Moving Mimaki JF 1631

[cmpginc]

We are looking at a new building which we will move a lot of our production to including our Mimaki JF 1631 UV flatbed printer. Has anyone had any experience moving such a machine? Does it void the warranty or anything like that? Unfortunately we no longer have the pieces that came with it that bolt the bed together. The owner thinks it is as easy as rolling it on a flatbed, driving it over to the new shop and rolling it into place. I don't see it being that easy and according to the engineers manual it needs to be bolted back together etc.. Does any one have any experience with this or any input at all.
Thanks.

 

[MachServTech]

somehow lock the carriage in place (foam blocks if nothing else), remove the takup, empty the waste ink, place a few shipping blankets over it, then shrinkwrap and carefully strap it into the moving truck.

Pray

just kidding....I have done this many times....make sure you do the alignments when it gets to its new home.

 

[cmpginc]

What would be the best way to move the printer, a couple of pallet jacks?

 

[MachServTech]

very carefully roll it (the wheels and stand are not that sturdy) if the wheels are broken I have used moving dollies strapped to the feet. Two strong people are required and great care must be taken when moving over door thresholds.

 

[Samurai_Screwdriver]

Think very carefully before moving this yourself! Without removing the Gantry from the Table and packing it so that there is no weight placed on the raising/lowering mechanism you run a real risk of damaging the worm-gears and Z-motors.

As someone who has had to undertake the daunting task of replacing these parts (which took several months to source from Mimaki), trust me when I tell you that you don't want to damage these!

 

[MachServTech]

We are looking at a new building which we will move a lot of our production to including our Mimaki JF 1631 UV flatbed printer. Has anyone had any experience moving such a machine? Does it void the warranty or anything like that? Unfortunately we no longer have the pieces that came with it that bolt the bed together. The owner thinks it is as easy as rolling it on a flatbed, driving it over to the new shop and rolling it into place. I don't see it being that easy and according to the engineers manual it needs to be bolted back together etc.. Does any one have any experience with this or any input at all.
Thanks.

I apologize. I have given you bad info. I read your post incorrectly. I thought you were moving a roll to roll printer. Samurai Screwdriver is absolutely right. The only folks that should move that particular kind of machine ar qualified service technicians. You were right and your boss is most definitely wrong. I hope my previous post has not caused you any problems.

 

[cmpginc]

Just wanted to update and say we moved the printer successfully ourselves and have been up and running like normal with no problems. Anyone ever need any input on how we did it successfully just let me know and I'd be happy to help.

 

[darkroom]

i would like to know how you moved this machine. Did you remove the gantry?

i would like to know how you moved this machine. Did you remove the gantry?
what kind of truck? did you need a fork lift? I have to move one in the next couple of weeks
and would appreciate any suggestions...

 

[artbot]

this may be of limited value. i bought a very inexpensive used daytona h700 flatbed printer a few months back. i loaded it in a uhaul trailer with the back door left open. i carefully drove (but still hit some major pot holes) all the way from indiana to houston. it was hot, rainy, .... a horrible trip. i then rolled the printer onto a large flatbed, then built a 24 wooden ramp into my home/studio and winched this monster through a window. despite all the bouncing, heat, pushing and shoving, slamming and grinding.... i plugged the printer in and it was good to go. i'd say if it's just across town, it can be carefully done.

two of these will come in extremely handy
http://www.amazon.com/Master-Lock-2953AT-12-Volt-Portable/dp/B000COTKDM

 

[darkroom]

thanks for the inspiration

I only have to move it 260 miles!

 

[artbot]

hell, you might not even stop to take a wizz.

just lock it down. use about four times more straps then you think you need to hold it tight. i also put cargo blankets all around the head carriage, unplugged the ribbon cables to the heads, purged the heads with cleaner, braced the z-up with irwin clamps, then stretch wrapped the crap out of the printer to reduce vibration.

 

[Tekkie1]

Hi I have done this 4 times now and I have always removed the gantry, I understand without all the cradles and Y bar jigs it would not be easy. As has been said if the y bar (gantry) is not removed and placed on the correct mountings of the jig and bolted down then the z axis screws could and probably would be damaged as you use a drill with correct size tube to drive the z axis motors down onto the plate of the jig. You must empty the water lines and lock the the head and when removing gantry also remove all cables and cables for lamps(pink ones.) from the cable tray on the side, there are covers tha come off and all is marked.. Do not walk or place any heavy object on the table as this may cause the ali to seperate from the layers therefore causing a high spot or bubble on the table, I have seen this happen already.
When resetting up the alignment and angle must be checked.
Tekkie 1