. When the tech put the lady with the price list on speaker, she said if we were paying for it, it would have been a $1200 dollar replacement part! :omg:

They are the masters of markup and not much else.

Our Oce 250GT is due for laps soon. Only $1500 dollars each. Only.
 

DGS CP JD09029

CEDgraphics
I came into the shop this morning and saw an error on my printer that reads Ink Heat System Error. The machine is an Oce Arizona 360XT. Has anyone had this error before, if so was it an expensive fix?

Thank you

Eric
I've experienced this error in 460gt, I found out that the circulating pump is not working .Now the machine is working fine after replacing the parts .
 

chinaski

New Member
I'm pretty sure that your answer will help 7 years after the problem occurred :) .
It's a public forum for troubleshooting, not like he sent private DM. As long as the oce 360, and similar models, are being sold, it's highly relevant.
 

AlsEU

New Member
It's a public forum for troubleshooting, not like he sent private DM. As long as the oce 360, and similar models, are being sold, it's highly relevant.
I agree, but your solution not necessarily will work in different situations - ink heat system problem error may be caused by the faulty thermistor in the printhead, faulty heater, faulty coolant pump, faulty electronic board (one of the few), lack of the coolant or leak from the coolant system and that list is not complete.
 
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