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manual cleaning of Mimaki DX7 head

Forty One

Make signs they said... It'll be fun they said...
I purchased a CJV150 for nix, Mainly because it came with ONYX and i wanted that more than the printer.
I was told there were issues with the printer and it's been sitting dormant for a good 6 months.

Long story short, I've managed to get it back up and running except the print head has multiple clogged channels.
I've done as many cleans and nozzle soaks as I think it's going to handle, so if I can get a decent price on a print head, I'll think I'll make some good coin back on it.

Before I go down that rabbit hole, has anyone had any luck with manual cleaning like in this video?

I've got nothing to loose trying this method, if at least for the experience and laughs.
Would like to hear of anyone's experience doing this and any tips they can recommend.
I know to go easy on the pressure and let it soak.
 

Solventinkjet

DIY Printer Fixing Guide
I've flushed many heads in my career and would say that it generally recovers nozzles but only clears them 100% about 30% of the time. It all depends on how old the head is and how clogged it is. Also, nozzles that are physically damaged simply won't recover. You do run a risk of breaking the membrane inside the head that separates the channels but as you said, you're sort of on your last resort anyway.
 

Forty One

Make signs they said... It'll be fun they said...
For anyone wo was interested in if this worked or not, here's the outcome...

I managed to get the 4 of 8 colours to flow again.
The metallic silver and white. Just give up. It was far too clogged to get it going.
The other 2 colours, magenta and Light black did manage to get some ink flowing again but not what anyone would call a success. The nozzle check did not provide any great results.

What did I learn?
yes. You could manage to resurrect a clogged print head this way, but as Solventinkjet commented, the success rate is low.
I now know how to flush lines, replace dampers, disassemble and reassemble a print head.

Now follow me on the next update on replacing the head completely with a new one. :/
 
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