Mimaki UJF 3042 - UV Flatbed Printer - Information - Questions & Support

[netrave]

Just wanted to get a thread started about my issues, your issues or any suggestions with Mimaki UJF 3042 series printers.

First - I just purchased my second Unit only after 3 Months.

I have had a few issues so far since we have been using them - but now I am kinda invested into the machine a little to far to switch to a different brand.

First issue was adhesion problems - this wasn't a physical problem with the machine but an issue with us trying to replace products that we have been using for years with something else that would be better on this particular machine.

The second issue we have had now is either the capping station or damper issue going on right now. The Yellow and Black inks are mixing causing us to have to do 5 to 6 power cleanings before we can use the machine.

This problem has yet to be fixed - we are waiting on a tech to come out. That would lead to our 3rd issue. The support on these machines has not been the greatest. We can get people on the phone, but in our area there are no local techs and we are on a 2 week wait before we can get anything fixed.

On a good note...

The machine prints amazing - the quality is great - and overall reliability thus far has been good.
Once it gets going - you can print all day without any issues.

Keep in mind we have only been using them for about 3 to 4 months.

It was a big decision to go with these machines as opposed to the Roland LEF20 - and the LEF20 still isn't off the table - but every time i tried to use one either at a show or a Roland dealer, there has always been something wrong with it.

I have not even been able to see one print. First they told me the profiles were wrong and won't let it print - then the second time they said the machine freezes half way thru the print and says the cover is open.

I think maybe the machine is too new for me to get a good read on it.

Maintenance - There is a lot more maintenance than was mentioned prior to buying the machine. The standard capping stations need to be cleaned, around the heads, and wiping around all the areas that get overspray. But from what I am learning now (was not told during install) we need to do frequent White Maintenance - where it just pours out a ton of white ink to make sure it doesn't get clogged in the lines. Then another thing we were not told about or taught how to do is measure the inks - we had no idea when the inks get low - the machine asks you to take the inks out, weigh them, and then enter the weight in grams back into the machine. Again not a major issue - but we were never told about this.
Anyways - besides all of this - I do want to get some contacts going of people besides Mimaki and my own dealer who can help / or supply parts and or help with replacement parts if needed.

As far as warranty - any dampers or part that could be considered "consumable" have no warranty at all - our unit is only 3 months old and Mimaki told us that if the damper is the problem its not covered under warranty. I don't see Roland ever saying something like that on a machine this young. We also have a Roland XR640 - which we had some issues with - Roland sent out a tech the next day every single time and had the problem fixed at no charge.

Dealing with Mimaki warranty issues or support is seriously the biggest problem we have.

We are in South Florida and currently working with TubeLite. TubeLite seems to be great on prices - but they do not have a lot of techs that can support this machine locally.

Anyone want to share their experiences or offer any advice / tips or options for these machines?

 

[Samurai_Screwdriver]

Hey Netrave,

Unfortunately neither are in your area but I'd suggest making contact with both ITNH (in Manchester, NH) and InkCupsNow (in Danvers, MA) as both specialize in industrial printing applications and sell a lot of these units - They probably even keep some of the spares in stock.

ITNH
http://www.itnh.com/

InkCupsNow
http://www.inkcups.com/


I'm not sure what material you're printing on but there is an excellent adhesion promoter called InkFuze Plus which will allow you improve adhesion to glass, metals, ceramics, plastics etc. I'll actually be reselling this stuff shortly myself so PM me if you want some data on it.

Cheers,

 

[netrave]

Hey Netrave,

I'm not sure what material you're printing on but there is an excellent adhesion promoter called InkFuze Plus which will allow you improve adhesion to glass, metals, ceramics, plastics etc. I'll actually be reselling this stuff shortly myself so PM me if you want some data on it.

Cheers,

We use .060 rowmark material - we use it for plaque plates / awards / etc - but its always the .060 - metallic silver/ gold

We also use PVC - that sticks amazing - but metallic coated materials - even DigiMark - has a huge problem with adhesion. I have the PR100 primer that comes with the UJF - and it only seems to help with glass- it actually makes plastics stick less.

At this point we have found different brand material that we can get away with using that sticks fairly well.

Are you familiar with the longevity or reliability of these machines? I mean we have only had them 3 months and already having a cap station or damper issue...

 

[MixMaker]

Are you changing percentages of primer you're using? I ran across an end user using 100% and it was killing his adhesion. I printed various samples with different percentages, and it turned out 0% actually worked the best. Bond-Aid by Pyramid works well to promote adhesion, but it's a wipe on process. Some metals and even higher end glass need to be flamed prior to printing....I use a small propane torch and get really great results with 0% Primer. Keep in mind that there isn't a primer or adhesion promoter that is generic enough to solve adhesion issues across the board, no matter who the manufacturer is. They don't sell toaster ovens that make coffee, haha.

As far as the yellow and blacks mixing, they share a capping station and can bleed over into each-other. It may not be a capping station or damper issue, it could be a voltage issue you're having. 6.4 Pg 2 of your installation manual.

If you're experiencing alot of overspray, check that your head gap is at 1.5mm (inkjet dots remain cohesive from 2.5mm-3.0mm from the printhead. If you're printing edge to edge you should have a jig to catch the overspray. If you're printing on spherical items then you'll want to check what your optimal print area is, or you may have to change out the mist absorption filter that is attached with a white thumbscrew to the carriage. I'm not sure what you're referring to as far as the white goes, but the only thing I can think of is the purging of air. Which does look like it's just dispensing ink out of the head and it is not normal to have to do that very often.

The measuring of the ink cartridges can be tricky, but it does (for the most part) keep the machine from saying your cartridge is empty while you still have 100cc's in the bag.

Consumables having no warranty would be correct unless the part is defective. In that case you would call Tech Support and they will determine if it's defective or not and then get you squared away. That really falls on your dealers shoulders because Mimaki will provide parts and the dealer provides the service for the first year. If it's a $30 damper, I'd rather keep you happy and give it to you if it'll fix your issue.

Dealing with Mimaki warranty issues or support is seriously the biggest problem we have.---------------again, that's on your dealer as they're supposed to provide service and have been trained on the equipment they're selling.

These machines are really built like tanks and if you take care of them they can make you alot of money. The heads are very robust and can take some abuse and typically will last 5-7 years (if you treat it right).


Hope this helps!!

 

[netrave]

Still having issues

Update

Second unit is have MAJOR issues. It is banding like crazy. I have been dealing with Mimaki and Tubelite - Mimaki could care less and Tubelite is doing there best to fix it. The issue is they are not very close to me so it takes them over a week to get a tech scheduled. We are going on about 5 weeks now with them coming down every week and a half to try and fix it. They end up leaving with NO results

Mimaki pretty much does not give a crap at all - Since day one we have had issues with this machine and now its gotten worse. When these machines work they are awesome - as soon as something goes wrong - you are ON YOUR OWN. I have 2 Roland XR4 wide format printers - if and when i have an issue... within 1 day MAX i have a tech out there fixing the problem. IF THERE is even an issue.

With these Mimaki's its a constant NEVER ENDING battle getting them running good. And keep in mind there are NO LOCAL TECH's. I don't know if I made the right choice and now I'm stuck - I'm down to one machine running the entire portion of the business. If that machine goes down - we are literally screwed.

I am attaching an image of the banding. They have come down and aligned the head, adjusted head angle - tons of test, they leave and end up not hearing form them for about another week or so.

They just left on Friday - i went to the office on Saturday did a test print and its back to banding. They claimed it was fixed - shut the machine off - turned it back on and the issue is right back.

If anyone has any ideas I'm completely open - if i lose the second machine I'm literally out of business.

 

[spades]

Are you running nice long nozzle washes and checking the print test patterns every day? Can you post one of your nozzle check patterns?

We run a 6042 and have fought the same fight to keep them from having nozzle drop out.

 

[patuga]

damn... that sucks. I have a 3042FX and i'm having the same problem and that is driving me crazy. i've only had the machine for 3 days. it started working very well, then it printed 2 prints with some spray, i cleaned the caping stations and arround the heads, tried again and it fixed the problem. then i had the problem again a few prints, later. opened the lid and everything was clean. then the machine ran well all day long until it did the spray thing again. after that, i could not print any more without it banding. did some ink fill, removed the white cartridge and shaked it, but it didn't fix anything. at first i thought it was a white ink problem, then i tested on white plexi and the results were the same. i could give the voltage adjustments a go, but not after i do some more maintenance tomorrow. i was told the cartridge only needs to be shaken in the morning, but i don't know if that is enough...I was never told anything about the white maintenance. how frequently do i have to do it?

 

[spades]

damn... that sucks. I have a 3042FX and i'm having the same problem and that is driving me crazy. i've only had the machine for 3 days. it started working very well, then it printed 2 prints with some spray, i cleaned the caping stations and arround the heads, tried again and it fixed the problem. then i had the problem again a few prints, later. opened the lid and everything was clean. then the machine ran well all day long until it did the spray thing again. after that, i could not print any more without it banding. did some ink fill, removed the white cartridge and shaked it, but it didn't fix anything. at first i thought it was a white ink problem, then i tested on white plexi and the results were the same. i could give the voltage adjustments a go, but not after i do some more maintenance tomorrow. i was told the cartridge only needs to be shaken in the morning, but i don't know if that is enough...I was never told anything about the white maintenance. how frequently do i have to do it?

The manual says white maintenance only needs to be done when you AREN'T printing it on a daily basis. If you're outputting white every day you don't need to do it until a time when you aren't using the white heads. Normal prints don't use white- you have to specify it as a special pass in the RIP if you're using Rasterlink.

Do you have your machine set to run intermittent cleanings by itself? You can change the interval in the panel settings. This will cause it to run the wiper more often and clean off the misted ink that is building up on your heads causing the nozzle drop out or over spray on your prints. I think it is under Function->Setup->Auto Cleaning. Function->Setup->Refresh is also useful for additional auto cleanings.

 

[patuga]

i always use white because i print on black plexi. it seems it's hard to keep these printers running well. i've done the correct maintenance, but those banding issues are really bothering me. will start the day tomorrow with some hard cleaning and nozzle wash to see if that solves the problem. if not, i will have to call the tech from mimaki...

 

[spades]

i always use white because i print on black plexi. it seems it's hard to keep these printers running well. i've done the correct maintenance, but those banding issues are really bothering me. will start the day tomorrow with some hard cleaning and nozzle wash to see if that solves the problem. if not, i will have to call the tech from mimaki...

I agree with you- we run two of the 6042s and no matter what maintenance routine we run the heads always seem to start banding after a few months.

 

[WalkerP]

Your nozzle checks are OK, or are you losing nozzles?

 

[spades]

Your nozzle checks are OK, or are you losing nozzles?

Not sure who you're asking, but my experience is nozzle drop out (especially on Cyan/Magenta head closest to the UV lamp).

 

[WalkerP]

Just trying to help determine what's causing the banding. Ink quality, clogging, voltage/temp, air, etc.

I have had the same experiences with different inks. The dropping is most common in white in my experience. I have had experiences where my nozzle check is fine, but prints look like crap. Vice versa too. Doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason.

 

[spades]

Just trying to help determine what's causing the banding. Ink quality, clogging, voltage/temp, air, etc.

I have had the same experiences with different inks. The dropping is most common in white in my experience. I have had experiences where my nozzle check is fine, but prints look like crap. Vice versa too. Doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason.

Print fixtures can make a big difference in the amount of overspray and nozzle garbage you get on the print heads. If you aren't masking your substrate (whatever you're printing on) so that it is relatively flat then the excess ink blows around in the "wind" created by the head zooming back and forth. That plus the static electricity generated (depending on your area) results in a lot of ink ending up cured to the heads.

We've had to really make sure we are masking our print objects to make sure there are no giant valleys or gaps in the material we're printing on because it makes a noticeable difference in test print quality and nozzle drop out.

 

[tatotiburon]

facing the same problems with the 3042HG, all the time i print a background color it have some white lines at 720x600 and 720x900

Anyone know if we're going to have rasterlink supported on windows 10?

Wich is the best method for adheresion in surfaces like metal, glasses and awards? i bought some primers: the original mimaki gm-1, idsper 602 and 603 but i reaale don't know how to use them

 

[ptmiff]

Dealing with Mimaki warranty issues or support is seriously the biggest problem we have.



Anyone want to share their experiences or offer any advice / tips or options for these machines?

I hear you, all the way over here in Scotland. I use a UJF-3042 LH-100 inks for mainly printing Golf Balls, pens, USB's and other promotional items and have encountered Mimaki's couldn't give a damn attitude. After a year of using it I have found it to be a great piece of kit, but keeping it clean is job 1 !! I leave the machine in Nozzle wash mode when switching it off ... and power off. This I find keeps the nozzles nice and clean. A tip I was given was to use a little Acetone on a swab and clean the heads when prints look 'rough' or if it's banding ... give it a hard wash then repeat. Fingers crossed, touch wood I get no real problems. I do have to print onto metal now and again suffer adhesion problems. Bondaid 1 from Triangle seems to help a little but MixMaker's tip about flaming seems like a good idea. I used to do that with Pad Printing ink and it worked a treat but that was after printing. Good to connect with other UJF users ...

 

[tatotiburon]

i was wondering how all you guys charge your customers for the printing service, me for example i took the cost for every ml ( one 600ml catridge is about us$177, so every ml cost $0.295) then i calculate how much ink i will spent in a job, how many items can i place in one print and add my profit...more or less thats my sytem but i noticed that other shops charge by cm[SUP]2[/SUP]

 

[Steve Weist]

Mimaki uv specialist

Guys feel free to contact my office for help. *PDS Equipment we specialize in the Mimaki uv flatbeds. It sounds like you guys did not get trained properly during installation process. 615-812-3001 www.mimakiinkjet.com

 

[Lahja-Silta Ky]

I hear you, all the way over here in Scotland. I use a UJF-3042 LH-100 inks for mainly printing Golf Balls, pens, USB's and other promotional items and have encountered Mimaki's couldn't give a damn attitude. After a year of using it I have found it to be a great piece of kit, but keeping it clean is job 1 !! I leave the machine in Nozzle wash mode when switching it off ... and power off. This I find keeps the nozzles nice and clean. A tip I was given was to use a little Acetone on a swab and clean the heads when prints look 'rough' or if it's banding ... give it a hard wash then repeat. Fingers crossed, touch wood I get no real problems.

Greetings from Finland! How has Your Mimaki worked with leaving in Nozzle wash mode everytime you close it these last years? You leave the washing liquid in caps? We've in same situation so that we have same machine, inks, products etc. Bought it in 2012, and experiencing problems with magenta/cyan heads. Got it changed in 2015, now the same head is clogging badly. Other heads still original from 2012.
Looking for longer magenta-cyan head longevity than 2-3 years.

 

[Pauly]

Greetings from Finland! How has Your Mimaki worked with leaving in Nozzle wash mode everytime you close it these last years? You leave the washing liquid in caps? We've in same situation so that we have same machine, inks, products etc. Bought it in 2012, and experiencing problems with magenta/cyan heads. Got it changed in 2015, now the same head is clogging badly. Other heads still original from 2012.
Looking for longer magenta-cyan head longevity than 2-3 years.

I don't know how you can print with nozzles firing on an angle like that. All my nozzles on my Arizona fire except 1 magenta and another magenta is firing on an angle.
I dont know if it'll work on your printer, but (instructed by Oce) to swab with isopropyl, purge then use the suction to clean the ink off. I do this every day. they say swab once a week, but i like to do it on the daily.