Mimaki gods dont want me printing!!!!

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Ok this has not been my month. Ive seen another thread with this problem but never really got what the problem was. The cyan head is spraying overspray everywhere. Looks worse in person. Where do I go from here. Thanks!

 

[rushworks graphics]

don't own your make of printer but......it could be static or a bad head. try cleaning the heads so they are spotless. make sure your humidity is good as well as temps in the area of the printer.

 

[MikePro]

everytime i've dealt with overspray... it has always boiled down to needing a new printhead asap. the longer your printer is down and the time you spend hoping to find another answer (you won't... buuuuuut the last chance effort would be to head wash, which flushes your entire line and printhead and replenishes your head with fresh ink, and hope for improvement) , makes the $800 printhead worthwhile.

 

[Banners Plus]

I will die if its a print head! This print head is only 6 months old and not a scratch on it. Im doing a nozzle wash right now...... Very frustrating! This is the first time ever seeing the overspray and we have had the machine for + or - 10 years now.

 

[Banners Plus]

Thanks for the info by the way

 

[rushworks graphics]

whats your humidity level like in the print area?

 

[Banners Plus]

Good question and I have no idea..... Let me see if I can figure that out.

 

[MikePro]

final diagnostic procedures: power down the printer, and pull the ribbon cables. check for ink spatter, kinks in the cable, or other debris, reseat the cables gently like you would a RAM upgrade, power-up and test.

if that fails:
try an overnight wash: set the nozzle wash, and power-down your printer. let it sit overnight and give it a go.

if that fails:
get some cleaning cartridges and do a head wash. (you only need 4, since you can select 12xx or xx34 when you're setting it. you also only need 2 full wash carts if you disconnect the pump line for the color you don't want to run the cycle on... the printer thinks its running the cycle, but with no pump, there's nothing being pulled from the channel). A fresh line/damper/head of ink, guaranteed to have no air bubbles, is the surest way to narrow down your diagnosis to being within the head itself.

if that fails:
get a new printhead. or lease a new printer and part-out your 3/4 headed printer for a couple grand

 

[rushworks graphics]

humidity/heat level will effect the printer performance for sure. its important to try and have a contolled level if you can in the print room.

we have a little clock/temp/humidity device that we look at to make sure the levels are all good for us.

 

[MikePro]

humidity/heat level will effect the printer performance for sure. its important to try and have a contolled level if you can in the print room.

we have a little clock/temp/humidity device that we look at to make sure the levels are all good for us.

i have these as well, and it IS good to control your environment, but also noted that differences in humidity and temperature can hardly cause issues isolated within a single printhead.

 

[rushworks graphics]

granted....but it looks like a static issue and that can be caused by humidity. may not be static, may just be a bad head........

 

[artbot]

it's probably the printhead going out. but i'd do a data swap and a ribbon swap (also inspecting like mikepro suggested)
and observe if the issue moves around before ordering a head.

 

[MikePro]

i remember when my first head was starting to go, our tech gave me a million things to look at, one including static, but also told me that we also might need a new printhead.
He left, without fixing a thing, we paid him $500 for the trip, bought a $100 humidifier, burned another $200 in materials/ink trying to print projects limping on an overspraying head, and spent countless hours stressing about what else it could be....

in the end, I secretly cursed the tech. for his lack of definitive answer and never called him again. I learned how to install my own printhead (instead of his quoted $1500) and have replaced 3 of my own now in the past two years. It sucks, really, but I'm just trying to save you some time/effort.

also noted: I've had some overspray issues fixed via headwash. Its a pain since the carts are like $60 a pop (and you only get like 2-3 headwashes out of them... although I now refill my old ones myself for like $5 each), and you burn a TON of ink, but its a BIG sigh of relief if it pans out.

 

[Robert M]

Inks

What kind of ink are you using? We have been seeing some third party ink issues this month.

 

[Banners Plus]

We have used nothing but factory ink for the life of this machine.

 

[cartoad]

Good luck,
We ended up installing a new print head on our Roland, just got the printer back together about 30 minutes ago after test prints, and printing fine! Was a paint to change the print head, but labor savings was great, had to do some fine adjustments, but can be done. Try to get a service manual for your machine, big help!!

 

[eforer]

Do you have nozzles deflecting badly on your test draw? If the test draw has a lot of deflecting nozzles, probably new head time..... BUT On our ancient JV3 overspray usually = new damper time. That usually fixes it.