I have been troubleshooting with tech support on trying to get black ink to run through the tubes. We finally got black ink in the tubes by using a syringe and sucking it throught the damper, but now the black will not print. When this happened, our cyan ink no longer was filling the tubes. So i am at the point where i can no longer print black and cyan during my nozzel checks.
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Mutoh Valuejet 1604 black and cyan ink problems
- Thread starter ijzuniga
- Start date
when i use the syringe, i do get some kind of suction and then i see the ink in the tube fill for just a little bit. But i am not really pulling any ink.
I quess i am pulling what ever ink is left in the tubes which is a few mililiters.
Am I suppose to be able to pull ink from the drain hose under the capping station?
I quess i am pulling what ever ink is left in the tubes which is a few mililiters.
Am I suppose to be able to pull ink from the drain hose under the capping station?
jiarby
New Member
the head has to be parked ontop of the capping station, then you should be able to pull ink through the print head from the two pump drain hoses.... if you can't then you may have a bad capping station.
With the head out of the way you can fill the cap with some cleaning solution, then pull from one of the lines... repeat for the other. You can also squirt cleaning solution UP into the cap and suction back & forth to clean the line.
Ink often dries up in those lines and clogs them. Then the suction is bad on one side or the other (maybe even both!) and that keeps the head from going through cleaning cycles and eventually you lose nozzles.
I am pulling ink from under the capping station fine. I am only able to pull what seems to be mostly magenta. And being that i am able to print the yellow during the nozzel check, i will say that i am able to pull the yellow as well from under the capping sation. I was unable to pull the black or cyan ink from the hoses under the capping station.
heyskull
New Member
What I would do is:-
Move the head of the capping station.
Remove the complete capping station by the 2 screws on the left hand side.
Their is a double hose connector from the capping station to the pump this blocks easily as the diameter of hose is greatly reduced. Clean all pipes and connectors.
I would then remove all the drain pipework and clean it all out.
I have found loads of blockages in the fine pipework from the pump it can pull out like pencil lead if left for a long time.
Put it all back together and place some cleaning fluid (from your cleaning/flushing cartridges) on the capping station. Let that soak through then run a cleaning cycle, checking that both pump lines are pulling ink. Once you have both lines pulling ink I would soak the head for about an hour topping up the cleaning fluid every 15 minutes.
If it is anything to go by the cyan and black are the first too block as the ink must be denser than magenta and yellow.
SC
Move the head of the capping station.
Remove the complete capping station by the 2 screws on the left hand side.
Their is a double hose connector from the capping station to the pump this blocks easily as the diameter of hose is greatly reduced. Clean all pipes and connectors.
I would then remove all the drain pipework and clean it all out.
I have found loads of blockages in the fine pipework from the pump it can pull out like pencil lead if left for a long time.
Put it all back together and place some cleaning fluid (from your cleaning/flushing cartridges) on the capping station. Let that soak through then run a cleaning cycle, checking that both pump lines are pulling ink. Once you have both lines pulling ink I would soak the head for about an hour topping up the cleaning fluid every 15 minutes.
If it is anything to go by the cyan and black are the first too block as the ink must be denser than magenta and yellow.
SC
This is definatly a good troubleshooting step. I had already replaced the maintenance Assy because the tech support thought that this was the issue, But that was last week.
Shouldnt i be able to pull ink from the dampers. I pulled out the cyan dampers and can get ink to pull towards the damper but the damper will not fill up and when i take out the syringe the ink retreats back the way it came.
I think the issue might have something to do with the SMC two way valve. When i did a head wash, the solution would not go past the smc valve located on the back of the printer for the black and cyan ink.
Shouldnt i be able to pull ink from the dampers. I pulled out the cyan dampers and can get ink to pull towards the damper but the damper will not fill up and when i take out the syringe the ink retreats back the way it came.
I think the issue might have something to do with the SMC two way valve. When i did a head wash, the solution would not go past the smc valve located on the back of the printer for the black and cyan ink.
artbot
New Member
sometimes to clear out a line you'll need to do a backwards flush on the line. a piece of paper or something can be caught at the beginning of your supply and like a lobster trap pulling cleaning solution or ink doesn't work. get a refillable cart. fill it with some cleaning solution. take off the damper at the other end of the line. with a syringe push and pull solution agressively back and forth through each "clogged" line. you will hear the rush of air and solvent emptying into the cart'. after this replace the damper and pull some solvent down the line to the damper. make note if the damper's membrane stays concave after filling with solution (if you can pull solution without the damper, but not with the damper the connection at the damper/line is suspect) or does the membrane relax(?). a membrane that stays vacuumed shows that there is restriction in that line. ink lines have very light positive pressure.
...not saying that this will cure the issue. but you need to systematically isolate where the problem is.
...not saying that this will cure the issue. but you need to systematically isolate where the problem is.
Graphics2u
New Member
I may be wrong on this but does this printer have valves or solenoids in the ink lines that have to be open before you can pull ink through with a syringe?
The Valuejet has valves right in back -near the cartridge and sub-tank. Those valves to get stuck over time and may need to be replaced. You also want to check to see if there is ink in the subtank too. There is a sensor with a stainless steel plate that moves back and forth to gauge how much ink is inside the subtank. If the out-of-ink sensor is not working, the printer never knows that the subtank is empty and never fills it up.
We do carry the valves if needed. You can order the valves from Mutoh but they make you purchase all 4 at once.
Kent
Mac Media USA, Inc.
Chester, NY 10918 USA
We do carry the valves if needed. You can order the valves from Mutoh but they make you purchase all 4 at once.
Kent
Mac Media USA, Inc.
Chester, NY 10918 USA
Last edited by a moderator:
dsmskyline
New Member
We had a similar issue with our 1608 last year. one of the valves went bad and caused the ink line to collapse and wouldnt release.
They had to replace the valve and the lines from the valve to the head.
They had to replace the valve and the lines from the valve to the head.
tcorn1965
New Member
OK...Mine was an easy one. Look at your print head and make sure that it is setting below both black edges. Mine was a little askew and it was affecting the black and cyan (print head was to high on that end). Once it was corrected ink flowed again, you will probably have to do an ink charge in service mode.
Hopefully yours will be as simple.
Terry
Here's something interesting (to me) that just happened to me on the 1604. I have been having issues with the black coming through the head for some time now. After a while, now the cyan doesn't send the lighter droplets sharp enough to land on the media leaving overspray when used.
So today, after reading this thread, I decided to run a print on 1440x720 variable (usually rund 720x720v). The test print I use are swatches of all colors including a rich black, green, red and blue. This time the test ran beautifully giving me a deep red I loved. I was so excited about seeing my true black again. Sure it's slower but it's BLACK!
Then I decided to run a test with less ink limit (from 300 I dropped to 250) and I'm back to where I started. No black coming out of the head again.
How can it be that suddenly all that ink came through and then not? Any ideas as to what can cause it to work that way?
jc
PS. Don't mean to be a thread pirate, just thought it was related to the topic. I can move it to a new thread if needed.
So today, after reading this thread, I decided to run a print on 1440x720 variable (usually rund 720x720v). The test print I use are swatches of all colors including a rich black, green, red and blue. This time the test ran beautifully giving me a deep red I loved. I was so excited about seeing my true black again. Sure it's slower but it's BLACK!
Then I decided to run a test with less ink limit (from 300 I dropped to 250) and I'm back to where I started. No black coming out of the head again.
How can it be that suddenly all that ink came through and then not? Any ideas as to what can cause it to work that way?
jc
PS. Don't mean to be a thread pirate, just thought it was related to the topic. I can move it to a new thread if needed.