Need Help L25500 Jamming

[Kelcy Deeds]

Hey Guys. So I got my l25500 early last year and ive done alot of printing with it and its been pretty good as far as maintenance goes, BUT ever since i got the printer ive realized that it jams EXTREMELY easy. is this normal for these printers or is there something wrong with the printer? someone mentioned the carriage felts. Can anyone give me info on how to order these and if its an easy change or a lengthy process, also, im not in the USA so theres no support where i am. Also i have another question, is there any way to print with only one of the two C-LC printheads working? i had a jam yesterday for absolutely no reason at all, put in a brand new roll of 15oz banner and cut off the first few feet just to make sure that the printer didnt catch on any imperfections on the roll and then i did the same preset i normally do which tends to usually work great, and the i got a bad jam and ruined two of the C-LC printheads. I had one on hand but the rest of my stock is currently in transit and it takes two weeks to get anything here. So yeah, like i asked, is there anyway for the printer to just use the one printhead and accept the faulty one?

 

[spooledUP7]

The Latex series is vulnerable to head strikes and media jams because of the heat that is applied by the dryer. Banner media is more prone because it gets very soft when hot and there isn't any liner to hold it stiff.

Be sure to select "Banner" when loading banner as it increases the vacuum. You should also make sure your profile you are using is for banner as well since it will override the built-in presets for loaded media.

When I print banners I have my profile preset with the lowest temp I can print with and I feed the material past the curing heaters. In some cases I actually have to have the media attached to the take-up prior to printing.

As for the print heads you can try the following.

• Enter the Replace Print Head and follow the steps
• Remove the two C/LC heads
  
• Soak a soft towel with 91% rubbing alcohol (Hot Distilled Water was suggested to me from a fellow Signs101 member who based on his signature seems to be an authority on the subject. I have never tried this but I will give it a go the next time for sure. I am not sure if he would be authorized to make this suggestion so I am making it on his behalf)
  
• Run the heads in plus shape pattern on the wet towel
• Squeeze print head from its side while pressing it against a dry towel
• You should see two parallel lines, one for C and one for LC
• If you only see one line then repeat the cleaning process
• If you can get at least half to 3/4 of each line to appear then you can stop the cleaning
• Re-insert the print heads and let the printer do its print head alignment test. You will need regular print vinyl larger than 30" in the printer to complete the alignment.

Reload the Banner Material with extending material past curing unit.

• When you send the next job do it in the smallest batches possible rather than a run
• Also, enable Extra Print Head Cleaning in the Ink/Image Quality Maintenance/Enable Extra PH Cleaning menu.
• Lower you drying temp in the Ink/Image Quality Maintenance/Adjust Printer Peram/Adjust Drying Temp and watch for changes in dryness as the print exits the printer. If it gets too wet then you found your lowest limit. Use this limit in your profile presets for future prints using this specific media.
  
• Use the edge guards if you see the material curling. (I personally rather have the heads hit the vinyl than the metal edge guards but HP made them for a reason.

 

[Santimus]

The Latex series is vulnerable to head strikes and media jams because of the heat that is applied by the dryer. Banner media is more prone because it gets very soft when hot and there isn't any liner to hold it stiff.

Yup. For the most part i don't miss this machine. The head strikes were random throughout the day and leaving it printing overnight was always a gamble - even if observed for an hour without any problems before leaving it alone.
There are add-on magnetic edge holders that are quite expensive for how small they are. DO NOT buy them. They wouldn't work all the time and since they are metal the head strikes were way worse.

 

[spooledUP7]

Yup. For the most part i don't miss this machine. The head strikes were random throughout the day and leaving it printing overnight was always a gamble - even if observed for an hour without any problems before leaving it alone.
There are add-on magnetic edge holders that are quite expensive for how small they are. DO NOT buy them. They wouldn't work all the time and since they are metal the head strikes were way worse.

Amen to unattended printing with this printer. For whatever reason unattended prints almost always result in some sort of calamity, but when it's being watched... totally obedient.

It's some spooky behavior and in order to combat losing jobs running unattended I have installed a web camera to watch it and guess what, it freaking works. Makes no sense, but for whatever reason it works.

As for the edge holders they were included with my printer when I bought it new so I don't know how expensive they are, but I am sure they are a pretty penny and I would also not recommend buying them to solve this problem. Maybe for a fabric or paper, but not canvas or scrim. I would feel more comfortable using them if they screwed into place vs the magnets.