Mutoh 1614 help needed

[Woodsey3]

Started first week of August (2yr old print head) after hot/humid days where the Cyan (1st photo) color had missing areas, could not get it to release. Bought a new print head to try to print the second week and changed dampers - in which could not get the black to work at all (2nd picture). Replaced Mutoh MS31 inks as I was told the give older machines issues with head clogging. I had Solaris brand on hand due to other local shops have been running without issue. Still could not get the head to print black. Decided to buy maintenance station (last one only a year old) and another print head. Ran the machine for a couple days and last night while printing the banner the black turned grey (3rd picture) at the end of 8’. Started checking everything over and noticed the reserve bag for the black was empty so did a little charge to refill it and then ink started pouring/spraying out the front ink drain (the 2 little holes by maintenance station (4th picture). For some reason it wouldn’t drain into the waste tank. So I am not sure what is going on or where to start to try to figure this issue out. Trying to get a service tech to my area (Michigan) took me 6-8 months last time so have been learning everything myself. Please help .! Thanks

 

[Solventinkjet]

If ink is coming out of those 2 holes it means your main, large waste tube is clogged. You'll need to clear that out to get the station working 100%. Once that's clear and ink can flow properly, it should help clear some of the nozzles.

Have you changed the dampers as well? If not, I would do that as they are responsible for keeping ink flowing to the head during printing.

 

[tulsagraphics]

I ran into a similar issue about a month ago (1 black channel completely dropped out, and the 2nd deteriorated quickly after that). I changed out the maintenance station and switched over to 3rd party inks, as per solventinkjet's suggestion. After a good head cleaning, all channels were back up and running. (Thanks, solventinkjet!)
I've always used OEM everything, but since Mutoh changed the formulation of their inks there really wasn't any choice but to switch over to something that resembled their older inks. Of course, you should recalibrate your profiles after switching ink brands.