• I want to thank all the members that have upgraded your accounts. I truly appreciate your support of the site monetarily. Supporting the site keeps this site up and running as a lot of work daily goes on behind the scenes. Click to Support Signs101 ...

Mimaki CJV30 ink cartridge not empty

AdamDG

AdamDG

New Member
Hey everyone,

I have a question regarding my mimaki cjv30-160 printer ink cartridges. We recently purchased a set of 4 cmyk inks from our supplier as 3 had gone empty so we wanted to get backups. When removing the supposedly empty cartridge they still felt as if they had some ink left. We contacted our supplier who informed that it is usually the case to have some extra in the cartridge but that the chip reads how much has been pushed out and once it hits the 440 limit it then shows as empty. Which I can understand but we decided to crack open one of the cases and there seems to be in and around half of the cartridge left of ink.
Wondering if anyone else has run into this and if there is any solutions, seems like quite the waste of ink, not sure if its a printer issue or the chip on the cartridge but we don't just want to throw out the remaining ink as its quite a bit of waste.
Any info is appreciated!

Adam
Diamond Graphix
 
ironchef

ironchef

New Member
I've heard in the past the oem mimaki inks leave 13%. I think it's fine to avoid air getting in the lines

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk
 
AdamDG

AdamDG

New Member
ironchef said:
I've heard in the past the oem mimaki inks leave 13%. I think it's fine to avoid air getting in the lines

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

I know it won't be completely empty so air won't get into the lines but it is much more than 14%. I would say closer to half
 
D

Dangreenst

New Member
AdamDG said:
Hey everyone,

I have a question regarding my mimaki cjv30-160 printer ink cartridges. We recently purchased a set of 4 cmyk inks from our supplier as 3 had gone empty so we wanted to get backups. When removing the supposedly empty cartridge they still felt as if they had some ink left. We contacted our supplier who informed that it is usually the case to have some extra in the cartridge but that the chip reads how much has been pushed out and once it hits the 440 limit it then shows as empty. Which I can understand but we decided to crack open one of the cases and there seems to be in and around half of the cartridge left of ink.
Wondering if anyone else has run into this and if there is any solutions, seems like quite the waste of ink, not sure if its a printer issue or the chip on the cartridge but we don't just want to throw out the remaining ink as its quite a bit of waste.
Any info is appreciated!

Adam
Diamond Graphix
Click to expand...


The chips do not know what is left in the carts. They only estimate based on the run cycles of the pumps. Best option is to install refillable cartridges so you can see what is in there and never leave any leftover inks.
 
G

Goodtimes808

We Print Almost Everything
AdamDG said:
Hey everyone,

I have a question regarding my mimaki cjv30-160 printer ink cartridges. We recently purchased a set of 4 cmyk inks from our supplier as 3 had gone empty so we wanted to get backups. When removing the supposedly empty cartridge they still felt as if they had some ink left. We contacted our supplier who informed that it is usually the case to have some extra in the cartridge but that the chip reads how much has been pushed out and once it hits the 440 limit it then shows as empty. Which I can understand but we decided to crack open one of the cases and there seems to be in and around half of the cartridge left of ink.
Wondering if anyone else has run into this and if there is any solutions, seems like quite the waste of ink, not sure if its a printer issue or the chip on the cartridge but we don't just want to throw out the remaining ink as its quite a bit of waste.
Any info is appreciated!

Adam
Diamond Graphix
Click to expand...

We run the same inks on 2 Mimaki machines and they are completely empty with nothing left when done. I must have gone through hundreds of them over the years. Where are you buying inks from? They have a shelf life and sometimes the chip goes bad. Always check the date when you get them. I have heard of suppliers sending out dated ink sets. It happened to us one time. Also, if you have a problem with a cartridge you can try and change the chip out with an old chip, just make sure its from the same color. I would start with checking the date. We get our inks from Nglatnz and Tubelite.
 
C

clay590

New Member
AdamDG said:
Hey everyone,

I have a question regarding my mimaki cjv30-160 printer ink cartridges. We recently purchased a set of 4 cmyk inks from our supplier as 3 had gone empty so we wanted to get backups. When removing the supposedly empty cartridge they still felt as if they had some ink left. We contacted our supplier who informed that it is usually the case to have some extra in the cartridge but that the chip reads how much has been pushed out and once it hits the 440 limit it then shows as empty. Which I can understand but we decided to crack open one of the cases and there seems to be in and around half of the cartridge left of ink.
Wondering if anyone else has run into this and if there is any solutions, seems like quite the waste of ink, not sure if its a printer issue or the chip on the cartridge but we don't just want to throw out the remaining ink as its quite a bit of waste.
Any info is appreciated!

Adam
Diamond Graphix
Click to expand...
I am experiencing the same problem. I noticed recently when changing the magenta and black they were no empty and the date code was still good. Today I replaced the cyan and yellow that displayed empty. The magenta is over half full. I didn't think I had used that much ink when it said it was empty. When I installed the ink and checked the levels on Rasterlink it said they were full.
 
AdamDG

AdamDG

New Member
Goodtimes808 said:
We run the same inks on 2 Mimaki machines and they are completely empty with nothing left when done. I must have gone through hundreds of them over the years. Where are you buying inks from? They have a shelf life and sometimes the chip goes bad. Always check the date when you get them. I have heard of suppliers sending out dated ink sets. It happened to us one time. Also, if you have a problem with a cartridge you can try and change the chip out with an old chip, just make sure its from the same color. I would start with checking the date. We get our inks from Nglatnz and Tubelite.
Click to expand...

We have been buying them from the same supplier we got the machine from, and are the ones claiming it should leave some ink, but like i said it's definitely much more than what is said to be left.
I'll have to contact the supplier regarding the dates as there is nothing that looks like a date on the cartridges.
Just had to replace the magenta and it was completely empty so not sure whats going on
 
Solventinkjet

Solventinkjet

DIY Printer Fixing Guide
Large amounts of ink left in the ink cartridge usually means your maintenance station is not working 100%. As stated above, the chips only guess at how much ink is being used. If the machine isn't pulling enough ink when doing cleaning cycles, it will leave you with a cartridge that thinks it's empty but isn't.
 
AdamDG

AdamDG

New Member
VanderJ said:
Large amounts of ink left in the ink cartridge usually means your maintenance station is not working 100%. As stated above, the chips only guess at how much ink is being used. If the machine isn't pulling enough ink when doing cleaning cycles, it will leave you with a cartridge that thinks it's empty but isn't.
Click to expand...

How do I check how much ink its pulling when its running through a cleaning cycle?
 
Solventinkjet

Solventinkjet

DIY Printer Fixing Guide
There is no official way other than catching it in a measuring cup. Even then, it won't tell you much. You should be changing the cap top once per year regardless and while you are in there you can flush the pump tubes to make sure they aren't clogged. If the problem doesn't go away after changing the cap top, it could be a weak pump. Pumps are harder to tell if they are not working properly but I usually change them if they are over 3 years old or can see ink leaking out of the bottom.
 
AdamDG

AdamDG

New Member
VanderJ said:
There is no official way other than catching it in a measuring cup. Even then, it won't tell you much. You should be changing the cap top once per year regardless and while you are in there you can flush the pump tubes to make sure they aren't clogged. If the problem doesn't go away after changing the cap top, it could be a weak pump. Pumps are harder to tell if they are not working properly but I usually change them if they are over 3 years old or can see ink leaking out of the bottom.
Click to expand...

Okay something to check on when I have the time for sure. Haven't even had the machine for a year yet, bought it from a sign supply place with a one year warranty. They were supposed to have refurbished it and he was confident in it so he gave us the 1 yr warranty on him, and we've been having a ton of print cut issues, had their tech out here last week and spent 5 hours doing adjustments and then at the end of the day, found the encoder strip was in the wrong slots in the middle which was causing it to hit the head and all sorts of issues. And now we're having to do a wack load of adjustments to get it back and its becoming a pain. I've spent almost 2 whole days going back and forth on the phone with a tech telling me to try this value then this value... I'm ready to just take a sledgehammer to the thing and drop it back off to them lol
Lost a lot of faith in this company and some of its employees
 
D

DonCorleone

New Member
I had a mimaki UJF printer with this same issue, I can’t either figure out why (maybe something to do with the printers calibration and reporting back to the chip the incorrect ink usage).
That said I did find a solution that has worked for me to make use of the remaining ink in my cartridges/ink bags.
There is a small distribution company in the US that programs mimaki chips and offers free shipping, I won’t promote, but they can be found by searching ‘Mimaki Chips’ online. For the cost of under $20 I can buy a new replacement chip, install it, and use the rest of my remaining ink. For me, there’s always more than $20 of ink left if not substantially more so it always is of benefit to me.
 
N

nimonogi

New Member
There is no official way other than catching it in a measuring cup. Even then, it won't tell you much. You should be changing the cap top once per year regardless and while you are in there you can flush the pump tubes to make sure they aren't clogged. If the problem doesn't go away after changing the cap top, it could be a weak pump. Pumps are harder to tell if they are not working properly but I usually change them if they are over 3 years old or can see ink leaking out of the bottom.
Click to expand...

Solventinkjet I am having the exact same problem. Also the machine says that the waste tank is full but is less than half. Any solutions to this problem?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top