JV3-160S Pump spewing cyan everywhere!

[RapidSignSystems]

Hi Folks - I'm new here and I couldn't seem to find a thread that addressed my particular problem so here it is:

The area under and around the pump connected to my cyan/yellow capping station is covered in cyan ink! It seems as though some part of the pump is leaking, especially because of the spray patterns of cyan ink on the side of the LCD encasement... Has anyone ever had this problem before? And, if so, could you figure out why the pump was leaking? (And what you did to fix it, if anything aside from the obvious replacement of the pump?)

Not only is there the problem of the pump leaking but now the cyan and yellow portions of the test prints I've been doing are coming out incomplete and muddy. The yellow pattern is broken and green, and the cyan pattern is green and lighter than normal... :|

Backstory: I am a 26 year old graphic designer who has been tasked with the upkeep and maintenance of my shop's JV3 for the past year. So far, so good, and I've been able to figure out most basic mechanical problems (head clogs, capping station replacement, banding etc.) myself or with the help of a sister sign shop - but I'm definitely not qualified or trained to do this in any way. It's basically been a situation born out of the necessity to save our shop as much money as possible... Please help! I think I'm in over my head!

Thank you - Lisa

 

[J Hill Designs]

replace pump, or if you can find some, replace tubing inside pump (fairly easy system)

 

[RapidSignSystems]

Sounds like a plan... I was hoping there was something I could fiddle with but I guess it's just a case of a crappy pump on it's last legs! I'm assuming that the problem with the yellow/cyan ink head will resolve itself with a new (working) pump.

Thanks!

 

[J Hill Designs]

yeah my guess is the pump tube is shot, therefore not sucking ink down out of the capping station, therefore causing ink contamination (yellow+blue=green)

 

[artbot]

if you are running cmyk lm lc ss, (which it seem you are) and not currently running the ss channels, steal the pump line off the ss and hook it to the cap tube coming from your CY and you are back and running while waiting for parts (new tube).

also, is it leaking from the pump, or from above the pump?

 

[RapidSignSystems]

Understood. Well, under further examination it looks like both pumps are shot, one is just leaking more than the other.

As a follow up question, could you point me in the direction of a quality pump with extended drainage tubing perhaps? My boss bought the cheapest ones we could find on ebay and they are obviously not standing up to the test of time (it's only been a couple months)... This is unless, of course, there is some incorrect way of changing pumps but I'm 99% positive I did it correctly...

(Sorry for the extra questions, it's my responsibility to fix this stuff and my boss doesn't really know what I do or how I do it... it's one of those "as long as it works, I don't care" situations :/)

 

[RapidSignSystems]

if you are running cmyk lm lc ss, (which it seem you are) and not currently running the ss channels, steal the pump line off the ss and hook it to the cap tube coming from your CY and you are back and running while waiting for parts (new tube).

also, is it leaking from the pump, or from above the pump?

You are correct, sir. That's a good plan for the interim... And when I unscrew and remove the pump, it's sitting in a little puddle of cyan ink...

 

[J Hill Designs]

here?

http://www.fieldcenterusa.com/products/Solvent-Ink-Pump-.html

or...

http://www.solventinkjet.com/mimaki_parts.html

 

[RapidSignSystems]

Thx - I think they look about the same, compared to the ones we got previously which were these:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Mimaki-Ink-Pump...295?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item563731ed17

What we really need are these (with the extended tubing):

http://cgi.ebay.com/Mimaki-Ink-Pump...382?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3a5475b8fe

I just wanted to see if the whole ebay thing threw up any red flags for anyone because they got crappy parts from a seller on there or something... I'll continue to look and I appreciate the help!