Mutoh rockhopper 38" problem (no ink)

[907customs]

I recently moved my 38" mutoh to another location a couple hundred miles away. Prior to doing this, I ran a solvent flush through it. The printer sat for a month, and when I tried to get it up and running, nothing but problems. Here's what I've found so far... I'm getting NO ink into the dampers...any of them. I disconnected the ink lines at the dampers, and pulled vacuum on all of them, and now have ink to the dampers, but not in the dampers. I pulled vacuum on the discharge lines to the waste ink bottle, and can pull solvent, or ink from the maintenance station, but only with the print heads off of the station. When print head is on the station, it will pull nothing. So, where do I start??? New print heads? New Dampers? New maintenance station? All of the above??? Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[Compilla]

Star with a new Printer... lol

Probably a new MS Station.

 

[Sign-Man Signs]

We have the same problem. Ours started with a broken gear in the maint station. I have replaced everything but still no ink through the print heads. I got a couple of calls from the Mutoh Tech here on this forum but was not able to hook up with him. I am taking ours to Sign Warehouse next week barring any hurricanes. They say thay can fix in in about 3 hours. They charge a $120.00m an hour which is not bad. GEI Calgraph, will charge you $1000.00 dollars just to come to your shop and then charge you an addtional $120.00 an hour plus parts. I really want some of they drugs they are on . Maybe the Mutoh Tech guy will see this and give us both a call. Sorry I missed him.

 

[ahollow]

Disconnect the pump to capping station lines, and pull your vacuum from the capping station connection. Manually push the head as far right as possible and hold it there while pulling the vacuum. If there are no leaks in the lines or damaged heads, you should have ink flowing in no time.

 

[randya]

hmmmm, that is probably me,

I hope I left you a couple of messages and a phone number, but I have been pretty hammered here with work.

pm me and give me some details and I will try to help.


The basic concept is described here:

http://www.mutoh.com/kb/entry/95/

If the capping station and the head do NOT seal then you cannot pull ink through the head.

Sometimes it helps to get someone to 'push' the head gently to the right and help seal while pulling a syringe on the waste tubes.

You may have to manually rotate the pump part way to get enough opening to pull ink.

Of course the stainless ring around the head and the capping station seal (rubber) need to be very clean and in good condition to make this seal.

A capping station is a consumable, if kept clean you should be able to get a year/year and a half or longer.

If you still pull air, check all the tubing (includeing the tubing in the pump) for holes and poor seals, check the pump for binding.

 

[Espartaco1967]

Hello I have one mutoh outdoor falcon jr, and recently I had a problem, not print the heads, not color, not black, I change fuse 1 and fusible 2, the machine work very well, but to the week does not print the color head, anybody can help me, it can be problem of mainboard, and if it is thus, somebody knows like repairing it

 

[randya]

Hello I have one mutoh outdoor falcon jr, and recently I had a problem, not print the heads, not color, not black, I change fuse 1 and fusible 2, the machine work very well, but to the week does not print the color head, anybody can help me, it can be problem of mainboard, and if it is thus, somebody knows like repairing it

the JR has a black only mode, if I remember correctly it is when ALL 3 of the Quality lights are lit.

 

[ilmt]

We have the same problem. Ours started with a broken gear in the maint station. I have replaced everything but still no ink through the print heads. I got a couple of calls from the Mutoh Tech here on this forum but was not able to hook up with him. I am taking ours to Sign Warehouse next week barring any hurricanes. They say thay can fix in in about 3 hours. They charge a $120.00m an hour which is not bad. GEI Calgraph, will charge you $1000.00 dollars just to come to your shop and then charge you an addtional $120.00 an hour plus parts. I really want some of they drugs they are on . Maybe the Mutoh Tech guy will see this and give us both a call. Sorry I missed him.

GEI told us 500.00 to show up and 1 billable hour when they get there at 225/hour.

what a joke.

 

[907customs]

Ok, where do you guys get your Mutoh parts such as maintenance station? I purchased the printer from Signwarehouse.

 

[Jackpine]

I bought a maintenance station through Gregory and it was drop shipped to me from Mutoh. I needed a maintenance station because there is one gear in it that is not solvent proof and is not available by itself. It "melted" when a pump leaked. Other parts I have gotten from Victor at www.cmykparts.com

Ok, where do you guys get your Mutoh parts such as maintenance station? I purchased the printer from Signwarehouse.

 

[Jackpine]

For my Falcon Jr I bought a maintenance station through Gregory and it was drop shipped to me from Mutoh. I needed a maintenance station because there is one gear in it that is not solvent proof and is not available by itself. It "melted" when a pump leaked. Other parts I have gotten from Victor at www.cmykparts.com

Ok, where do you guys get your Mutoh parts such as maintenance station? I purchased the printer from Signwarehouse.

Sorry I meant to edit.....Falcon Jr.

 

[Sign-Man Signs]

Same as Jackepine. Leak and broken gear. I did get a new maint station for GEI Calcrap to the tune of $350.00 dollars. I bought new print head last week from CMYK Parts at $500.00. My "I'll never by a Mutoh agian attitude I have beenn working on since nothing seems to help. I am driving mine to SignWarehouse next week. By the way, truck freight is over $600.00 dollars. I can drive for $300.00 and still pay the $120.00 an hour SignWarehouse will charge.

 

[Sign-Man Signs]

GEI told us 500.00 to show up and 1 billable hour when they get there at 225/hour.

what a joke.

Joke is not eh word. They're just ripping off anyone thjey can. It's a same since Mutoh does not service thier own equipment. Lesson learned on my next purchase. Warranty? Parts? Service? Can I have that in writting? Calgraph...you should be ashamed.

 

[The Big Squeegee]

Gee, Maybe I should start repairing machines rather than making Big Squeegees.

It is not hard to save a head. I have got heads going again after they set 4 months on one machine and 2+ years on another. The first thing to do if a machine has been sitting long enough for it to not print is to soak the heads in solvent (not Alcohol) and, replace the dampers.

The head is the last thing to look at as a possible problem. It is common to blame the head because it's not printing. If ink is not getting to the head it won't print. As a last resort, I have taken the dampers out and worked solvent through the head with a syringe. But I only do that if everything else checks out and if I don't do it, I will be changing the head anyway.

The ink in the last Rock hopper I worked on was dated July 2005. The dampers for Cyan and black were both dried up. I got the Cyan back 100% and the black up to about 70%. We'll have to wait and see if we get any more of the black back. I think it will just take some more soaking.

Anyway, Enough of this rambling. Good luck!

 

[The Big Squeegee]

... I pulled vacuum on the discharge lines to the waste ink bottle, and can pull solvent, or ink from the maintenance station, but only with the print heads off of the station. When print head is on the station, it will pull nothing. So, where do I start??? New print heads? New Dampers? New maintenance station? All of the above??? Thanks in advance for any help.

Pull the dampers off and work some solvent through the head with a syringe. It don't hurt it any to pull air through the head so don't fret none if you do. Put a piece of vinyl under the head and over the rollers to keep the mess to a minimum. While you have the dampers off, pull the ink up through them with a syringe to get them their first charge of ink. If a line leaks, the ink will empty out of the line all the way back to the carts. I use a hose on the syringe that will fit the nipples on the head. I do have some of that hose on hand if you don't have any. As a reminder, always pull the dampers strait up when removing them.

Or you could just have the head changed.

 

[MacDaddy]

The SW techs will fix the machine... It will cost a few dollars but it will be fixed...

 

[The Sign Dude]

I had a similar problem a few months but it was only on my yellow. I went into my menu option and did an ink fill and it fixed the problem.

 

[907customs]

I tore into the machine this week, and found that an ink line had come loose, and was bound in a gear in the maintenance station, which caused another gear to strip out I got the new gear, along w/maint. station, pump, dampers, and print heads...Will complete the rebuild next week. No support here in AK, so I rip and tear, and learn as I go

 

[The Big Squeegee]

Good luck!

 

[Compilla]

I tore into the machine this week, and found that an ink line had come loose, and was bound in a gear in the maintenance station, which caused another gear to strip out I got the new gear, along w/maint. station, pump, dampers, and print heads...Will complete the rebuild next week. No support here in AK, so I rip and tear, and learn as I go

I Told you at first !