JV33-160 One whole side of Magenta Missing from print head

[javierunzueta]

Problem:
About a year ago there all my jobs started having a tint of green. I noticed that if I add magenta in Photoshop, I could compensate (somewhat). I have already berated myself for not doing my daily test draws. I finally ran a test draw (first in a year) and saw my Left Side of the Magenta completely missing (Right side Magenta and all CYK were 100%)

Procedure:
I have performed numerous head cleanings in the hopes that it's a seriously clogged head. I have done a nozzle wash (soaked 24 hours at a time) each day for the past 4 days.
In an attempt to help the procedure along, I took a manual engraver and placed it against to metal near the head (a couple of times for a minute or so each time) in hopes that the vibrations would translate and help the procedure along.

Per my Mimaki tech's suggestion, I filled the cap with acetone and soaked the head for 20 minutes.

While the other nozzles are spotless, the left magenta test draw remains completely blank.

All dampers are full. Hoses full. Pump is fine. I've been printing regularly unknowingly on the rest of the head for over a year. Ink has never been expired and I always had the second ink (CCMMYYKK) full. SS21 Inks from Mimaki always. Printer is 3 years old.

Note: Since I had the Pre-fill solution in the head cleaning slot, it never told me I was out. I have been running this way for I can't say how long. (I was told that it's the same solution, only that the pre-fill won't let you know to change it. Wish I knew that before.)

Questions:
1. My tech says he has never ever had a clogged head that wasn't recoverable. Any truth to that?

2. Is this common after a long time or is it possible it's the damper or slider board?

3. Should I continue my overnight nozzle washes to endeavor to unclog it?

I would greatly appreciate any assistance. I will be happy to post any and all tests and results until I resolve this.

Javier

 

[MikePro]

Questions:
1. My tech says he has never ever had a clogged head that wasn't recoverable. Any truth to that?

2. Is this common after a long time or is it possible it's the damper or slider board?

3. Should I continue my overnight nozzle washes to endeavor to unclog it?

I would greatly appreciate any assistance. I will be happy to post any and all tests and results until I resolve this.

Javier

1) might be true that HE has never had an instance. although "recovery" procedures might end up frying your head anyways.... but if he's confident he can fix it for around $1k, take him up on it. Otherwise, you can always buy your own brand-new printhead for ~$800-1200, whereas most techs. will do it for you for ~$1500-1800.
(takes me about 30min to swap in a new printhead... alignment is a bitch tho')
2) if a couple of overnight washes haven't done the trick... the next, and more reckless, step would be to try and force cleaning solution through the head with a syringe. be ULTRAcareful when doing so, as dripping fluid/ink on any electrical parts could do more damage to other expensive parts on your printer.

3) try to stay away from using pure Acetone, as it is a bit more abrasive than normal cleaning solution for printers. You may end up burning through your capping station, or melting it to your printhead... I make my own cleaning solution with Acetone, but I cut it with LOADS of butyl cellusolve. (6-1, i believe)

 

[javierunzueta]

I'm so used to seeing the occasional missing line on other printers. It's so strange to me to see a head missing one whole color at a time. It leads me to believe strongly believe it's NOT a clog, but rather an electrical issue... I mean... one whole color clogged? Does it happen this way with the DX5? Is there any simple way to confirm one way or another short of swapping heads?

 

[MikePro]

i'd respond, but I cannot... as I rock a JV3-160 and my CMYK operate on 4 different heads with 2 channels each.

... but I have had an instance where only 1/2 of my Magenta was working and found out it was a result of dripping ink onto 1/2 of the ribbon cables powering the head (while replacing my Cyan head), and there was no recovery for it... i ended up replacing the whole head.

I've also had an instance like this, when I tried doing a system flush with an empty cleaning cartridge(accidentally)... and after the system pumped out the ink, the line was full of air and therefore could not pump ink back through the line... thus starving the head of ink, and "printing" a blank test on that particular channel. I fixed it by using a large syringe to draw ink back through the line and damper and, before i hooked the damper back up, I "primed the head"by injecting ink through the head at about <1cc/second (don't go too fast if you decide to try). Made a HUGE mess, but my head started working again!

don't take my advice about using a syringe, just yet.... as I am basing it off my own experience with the Epson DX4 heads on my printer.
I'm sure someone, more experienced than I, will comment on this come monday.
But if I were to have 1 last attempt at a pearl of wisdom, I'd say that:
I've never worked on the DX5 but, as it houses all your channels into 1 head, I'd say your clog is more ink-line based rather than electrical. Regardless, a nozzle clog usually doesn't take out the entire channel... head soaks just won't do the trick, your problem is above the head imho.

 

[muelli75]

Hi!


Got the same problem today. I run out of ink while printing with my unstable bulk-system - so the magenta-lines where sucked completly empty. Sadly I recogniced this 12 hours later.
So the last magenta-ink clogged both channels in the printhead of my jv33-260. The right channel worked after fill the lines with a syringe (how to to that is often described in this forum) and doing some cleanings and ink-fill-ups.

The left magenta-channel was very hard to get to work. I placeed the printhead in the left maintenance-box and put some cloths in the box. I connected a syringe filled with some cleaning-liquid to a tube and than to a fresh damper. Then I connected the damper to the clogged channel on the printhead und pushed slowly and carefully aprox. 20 ml cleaningliquid through the channel (aprox 1 ml/second). After that - it worked.

Maybe this hint helps someone sometime.


Martin

 

[gregwallace]

I'm not too familiar with the dx-5 so correct me if I'm wrong. You need to determine if its an electrical or ink delivery related issue. For instance, when you run a cleaning cycle the jets dont actually fire. The pumps pull ink through them. So say if you put cyan cartridges in the magenta slots and both of the dampers filled up with cyan ink then you would definately have an electrical issue. The pumps would drain the remaining magenta ink from the lines and pull cyan ink in right behind it confirming ink flow. Do not try that. Do you have cleaning cartridges that you could put in the magenta channels? If the lines start to become clear from the cleaning solution then you would have ink flow. If you replaced the damper above the bad magenta side would the ink drain into the damper on its own. If it doesnt then you could run a cleaning cycle and if the damper fills with ink the heads are not clogged. If all of the nozzles are clogged than the pumps would have no effect on the damper or ink line above the head.
Not sure if any of this helps.