Mutoh ValueJet 1204 InkNearEnd

[Kemble]

This morning when I came to my printer I hear a constant beeping sound with the LCD showing me [M]InkNearEnd. I'm a bit surprised at how fast I went through the ink cartridge. But anyways... When you get this error, is NOW the time to replace the Magenta cartridge? or will there be another alarm when the ink is out completely? If I let it run out will I have problems with getting air in the line? If there is a 2nd alarm and I can keep running this cartridge until it says it's completely out, is there a way to silence the constant beeping?

Just curious.... how many sets of inks do you keep on shelf? Since I'm just starting out I only have 1 set of ink on the shelf but now I'm starting to wonder if I should stock 2-3 sets just in case.

Also, on average, how fast do you tend to go through ink sets? I got my printer in June, thus I've had my machine for only 3 months, I've done 1 3ft x 5ft banner, 2 24" x 4ft posters, and a few small (less than 50 pieces) contour cut jobs and ran a 1" x 28" CMYK test print every day. Didn't think I'd only get 3 months on such little usage, but then again, I don't know whats normal, I just assumed I'd get more out of a set of inks.

 

[Latigo]

My observation of my Son's setup is that he does get a second prompt and beeps, then the head parks itself and you don't have too much time to replace the cartridge if you're in the middle of a run. Once the ink properties dry a bit you're going to get a visible line or change on restart.

He opens a new cartridge, tilts it back and forth and sets it right on top of the cartridge holder. When it beeps and the head parks he removes one and immediately inserts the new one. I haven't seen a continuity problem doing it that way......... but............ the day he left me in charge in the studio while he was out in the shop I did miss the second beep. I think maybe 45 seconds to a minute passed before I realized the head had parked. The print was blown with a definite band on restart. Oh, well....

 

[jiarby]

it will just stop printing when the cartridge is out. You can then pull the empty one out and the print job will resume where it left off using ink it pulls from the subtanks (which have over 100ml of ink... plenty) You can replace the cartridge then.

 

[Latigo]

I wasn't paying attention to the kind of printer it is. We don't have subtanks

 

[henryp]

This morning when I came to my printer I hear a constant beeping sound with the LCD showing me [M]InkNearEnd. I'm a bit surprised at how fast I went through the ink cartridge. But anyways... When you get this error, is NOW the time to replace the Magenta cartridge? or will there be another alarm when the ink is out completely? If I let it run out will I have problems with getting air in the line? If there is a 2nd alarm and I can keep running this cartridge until it says it's completely out, is there a way to silence the constant beeping?

Just curious.... how many sets of inks do you keep on shelf? Since I'm just starting out I only have 1 set of ink on the shelf but now I'm starting to wonder if I should stock 2-3 sets just in case.

Also, on average, how fast do you tend to go through ink sets? I got my printer in June, thus I've had my machine for only 3 months, I've done 1 3ft x 5ft banner, 2 24" x 4ft posters, and a few small (less than 50 pieces) contour cut jobs and ran a 1" x 28" CMYK test print every day. Didn't think I'd only get 3 months on such little usage, but then again, I don't know whats normal, I just assumed I'd get more out of a set of inks.

You always get less prints from the first set of ink cartridges because some of the ink is used to clean then fill up the ink lines and the printhead during the initial ink load cycle.

 

[FatCat]

This morning when I came to my printer I hear a constant beeping sound with the LCD showing me [M]InkNearEnd. I'm a bit surprised at how fast I went through the ink cartridge. But anyways... When you get this error, is NOW the time to replace the Magenta cartridge? or will there be another alarm when the ink is out completely? If I let it run out will I have problems with getting air in the line? If there is a 2nd alarm and I can keep running this cartridge until it says it's completely out, is there a way to silence the constant beeping?

As others said, the machine will stop when it is empty. I believe the beeping starts when there is less than 10% of ink remaining in the cartridge. You should be able stop the beeping by pressing the ENTER or CANCEL button when the machine is at idle. *BTW - you can check your ink status by hitting "ENTER" then the "RIGHT ARROW" then scroll down to #17 which is "INK STATUS". This will show the percentage left in each cartridge (C,M,Y,K).

Just curious.... how many sets of inks do you keep on shelf? Since I'm just starting out I only have 1 set of ink on the shelf but now I'm starting to wonder if I should stock 2-3 sets just in case.

Depends on how much printing you do, which by the way it sounds right now is minimal. I'm a small shop and typically use 1-2 sets per month so I keep at least 1 set on the shelf, but if I've got big jobs coming up where I know I'll be printing all day I'll sometimes order 2-3 carts to be safe. Larger shops who print all day, every day might burn through 10-30 sets per month.

Also, on average, how fast do you tend to go through ink sets? I got my printer in June, thus I've had my machine for only 3 months, I've done 1 3ft x 5ft banner, 2 24" x 4ft posters, and a few small (less than 50 pieces) contour cut jobs and ran a 1" x 28" CMYK test print every day. Didn't think I'd only get 3 months on such little usage, but then again, I don't know whats normal, I just assumed I'd get more out of a set of inks.

As was mentioned, when your printer is new it pulls about 100 ml of ink to fill the lines in a 1204. After that, it all depends on your workload and the amount of cleanings in between. I would figure that you used about 1/2 your first carts to fill the machine, and then about 10-15% of the remainder to print your banner, decals, posters and test prints. **Remember, your printer cleans itself on a set schedule and uses up your ink to do so. My guess is that sadly 30-40% of the ink used so far was to do cleanings and as such basically was just money going down the drain.

Please don't take this the wrong way, but if in 3 months you only printed 1 banner, some decals and 2 posters, why did you need/buy the machine in the first place?

 

[Stealth Ryder]

As others said, the machine will stop when it is empty. I believe the beeping starts when there is less than 10% of ink remaining in the cartridge. You should be able stop the beeping by pressing the ENTER or CANCEL button when the machine is at idle. *BTW - you can check your ink status by hitting "ENTER" then the "RIGHT ARROW" then scroll down to #17 which is "INK STATUS". This will show the percentage left in each cartridge (C,M,Y,K).



Depends on how much printing you do, which by the way it sounds right now is minimal. I'm a small shop and typically use 1-2 sets per month so I keep at least 1 set on the shelf, but if I've got big jobs coming up where I know I'll be printing all day I'll sometimes order 2-3 carts to be safe. Larger shops who print all day, every day might burn through 10-30 sets per month.



As was mentioned, when your printer is new it pulls about 100 ml of ink to fill the lines in a 1204. After that, it all depends on your workload and the amount of cleanings in between. I would figure that you used about 1/2 your first carts to fill the machine, and then about 10-15% of the remainder to print your banner, decals, posters and test prints. **Remember, your printer cleans itself on a set schedule and uses up your ink to do so. My guess is that sadly 30-40% of the ink used so far was to do cleanings and as such basically was just money going down the drain.

Please don't take this the wrong way, but if in 3 months you only printed 1 banner, some decals and 2 posters, why did you need/buy the machine in the first place?

What he said...

 

[Kemble]

Thanks for such a great reply FatCat.

No offense taken. 2 weeks after I got my printer my mother in-law passed away to cancer. It hit the family really hard as she was only 50 years old and was an absolutely amazing larger than life person. Due to the unfortunate news our full color launch was delayed and our business was run by only me (instead of me and the wife) and I focused on continuing demand of our current business needs. Only a few people knew we had the machine thus very little work was done with it. As time passed by, the wife would get more involved which would slowly allow me to get the business ready. We cater to a specific niche product and we had a lot of internal testing to do before we announced that we were capable of doing full color. Now that it's been close to 3 months we have most of our internal testing completed and our full color launch/announcement starts this week, the rest of our learning/testing will be an on going process.