Mutoh RJ6000 need help!

[PURVEYOR]

Hey everyone. I am a newb. I purposely purchased an older printer to get my hands wet and learn what I can about these machines before I make a big investment.

I picked up an RJ6000 that has been converted to eco-sol. Mechanically it works. When i first turned it on and tried a nozzle check it was pretty weak but it was working, I had cmyk. but it clearly needed some help.

One of the heads was replaced in dec 2011... but before I bought it, it was sitting with ink in it for a few weeks.

What I have done so far to try and get the ink printing is:

1) checked each damper with a syringe to make sure that ink was flowing through the lines... it appears to be absolutely fine, I was able to extract ink through the dampers easily.

2) head soak (about four head soaks) also I VERY carefully and very delicately, used a syringe and some wash fluid, took the dampers out, and pushed washer fluid through the heads) As I mentioned i was EXTREMELY delicate with this to ensure I did not damage the heads/nozzles.

3) used a syringe attached to the waste lines to make sure the ink was flowing through... when I first tried it, it was definitely flowing through... but now tonight when I tried it, i'm just getting the sound of air.


after trying these things, I took one of the heads out to inspect it, it seemed to be clean so I put it back in.

Ever since I took the head out and put it back in... when I do a test print or nozzle check I get absolutely NOTHING. Before I took the head out, I at least saw ink on paper.

I am stumped and was wondering if any of you know what steps I should take next to trouble shoot the problem.

My whole goal with this machine is to LEARN how to use it, get familiar with the components and become educated, so when I make the big plunge and buy a new printer, I'll know what I'm doing (or at least be a lot farther along the road).

In the mean time, I'm really anxious to get this current printer working! so any suggestions would be very much appreciated.

 

[CRD]

Put your question in the MUTOH forum further down below.
10 to 1 the problem will be solved.
No problem if you ask as new bie.
We still learn every day even so called pro's.

Paco

 

[chorca]

If you are getting an air sound, it seems the capping station is not seating properly on the bottom of the head. You should check to see the head is pushed all the way over to the home position and then draw against the waste lines from the pumps. If you can't get a good seal, it's probably time to replace the capping station. Replacing or flushing the heads will make it necessary to pull ink through them, and if you can't get a good seal there, it won't let the machine pull ink into the heads.

 

[PURVEYOR]

thanks Chorca. what i did was take the capping station out... just the top part that snaps out, and put it back in place. voila... full suction now. I was able to extract ink into the waste lines!


and an update on my progress on refurbishing my RJ6000.

Last night I flushed out all the lines with a syringe and left them over night.... clear wash fluid in all lines, let them soak.

today I put the ink back in and let it print... things were looking better for three out of the five lines. solid colour on the nozzle check for black magenta and cyan... but having issues with yellow and LC and LM.

so I checked the dampers and noticed that the wash fluid was still in the Y, LC and LM. after further inspection it seems that the dampers for these lines aren't quite right. the copper lines don't want to fit over the nipples of the dampers, feels like they have to be forced. So I did a little digging and I see that you can get ROLAND DX2 dampers that look identical to Mutoh DX2 dampers.... only difference is the nipple on the roland dampers are 1.85 mm and the Mutoh are only 1.28 mm. I'm pretty confident that whoever had the printer before me got the wrong dampers (Roland) for three of the lines (its a very easy mistake as you can not really tell the difference from looking at them).

so I've ordered 6 new dampers (crossing my fingers these are the right ones), also new o-rings and copper nut screws. I'm just going to do a full replacement across the board and start from scratch with parts I know are correct and new.

had to get new o-rings because upon inspecting the yellow damper it seems someone "McGyvered" an o-ring out of a larger o-ring from the bottom of a damper to use on the print line!! you can see how they trimmed the outer edges and tried to get it to fit inside the copper nut! This is bad as it is not creating a seal and I'm not getting any yellow ink through the head.


So now its time to sit and wait for the parts to arrive.
I'm also going to order all new ink just to ensure I'm working with fresh ink.

so I'm getting closer, but anxious to get this sucker up and running.

 

[elsignshop]

Good luck purveyor. I just rebuilt a mutoh falcon outdoor 48". I think its the same as the rj6000. It was easy and simple. Just make sure you just buy all brand new parts and it will work just fine. I'm using bulk ink and it worked out perfect. Pm me if you need any help.

 

[chorca]

I had an issue with one of my colors draining back, and that was with a new damper. I hope the new o-rings you get will keep that from happening, but you should be good to go on there. let us know how it goes!

 

[PURVEYOR]

thanks for your input guys! glad to see there are other people out there that have done what I'm in the middle of right now

question... now that you guys have your printers operational, what is the print quality like with this unit as far as banding goes. I know this is an older technology and they've made improvements to printheads since the Falcon outdoor printers. Wondering if you're able to get good solid colours without visible banding?