Ink lines from cartridge to the head are empty.

[john111]

Hello

I would need help with my roland sc-540 ,but mimaki or mutoh owner should be able to help as well,as it looks like an universal problem. I bought a used sc540,
which has been packed by a roland tech. All the ink was pumped out . After I plugged it in it asked so ink refill which i did,but only 3 lines are full of ink.

SC 540 has 6 heads and 3 pumps.

Head group A=B,C.......................both cyan lines are full,black are empty
Head group B=M,Y.......................all lines are empty
Head group C=LC,LM ...................one LM line is full

I can see pumps pumping,there is no ink leak, what could be a problem?

Thank you for your help.

 

[sfr table hockey]

First make sure all the carts are set into the printer all the way. If all the carts are sticking out the same then they should all be set right. (compare them to the couple cart lines that did fill).

Next you may have a blockage in some of the drain lines or (not sure on your printer) the lines that run from the captops to the pump. You can try to draw with a syringe attached to the drain line and see if you can get any draw or does the syringe suck back in due to a blockage.

You might also want to draw ink into the heads manually so that the printer won't just re fill lines that are working and end up dumping a pile of ink. Now that the printer had done what it thought was a fill, it should not ask for that again.

To draw each line you should be able to attach a syringe to each captop (one at a time) and draw ink to fill the line and dampers. Once you do that and can confirm the rest of the drain lines are not plugged to a few reg cleaning cycles and a test print. It can take a few cleaning to get all heads working propper.

If you can't draw anything with the syringe method then the captops may not be sealing right but that would be a lot that are not set propper.

Hello

I would need help with my roland sc-540 ,but mimaki or mutoh owner should be able to help as well,as it looks like an universal problem. I bought a used sc540,
which has been packed by a roland tech. All the ink was pumped out . After I plugged it in it asked so ink refill which i did,but only 3 lines are full of ink.

SC 540 has 6 heads and 3 pumps.

Head group A=B,C.......................both cyan lines are full,black are empty
Head group B=M,Y.......................all lines are empty
Head group C=LC,LM ...................one LM line is full

I can see pumps pumping,there is no ink leak, what could be a problem?

Thank you for your help.

 

[john111]

First make sure all the carts are set into the printer all the way. If all the carts are sticking out the same then they should all be set right. (compare them to the couple cart lines that did fill).

Next you may have a blockage in some of the drain lines or (not sure on your printer) the lines that run from the captops to the pump. You can try to draw with a syringe attached to the drain line and see if you can get any draw or does the syringe suck back in due to a blockage.

You might also want to draw ink into the heads manually so that the printer won't just re fill lines that are working and end up dumping a pile of ink. Now that the printer had done what it thought was a fill, it should not ask for that again.

To draw each line you should be able to attach a syringe to each captop (one at a time) and draw ink to fill the line and dampers. Once you do that and can confirm the rest of the drain lines are not plugged to a few reg cleaning cycles and a test print. It can take a few cleaning to get all heads working propper.

If you can't draw anything with the syringe method then the captops may not be sealing right but that would be a lot that are not set propper.

I tried to fill ink lines right above dampers and ink line would fill with ink.
When I tried to fill ink lines at the captops ink lines would not fill . So it seems that captops are bad . But i tried to pull ink through cyan captop where both cyan lines (each head has two cyan lines) are full of ink ink,but no ink was getting into a syringe. I checked the head manifold ,but it is clear.Any other sugestions?Thanks,

 

[artbot]

turn off all noise making things (a/c, pc's, etc). pull a vacuum with a syringe from below the cap and listen for an air leak. if you have an automotive stethoscope that would be ideal. but you call also use your good old ear, or a tube to that location.

there are a lot of ways isolate this issue. captop swaps, pump tube swaps, a damper swaps. the basic idea is to put other sources of ink or vacuum at different places to see if you get different results. i wouldn't do any more ink fills. just get the ink to the damper and start isolating the issue to captop, pump, manifold, damper etc, by pulling with a syringe from the waste line or below the cap/tube.

 

[john111]

turn off all noise making things (a/c, pc's, etc). pull a vacuum with a syringe from below the cap and listen for an air leak. if you have an automotive stethoscope that would be ideal. but you call also use your good old ear, or a tube to that location.

there are a lot of ways isolate this issue. captop swaps, pump tube swaps, a damper swaps. the basic idea is to put other sources of ink or vacuum at different places to see if you get different results. i wouldn't do any more ink fills. just get the ink to the damper and start isolating the issue to captop, pump, manifold, damper etc, by pulling with a syringe from the waste line or below the cap/tube.

I sound as if head was not sitting tight on the captop . I can hear air leak between captop and the head.

 

[john111]

Thanks for your help.I eventually found out,that the heads were not centered on the captops and I found a small crack in the manifold. After centering the heads ,leaks stopped and pumps started to pump the ink.

 

[artbot]

you also replaced the manifold, right?

 

[john111]

you also replaced the manifold, right?

I will replace the manifold soon. I wish I found out sooner what the problem was.It never occurred to me that a leak was caused by the heads that were little of center.

 

[artbot]

my favorite method for checking the cap alignment was something i picked up off this board.

paint the top of the caps with black solvent ink. then gently park the carriage onto the capping station at top dead center. then pull the carriage off to the left again and with a flash light inspect the bottom of your heads. there will be an imprint of where the caps are making contact.

also brand new "unconditioned" caps can leak, as well (with mimaki) the springs beneath the caps getting weak (i just stretch them out a bit to add more force).

 

[richsven]

Hi, I have a similar problem with a XC-540 Soljet Pro III with the mangenta. I checked the line that goes from the captop to the pump and it was clogged, I ran cleaning fluid through it until I got just clear fluid running through it, I also ran cleaning fluid through the captop. The heads seems to seat properly (no leaks) on the captops. One question: if the heads are parked and sealing properly on the captops, with the machine turned off (totally with the swithc on the back of the printer) and I try to suck with a syringe on the line (the end that connects to the pump input), should I see ink coming into the syringe or the heads are closed/blocked (electronically) when the power is off and the syringe shouldn't suck anything indicating that there are no leaks and the heads? If I fill the dampers (sucking ink into them with a syringe) and print mangenta comes out just for a few passes, then there is no more ink, even after a medium cleaning procedure.
Regards,