Mutoh Falcon Outdoor I issues

[printmares]

Does anyone have suggestions for troubleshooting a Mutoh Falcon Outdoor I printer?

Very little ink flows to the waste reservoir through the left/black print head side, while manually priming the lines or during cleaning cycles. The pump may be clogged.
From the left head, it does not print black or magenta, but does print some dark blue. From the right head, all 3 colors print, but with sporadic quality.
Fuses were checked, heads unclogged, cleaning and alignment cycles run repeatedly.
Inks are past the expiration dates (ultra-solvent ink, 2009). The Mutoh does not seem to stop operations via chip data according to the blogs.
Dampers seem to work ok and have ink in them.
One of the print heads do not show rank numbers, but I understand that the head numbers provide a calibration setting or quality and should print something.
We are trying to get some diagnostic information from the printer either through the computer or through its menu (DIA EXAM or DUMP).
Our objective is to get the Mutoh printer functional and weigh the expense of repair/replacements before spending money on new print heads, ink and solvent cartridges.

I will also try what Artbot posts from this thread.
http://www.signs101.com/forums/showthread.php?t=92916

Any help/suggestions would be appreciated!

 

[Ghost Prophet]

Adjustments: "Home" & "Nozzle Check" are probably the most useful options in the service menu to a Falcon Outdoor.

I'd put money on your problem is that either your heads are not sitting well with the capping station and therefore not going through a thorough cleaning cycle, or at this point without being printed on for X amount of time, those 2 nozzles are clogged. If the capping station isn't the issue (try "Home"), and you can't unclog your nozzles with head soaks or pushing cleaning solutions through the top of the nozzles where the dampers connect, then you may need to replace the head.

I've been told the heads can last up to about 3 years, but I've only been getting 1-2 years out of mine with the new Mutoh inks.

My 2 cents.

 

[printmares]

Your 2 cents is worth alot.
Sorry for the delay in response and thanks for your advice.

Home was accomplished earlier to clear an error message.
-Does home relocate its origin?
Nozzle checks are being done while running multiple cleaning cycles.
-We'll follow your advice with these item.

We have cleared the heads with a syringe/tube with isopropyl alcohol while they were disconnected. They may need to be replaced.

What you say about the cap station seem very likely. It seems that the tubes were clogged and the pump and capping station needs to be cleaned further. We were able to pull ink with the syringe from the waist tube side and not have ink from all 6 colors.

We have multiple problems and we're also getting mix of a green color which may be from the sludge/problem at the capping station. Again, we're still working on getting the tubes and pump cleaned. It seems real easy to get a tube clogged and also a possible easy fix.

Originally, we were priming the dampers to get ink into them and into the ink head. I also read that the dampers maybe cleaned with a gravity fed cleaning solution. Another post talked about the filter in the dampers which may clog. It also talked about a good damper being concave and half full. If the damper does not retain a fluid level the system may have a leak. They probably have to be replaced once we get it functional.

Now that we have ink coming from both print heads we're now getting into setting up the Mutoh Falcon Outdoor l parallel port to communicate with the new computer's parallel port. Windows xp, Onyx 7.3.2 and VE Lxi 7.5v4. It seems like window driver is being used rather than the Onxy. Ltp1 is the setup. (an older computer from the previous owner had the ip registered under the windows xp, my network places..we don't see that here, although the onyx folder are seen there.)

When trying to submit an image to the Production House RIP unable to initialize the printer error...printer is off-line. Do you have any experience with the parallel setup?

Again thanks alot for the help. I was looking at your signs on your webiste which is motivation for getting this printer to work. You have some cool signs.

 

[toddot]

mutof falconoutdoor I

Not to get off the subject but I have the same printer and I am having a hard time finding inks for it. Can you tell me where you get your inks.
Also, we have had our machine disassembled for over a year. We do not even use the head cleaning function as it had major issues. I have a syringe that I suck some ink through before each print job to clean the heads manually.
PITA but seems to do the trick

 

[printmares]

Yeah, the wash cycle lasted about 4 minutes and wasted about 10% of the new ink supply.

I'm still trying to figure out the best place to buy the eco-ultra CMYKLcLm outdoor inks. I understand that one of the earlier ink formulas caused the capping station sponge to swell. Not sure about the other types of inks.

I'll try to post something if I find a good source.

 

[midnightmadman]

Not to get off the subject but I have the same printer and I am having a hard time finding inks for it. Can you tell me where you get your inks.
Also, we have had our machine disassembled for over a year. We do not even use the head cleaning function as it had major issues. I have a syringe that I suck some ink through before each print job to clean the heads manually.
PITA but seems to do the trick

Did you find a way to actually turn the cleaning cycle off so it doesnt start on its own?

 

[printmares]

No. I don't any setting to change the clean time, but it might exist.