Mimaki Pump Mods

[Stripeman]

Anyone attempt a mod at the JV3 style pumps? It seems to me that this is the absolute weak point of the machine's ink train. Every pump I buy doesnt work very well and many only work on 1 side.....worthless.

Ive seen some information about an upgrade on Rolands pump setup and wondered if anyone has used something similar. We also have a printhead doctor machine, and it has some small 12v pumps in it. I would love to have something like this in my printers, but I think it would suck the guts out of the printheads.

Any thoughts???

 

[CS-SignSupply]

Roland made the change due to their pumps being the weak link in the chain as well. Their new pump design seems to be far superior to any I have seen. When installing the new Roland pump, a firmware change/update is required to eliminate cycling the pump too much. You may be able to somehow fit the Roland style pump on the mimaki, but controlling it would be difficult. Would not recommend it.

Changing the type of tubing from the white silicone to the clear tygon tubing helped with the durability of the pumps but it may have decreased its performance value.

maybe Artbot has a solution... he seems to have an excellent handle on these machines.

 

[artbot]

i'd try this first. i don't have any trouble with my pumps if maintained.

the best thing about it is i can have a partner dump solvent down the cap while i pull aggressively at the waste end. also if curious, you can pull a single line from the bottle to see if you are getting flow. and when you get a little vapor lock in a head, it's very easy to just pull a light vacuum at the waste line to get rid of it. not to mention i never ever do "ink fill". just pull at the damper then pull at the waste line. no wasting ink.

i just bough another meter of tube because i'm going to run my waste bottle to the front of the pritner (mount it on the wheel base). there's really no reason that i should need to go to the back of the printer if i can have it up front.

 

[SightLine]

Never tried modding one but yeah - had my nightmares with them too. What I concluded - aftermarket pumps are pretty much garbage and are exactly as you mention - dont half the time work right, one half might not work at all, one or both sides might not create the right amount of suction, inferior plastic that breaks, inferior flaps inside that break, inferior tubing that degrades to the point of splitting open and leaking ink everywhere......

Been there, done that. At least with 4 different aftermarket pumps - ever single one had issues. Finally bit the bullet and ordered a genuine Mimaki pump and it worked great. Learned my lesson on that one - some aftermarket parts are fine but many are inferior. They might look right and fit right. I've also run into this with other parts. For the most part - the aftermarket parts do work okay though. I've not yet found an aftermarket pump worth a crap though. I will say this - the original Mimaki pumps lasted for several years - not one aftermarket pump I tried lasted more than a few months and every one was different in some way or another.

 

[artbot]

+1 mimaki pumps last for a long time (years). i bought an aftermarket pump and put my old one back on. still cranking after five years of age. you just have to keep them clean and replace the inner tube about every 2 years.

 

[genericname]

I can't stand the idea of replacing the Mimaki pumps; they're so basic that I just feel insulted paying for them. Whenever a pump fails, it's usually just due to a broken rubber gate (the bits that force the metal rollers to jump and apply pressure on the line). I take the pump apart, replace the broken gates with new pieces of rubber or foam, seal it up, and voila. Not exactly a mod, but definitely a practical DIY solution.

I really don't see how the pumps could fail to the point that they'd need replacing, unless the tubes failed, and the ink somehow melted the pump housing. Then again, I'm pretty sure that housing is made of solvent-resistant plastic.

 

[csc]

Is there a particular way to assemble pump rollers?

Hi everyone, I just purchased a JV3 160sp and I am refurbishing it with new heads, caps and just got the new tubing for the pump. I believe that the pumps were worked on since one of the pumps has two different tubes, one is clear and the other is milky white. I know that white tubing is used for aquatic inks. Therefore I know the pump was taken apart. I want to know if there is a certain position that the gear/rollers have to be in relation to the opposite gear/roller of the same pump assembly. Would impropperly positioned rollers impede on the proper function of the pump? I cannot find any literature regarding proper assembly and installation of the pump unit. Seems like there is three positions that can be used but which one would be the proper position. Or does it matter at all how they are assembled. It doesn't seem like there are any position sensors for the pump assembly.

Thanks, CSC

 

[inkmed]

The very important part of the pump is inner tube.
Many jv3 pump not work well because the inner tube not soft enough like the tygon tube. Please check the picture in attachement.
When the inner tube is original tygon, it will work well.

Adam from Inkmed

 

[ddarlak]

i use white lithium grease in a spray can with a long tube to spray directly in the pump where the tubes get smashed around by the rollers. the grease doesn't breakdown the tubes and it makes the pump work effortlessly.

 

[TheSnowman]

I have replaced mine once in six years. I suppose my next round will be here very soon. I used OEM parts from Advantage, and they helped me tech wise install them since I'd never been on the insides of the machine. First one took me forever, second one took me 5 minutes.

On a side note...should I expect to be replacing my heads soon? I try to do a regular cleaning, but sometimes it's only once a week if I'm not printing a ton. I'm really not looking forward to that.

 

[genericname]

I want to know if there is a certain position that the gear/rollers have to be in relation to the opposite gear/roller of the same pump assembly. Would impropperly positioned rollers impede on the proper function of the pump?

The only issue I've run into, is one cap syphoning straight while the others maintained pressure. I've never taken notes on the specific position of the rollers, as it's relative to the rollers on the other side of the pump. Whenever I get the syphoning issue though, I just open up the pump again, and place the rollers in a different position.

So long as all your caps maintain pressure, and drain at the same time when the pumps are operating, you're good.

A good test is to drop some cleaning solution in the caps after fixing your pump. Wait a bit, and if one of them drains, then you either need to reposition the rollers, or your replaced gates are not seated properly.