Mimaki jv3 130 spII runs out of ink but no low warning!!!

[gabagoo]

I had this happen last week and thought maybe I was not really paying attention until today.
I am printing wallpaper and it has a lot of yellow in it. I knew both my yellows were at 1 since last week so it came as no surprise that I would need 2 cartridges.
I set the machine up and then go downstairs to work on some signage. came back up within about 30 minutes and the machine is idle. I think, Oh great that was fast and the phone rings.
As I am on the phone I look at the machine and can see in the readout that it says ink end Y. Sheeet!!! I jump off the phone and replace the cartridge. Generally if my machine sits waiting any longer than 15 minutes for an ink change I usually lose one lengthof print
info for whatever reason.
Changed the cartridge and amazingly it restarted and finished the job.

I now realize that it never gave me a low ink warning.
Ok now it does give me a low ink warning for magenta. I start the next segment of wallpaper and once again go downstairs to work.
Come up and the machine is idle again and figure it needs magenta.
Heck it wants another yellow cartridge and again no warning, yet it still has the magenta at a low warning.
WTH is going on here? Anybody else experience this?

 

[drive]

what brand of ink?
is it actually draining the cartdriges? if so, is the ink in the waste bottle?

 

[gabagoo]

oem cartridges

 

[drive]

good on the oem.
I had it happen once. a light magenta cartridge magically emptied itself over a weekend! I had to replace the head to solve that issue.
There is a condition "syphoning" where if the head comes into contact with something it allows the ink to drain from the head. Check your caps and head for that.

 

[gabagoo]

no, there is no problem that I ran out of ink, I am just saying that the printer failed twice to forewarn me that it was low.

 

[CL Graphics]

i may be wrong but i think it warns you when they get to 1. If not maybe one of the regular pump cycles it runs when your not using it got it past the warning when you werent around.

 

[gabagoo]

Once the warning is issued it stays on the readout until the cartridge needs replacing. In fact the wiping cycle stops until a new cartridge is installed and the printer will always go out of remote and to local after each print job
I noticed that both yellow cartridges were on the 1 setting since at least last Friday.

I am not sure if it is dangerous that I dont get the warning, but does the printer realize that it is low on ink? any teckies out there?

 

[drive]

Are you expecting (or experienced) the machine to pause printing when the ink hits the 'near end' so you can replace the cartridge?
When printing, mine will beep to notify 'near end', but will keep printing until a new cartridge is required.

 

[MikePro]

had same thing happen to me a few times...
i've noticed in the past that cartridges say 440cc +/- 10cc, so now everytime I hit "1", i pull the cartridge and stir it in my hand to feel how much really is left.

depending on how much "action" there is inside the cartridge, i'll usually just replace it right then or make a mental note that I have to check it again in 5-10min if I want to squeeze a lil' more ink out of the cartridge before flipping it.

honestly, i'd rather waste 5cc of ink ( <$2) than waste the time/material on a reprint and/or the headache of any other repercussions resulting from the printer trying to draw off an empty cartridge.
...its also the same reason why i'm thinking of switching to cartridge+unlimited chip-based bulk systems, as I can always top it off at any time.

 

[TheSnowman]

Mine has ALWAYS surprised me w/ no ink. It will go from 20% sometimes to 1% in a matter of a minute. Just gotta keep extra's around at anything around 40% now days just in case. I've had OEM and Bordeaux inks, both did it.

 

[drive]

The worst mine will ever do when a cartridge is emptied mid print is warp material from heat and cause head strikes once resumed. Fortunately that is very dependent on my material and is a rare occurance.
I typically do let the inks run out because i've never had air leeched into the lines or any other ink based issues (not including 2 months using Lyson). I'm keeping my fingers crossed on that one.
Atypical situations are running overnight and other unattended printing situations. I definately change out inks as needed for the job.

 

[gabagoo]

Are you expecting (or experienced) the machine to pause printing when the ink hits the 'near end' so you can replace the cartridge?
When printing, mine will beep to notify 'near end', but will keep printing until a new cartridge is required.

well thats what I am saying...my machine failed to beep on both the yellow cartridges on the same day within 1 hour of each running out. It did beep to tell me about the magenta which until today finally ran out.

 

[drive]

hmmm...sounds like gremlins! lol
Maybe it had something to do with your high use of yellow ink on that run. Best thing to do is keep an eye on the yellow inks especially when getting to the 'near end' mark and see if the condition persists. That, and hope someone has a more definitive answer for you.
Good luck, sorry I can't be more helpful here.

Another thought would be a cartridge error. Really rare for 2 though. Check the batch and dates maybe. If you still have them available

 

[Morph1]

Hi there,

I've had exactly the same thing happen to me recently,
we switched to a third party inks and now I get no low ink warning and the printer continues to print even with ink cartridges on empty, I had ruined a few jobs because of the problem , my question is , would that be the printer at fault or is that the ink cartridges, we used to print with SS2 OEM inks and have never had a problem,
now with the 3rd party inks I get the no beep no ink continue printing bs...
do you guys have an answer / solutiuon to this ?
thanks,

 

[signswi]

Reporting doesn't work on our JV3-160SP either, we do essentially what MikePro does. It's really annoying. Been trying to convince the boss to go bulk to eliminate the problem.

 

[Nuagedesigns]

Had this problem happen twice before think it may just be a fluke problem w the cartridge it self with the flag getting stuck as its getting low and then just pop out all at once and indicate that it is all done.

Not sure if anyone else uses the "Use remain ink" function but we do and it has worked great. If you have ever noticed that there is still a substantial amount of ink left via weight when the machine says its empty and been concerned you can use almost all of it.

When you hear that first near low ink alarm if you stop the machine by pressing remote, or when job finishes and you realize its near end.

1. remove near low ink cartridge and re-install. (manual says to remove and weigh cartridge and follow formula but we did that the first dozen times and always came up with same weight so now we just follow the next step)

2. Go back to control panel and it should say "use remain ink" Hit enter.

3. You have choice to arrow up the amount of ink to add to cartridge. in 10mL increments up to 30ml. We usually always use 20ml to be safe as if it is a little off you can siphon all of the ink out and get air in the lines.

4. Hit enter twice to confirm and then hit remote to continue. We usually mark the back of the cartridge with a black X so that if another tech is operating the machine they don't double the ink remain and siphon all of the ink out.

Every little bit helps

Good Luck

 

[Rooster]

My JV33 has done the same thing occasionally. Once it jumped from 3 to empty, but 99% of the time I get the warning. I find the low ink warning a pain. If I have 10 prints scheduled and it warns, then I have to return to the machine after every print and put it back into remote mode.

I'd rather it just ran until empty, instead of dropping out of remote mode after every print finishes when it's low.

 

[radiohead223]

My JV33 has done the same thing occasionally. Once it jumped from 3 to empty, but 99% of the time I get the warning. I find the low ink warning a pain. If I have 10 prints scheduled and it warns, then I have to return to the machine after every print and put it back into remote mode.

I'd rather it just ran until empty, instead of dropping out of remote mode after every print finishes when it's low.

i've had this happen as well with some cartridges and it would be better to just print right through without going off remote each time

 

[Taylor Made Print]

so if a cartridge was to run dry and the machine kept on trying to print, would it draw air into the line?

 

[gabagoo]

When they run out of ink...the printer should stop