Mutoh Outdoor 62 prints red instead of black

[reelguitars]

OK...I suppose this thread could have gone to either the Flexi or Mutoh forums, so I have a similar one in both. I have a Mutoh Outdoor 62 that I just replaced the heads, dampers, and capping station on in January of this year. Was printing perfectly. Got in a terrible wreck in June and could not print for a month so the heads kind of dried up. I went through all the soaking/cleaning procedures even with an ultrasonic cleaner. Finally got back to printing but I have an anomally...on a particular icc profile, my black ink doesn't print as dark as it should and when I change icc profiles, sometimes the black prints RED. I ain't got much hair left, but I'm about to pull it out. Also, is there a way to do a factory reset on the printer? I have the service manual and thought I was doing that, but I can't see any change. I don't have to have perfect printing as I just do low buck stuff for friends, but I would like black to print black. Now, please don't preach to me...if you have a solution, I am grateful. PS-this is NOT the way to spend a Saturday afternoon.

 

[Compilla]

What does the nozzle check pattern look like?

 

[sgraves]

Ink cross feed

I have come to the conclusion that the inks cross feed when there is a difference in levels. In your case, your black cartridge is at a lower level than the other cartridges on that print head. It is probably the light magenta that is cross feeding. How it happens is that when the heads park, the capping station comes up against the print heads. This helps keep the heads from drying out. The capping station is sealing the heads allowing the differential pressures between the cartridges to cause flow between the nozzles. The nozzles don't normally allow much back flow, but one weak nozzle is all it takes. With enough pressure the ink will flow back through that nozzle. Given enough time a significant amount of ink can flow into the damper. And since that ink first fills the print head and then flows into the damper from below, it is the dominant color when you start printing. The best solution is to make the ink levels match. That is why I use refillable cartridges. If you are using standard cartridges and don't want to change, then you will need to do a cleaning each time the machine has sit for a while. You might not be saving any ink because you will be using all the inks in the cleaning cycle. It is probably best to change the black cartridge.

 

[djheinz]

I have been having the same problem for a while now.... my magenta heads is printing cyan.... and lots of it.... when i connected a pump and pumped out ink from the magenta line, it came... about... 20-30 ml of cyan before the magenta came back!...

What kind of ink and cartridges do you guys use.... i don't want this happening anymore... i have a spitfire 65 btw... wich in the us is called falcon outdoor 2 or something?...

Greetings from norway!..

 

[studio10]

On Mutoh Rockhopper I use refillable cartridges with jetbest ink. It is auto-refill cartridge with bottle lock. Cartridge holds approx. 400ml of ink and is refilled from top bottle automatically. It is 500ml bottle. I use it for a year without any problems.

 

[sgraves]

A better answer than my first one

Since this problem maybe found by others doing a forum or web search, I would like to improve my answer for them.

I have had this problem again since I wrote my first answer. Now I have an ink system that has balanced levels, so my first answer could not be the problem. What I found was that my pump lines were clogged on the outbound side. The pump is a peristaltic pump, it does not have valves, it pumps with rollers that squeeze the tubing and "pushs" the ink through. My line was clogged near the waste tank (dried ink). As the pump "pushed" the ink through that line it would swell and absorb the pressure. There are two rollers at 180 degrees. There is a moment where neither roller is pinching the line. During that moment the swelled line would exert back pressure through the pump and inject ink back into the printhead. BTW, it looked like ink was moving in the line because one could see bubbles moving in it. On closer inspection the bubbles were going back and forth. I clean the lines using a syringe filled with cleaning fluid attached to the waste line output. Move the heads off of the capping station so that you are not injecting ink back into them. I can clear the lines by moving the syringe back and forth slightly. One can feel the resistance to the flow decrease as the dried ink dissolves.