JV3 and JV33 non stop!!!

[heyskull]

I was over at a friends screen printing business on Wednesday.
Over the last 3 years he has diversified into digital printing (mainly by my advice) and now has a JV3 and a JV33.

I was at his premises and the young guy who runs these machines was fighting with getting a print to look good with loads of nozzles out!
Now in my experience with my VJ 1604 I leave the head in soak in cleaning solution over the weekend and come Monday morning after a few cleans it prints perfect.

Here's the problem and I couldn't believe it.
Both machines have been printing almost continously since the start of the year!!! They come in over the weekend to carry the printing on.
The print quality was absolute horrendous on both machines and I have no idea how they were getting customers to accept it.
The guy who runs the machines was at his wits end trying to get round this problem without holding up print runs.

My friend couldn't understand why this happens and why time soaking or a replacement head was the only answer!!
I had to explain in screenprinters terms that it was like a blocked part on a screen and the only way to sort it was to stop printing and clean the screen.

I left him pulling his hair out trying to get yet another print run out in time.
His lack of maintenance was actually slowing him down but he can't see this!

SC

 

[artbot]

i added this replumb recently to the back of my printer. makes head soaks and other diagnostics very easy.

 

[heyskull]

artbot
I seriously don't think he has time to do anything like that!!!...LOL
Good Mod though.

I think the only option he has is to buy yet another printer to take one offline to clean it!

SC

 

[steiny]

Not cleaning your printheads is like not changing the oil and filter in your car. Recipe for disaster. Total head replacement looms in his future. $$$$$$. On Mutoh ValueJets, five minutes 2x per week is all it takes. Miamki's can't be much different.

 

[Letterbox Mike]

For real, if he's running two of those 24/7 for months on end to the point he's literally destroying the printers he needs to step up to a serious production printer like an XL1500 or something... That's just downright stupid to pigeonhole yourself to the point your workload prevents you from even being able to perform basic and necessary maintenance procedures on your equipment. At the rate he's going those printers will be dead in a few months, or at least the heads will...

 

[StopSignGraphics]

I've ran my Mimaki for 18 - 20 hours a day for 3 to 5 days straight several times. I found that soaking the heads at least once if not twice a day made a big difference in the print quality.

A short soak seems to be sufficient as long as it's done regularly. My rule of thumb was to soak the heads every 3 or 4 roll changes on the machine. Usually 5 minutes seems sufficient. Usually I'd soak the heads while I was loading up a fresh roll.

 

[Rooster]

The JV33 in particular seems to benefit greatly from keeping the area around the head clean. Considering how little you wipe off during the cleaning process it always amazes me what a difference it makes.

Your friend is either selling his work far too cheap or is far too cheap himself. If he's been running the machines that hard he should have another one in place to allow some time to keep them properly maintained. The redundancy will give him some leeway in the event of equipment failure, plus expand his production capacity and at the very least save him some trips into the shop on weekends.

 

[thewood]

It doesn't sound like it's the volume of printing that is taking a toll on the machines, rather the complete lack of maintenance. These printers must be cleaned daily at least, and the cleanings/soaks can be done in a matter of minutes. In my experience, the best thing you can do to maintain these printers is to keep them printing constantly. Sitting dormant is much worse than running them constantly. Running a JV3 for 24 hours consecutively (with short breaks for cleaning) is no worse for the printheads than running them for 24 hours broken into (3) eight-hour work days.

Now, if the operator can't afford 10 minutes a day to maintain the machine and understand the necessity of such cleanings there is something wrong.

Perhaps, the shop should consider another printer(s) that can better meet their volume. But that printer will still need to be cleaned and maintained properly.

 

[signswi]

A 5 minute custody wash between runs isn't going to kill his production (making sure to clean the wiper). For that matter neither will the 5 minutes it takes to run a print.adjust once a week. Guy sounds like he's heading towards trashing his machine. Ask him how much 5 minutes of his time a day is worth vs. four new print heads every 6 months, or pissing off customers with shoddy work.