• 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 JV5 Quality Issue

press52

New Member
We have a JV5 that is spraying tiny droplets of all 4 color inks across prints. It prints the job well, but in the unprinted vinyl, we can see these drops. Any ideas??
 

DGpartsmall008

New Member
Hi, it sounds like your Mimaki printhead got clogged and need to take it down to clean up nozzle!

For another, ink spray is also a sign of printhead working life close! and u need to pay high attention on the ink quality u used in these printheads, as bad ink could damage it and shorten printhead life span.

Hope this could help u somewhat!

Cheers
 

press52

New Member
Thanks guys. But I don't believe it's overspray. No drops in the test draw. Seems electrical to me. Like it's reading errant information.
 

Solventinkjet

DIY Printer Fixing Guide
Overspray is not always deflection in the test print. It can be an electrical problem. The test print only prints the biggest dots. Try going into your RIP and turning off the variable dot option. Print a file. If it prints better then most likely your head is damaged or you need to re-seat the cables that go from the slider board to the head. Check for corrosion or ink splatter on the leads to the cables as well.
 

press52

New Member
Don't see where to disable variable dot on the rip. This is a JV5 using PosterShop. The cables look clean. No corrosion. There is a fair amount of ink splatter around the heads. My printer tells me that he has tried turning off different heads and the problem persists.
 

genericname

New Member
Ink splatter as in ink buildup? Because if so, that's probably your problem right there. The buildup works like stalactites in a cave. Excess ink from the jet gets pulled along the buildup, and the momentum carried forward from the head changing directions fires it off onto the media. Clean that head.

Edit:
Regarding variable dot. Onyx deals with variable dot patterns as separate profiles, instead of just a setting within a profile. If you're using something like "360x540-VarDot", you're using variable. Otherwise, the resolution in your profile would just read as "360x540"
 

press52

New Member
I want to be clear about the ink spray. I am talking about VERY fine droplets. Actually need a loop to see some of them. They are in a completely random pattern. All 4 colors. They vary in size.
I am just getting into this issue. Apparently at some point if the past few months, the head started traveling the entire width of the media while printing even though it isn't always necessary. That's when we started to see the droplets. Because they were on the unprinted vinyl. I was unaware of that event when I first posted.
I am going to try cleaning the head. Are there instructions for that procedure somewhere?
Thanks for all the help so far!
 

Derrimut

New Member
I have the exact same issue with my JV5.

'I am talking about VERY fine droplets. Actually need a loop to see some of them. They are in a completely random pattern. All 4 colors. They vary in size.'

Has the original poster found a resolution to this problem?

To the site admin - is there any chance you could move this thread to the 'Mimaki' section so that it will get more exposure? :wink: Please.
 
Hey Press52,

I know that you said that you don't believe that this is overspray, however there are two simple things that I would suggest that you check:

1. Double-check that the Head Gap physically matches what you have dialed in on the control panel. JV5's set the gap using the little optical encoder strip on the left hand edge of the Carriage and it's not uncommon for this to get clouded up with ink mist and then cause the printer to set the head much too high. The strip can be cleaned with 70% IPA

2. Double check that the Flashing Box (that big port to the left of the Capping Station) is not clogged up. The Heads spit in here on every pass and if the f-box fan is not creating the proper downdraft to pull the mist away the the carriage will plow through a cloud of ink mist on every pass and cause the droplets to be distributed across the print. I don't have my manuals handy but if memory serves me there is a menu item inside of the #TEST menu called FBOX TEST or something like that. Turn on the FBox fan and then check for suction by laying a sheet of copy paper on top of the Flashing Box opening.

Let us know what you find.
 
Top