Let the printer sit idle?

[Colin]

Since getting my Roland SP-540i about 8 years ago, I’ve basically been a slave to it in terms of not leaving it sit for more than a few days without printing. On those few 7-12 day holidays I’ve had, I left the shop heated and had someone come in and do a CMYK print to keep the heads happy.

For the first time ever, I’ve got a 3-week holiday coming up, in winter time. So my dilemma is to either turn the shop heat off (electric), and let the printer sit for all that time, or leave the heat on and have someone come in and do a CMYK print once every ~4 days.

The option of turning the heat off and letting the printer sit is tempting, because it’s obviously less hassle, but also fairly expensive to heat the space with electric heat. (As you know, the printers require a reasonably warm temperature to print). I just don’t want to come back to plugged heads.

I am using third party (Rite Media Pro Colour) inks, so not sure if that matters. The printer does turn itself on every ~8 hours and does some sort of short cleaning (?) procedure, so would that be sufficient – even if it’s cold in the shop?

 

[flyplainsdrifta]

thats tough. i mean id probably want someone to run it quickly every couple days, especially if you don't have a redundancy in the printer dept. if you can't afford to be down for potentially a day or more, depending on part and tech avails in your area, id have someone run it. if youre savvy enough to do the tech work on your own if things do go wrong, you can roll the dice. id play it safe though, especially over a 3 week period

 

[ikarasu]

Where on "Earth" are you located? As in... What will the temperature be in your shop?

We have a 2 week holiday on X-mas also. I login everyday and print a foot or so worth of material. We dont leave our heat on... But it's usually just below freezing here. If you're in a very cold climate... I'd say leave the heat on, or buy a portable heater that turns on every xx days and sit it near the printer.

You can install a remote client like Teamviewer... then just login and hit print (Make sure you're vinyl is taped up to the take up reel first!). We've done it for a few years... Takes 5 minutes to login, and no one has to come in on holidays. It's worked great for us. We're in Vancouver though... Even when theres snow it gets to like -5C max.

 

[Colin]

Where on "Earth" are you located? As in... What will the temperature be in your shop?

About the same climate as you. As you know, it can be mild, or below freezing in the PNW.

We have a 2 week holiday on X-mas also. I login everyday and print a foot or so worth of material. We don't leave our heat on, but it's usually just below freezing here. If you're in a very cold climate, I'd say leave the heat on, or buy a portable heater that turns on every xx days and sit it near the printer.

You can install a remote client like Teamviewer... then just login and hit print (Make sure you're vinyl is taped up to the take up reel first!). We've done it for a few years. It takes 5 minutes to login, and no one has to come in on holidays. It's worked great for us. We're in Vancouver though. Even when there's snow it gets to like -5C max.

I'm going to be on the other side of the planet, with no laptop, so I want to keep it simple; either leaving it off, or having someone come in. *You mean you keep the pinch rollers in the down position for all that time?

 

[ikarasu]

We use a different machine than you, so maybe your pinch rollers are different... ours is a hard plastic. And yes, our pinch rollers stay down 24/7. If they were a rubber material I might think twice, but being a hard plastic it's not going to get any flat spots - We've had our printer for 7 years, and theres always media loaded with the rollers down... Never a problem yet.

We usually waste 4-5 FT of material to make sure it's loaded on a take up reel though - That way if we print more, the print doesnt hit the ground / cause a potential head strike. We also have it setup to E-mail me if there is a head strike, or error, or it runs out of ink, or some other problem.

You could always get an employee to remote login - It's worked like a charm for us. I wouldn't leave it for weeks without printing though... You may be fine, but paying an employee for an hour or two every other day, or remote logging in beats having to spend thousands on a new print head.

Lots of people do leave it over the holidays, then they just run a few deep cleans when they're back and everything is fine. But Cost vs reward isn't worth it to me. It literally takes me 1 minute to login, hit print, and log out - I don't even charge the company to do it.

Teamviewer is really really simple too. So anyone could do it.

 

[sardocs]

I leave my sp300 idle for a couple weeks quite often. A medium clean is usually all it needs to get back up and running. Maybe you could just plug in a small oil filled heater underneath your machine set on low in case we get a real cold snap.

 

[BigfishDM]

That is a real added benefit of having latex, let it sit for months and months with no worries.

 

[Colin]

I leave my sp300 idle for a couple weeks quite often. A medium clean is usually all it needs to get back up and running. Maybe you could just plug in a small oil filled heater underneath your machine set on low in case we get a real cold snap.

Yes, what I really wonder about it the "action" the printer does all by itself every ~8 hours; if that is equivalent to doing an actual print, then doing an actual print shouldn't be necessary. (???)

 

[CanuckSigns]

Yes, what I really wonder about it the "action" the printer does all by itself every ~8 hours; if that is equivalent to doing an actual print, then doing an actual print shouldn't be necessary. (???)

As long as the printer is plugged in it will perform an automatic cleaning every 8 or so hours. During the clean it runs a bit of ink through the lines, wipes the head etc. I've had my machine idle for 2.5 weeks before for Xmas break and at most I had to do a light cleaning when I got back.

I believe you can change the frequency the machine turns on to clean itself, as added insurance you could increase this. Also make sure your ink cartridges are full before you leave, and check your cap tops to make sure they are sealing properly.

 

[Colin]

As long as the printer is plugged in it will perform an automatic cleaning every 8 or so hours. During the clean it runs a bit of ink through the lines, wipes the head etc. I've had my machine idle for 2.5 weeks before for Xmas break and at most I had to do a light cleaning when I got back.

Thanks. So you're basically saying that this automatic cleaning it does is sufficient for being off for 3 weeks? And would it be OK to leave it do this without any heat on in the shop?

I've often wondered if the obsession with doing frequent prints comes from the older days (and older printers) that didn't have this built-in automated feature.

 

[CanuckSigns]

Thanks. So you're basically saying that this automatic cleaning it does is sufficient for being off for 3 weeks? And would it be OK to leave it do this without any heat on in the shop?

I've often wondered if the obsession with doing frequent prints comes from the older days (and older printers) that didn't have this built-in automated feature.

I can't comment on the heat as our place is always heated, but I think as long as the temperature stays above 10 degrees Celsius you should be ok, can you set your heaters down low to keep it above 10?

 

[Colin]

I can't comment on the heat as our place is always heated, but I think as long as the temperature stays above 10 degrees Celsius you should be ok, can you set your heaters down low to keep it above 10?

Yes, I use two of those common free-standing oil-filled plug-in heaters that have a thermostat.

 

[jsonpaul]

Different case with new printers, we have a mimaki cjv150 and we go on a 4 week vacation and come with all nozzles in perfect condition. We leave the heat on and stay at 15C here, it is because our machine has an auto maintenance that kicks in every couple of hours to dump ink and clean the nozzles.

 

[ams]

The printer does a self clean automatically every 6 hours. Which those cleanings it circulates the ink, why do you need to print? I've left mine without printing for a week but let it self clean and it never caused an issue.
For other brands and flatbeds you do have to keep printing on it.

 

[Texas_Signmaker]

Can you setup a remote connection on your PC and send a small print job to keep the ink flowing? If you have security cameras, point one to the printer so you can see what it's doing.