Mutoh Valuejet cap tops...

Are you back up with the original?

 

Thanks for the tip. As a new owner of a 1624x I want to learn all I can.

 

How hard is it to replace the cap top. Is there a simple trick to removing the old one, Mutoh Valuejet 1204.

 

Everything that FatCat said is spot on. I have a six-year-old 1204 and the main problem I have had with it is the pump tubing. Four months after I bought it, the pump tubes were completely clogged. It was under warranty, so they sent me a new MS. By then I was tired of the waste ink tray. So, I replaced it with a waste ink bottle. Of course, I had to also put in a drain bottle for the spit box. The pump tubing going to the waste bottle was longer, which was OK because I like to see the ink in the tubes going into the bottle when I do a cleaning. But, the longer tubes held more residual waste ink and made it easier for them to clog up because of air getting in the tubes. So, I started using 2 syringes, each with about 2ml of cleaning fluid, and pushing the fluid from the bottom of the pump tubing up into the cap top and them pinching off the tubes over night. If I push too much fluid into the cap top, I just sop it up with a piece of Scott towel. Fluid left standing in the cap top can lead to cross contamination. The first time I started doing this every day, the MS and cap top lasted about 2 years. And I haven't had a pump tube get stopped up in the last 5 years. I also use a swab and cleaning fluid to moisten the rubber on the cap top after I turn the printer off for the day.
As for replacing the cap top, it's not that easy for me, but it is doable. You need to push down on the right side of the cap top until it slips off the rail-like track that holds it in place. That's always worked for me.

 

Lots of good information FatCat and RG provided. Thanks for doing that!

We, Premier Colour Inc is a merchant member and authorized Mutoh dealer from southern California.

Here is the link to OEM Cap Top for 628, 1204, 1304, 1324,1604, 1614, 1624, 1608, 1628, 1638, 2638.
This item will be shipped from Mutoh warehouse in Arizona. Order by 11 am pst to ship on the same business day. Choose next day shipping to arrive next day.
https://www.premiercolour.com/products/original-cap-top-for-mutoh-valuejet-printer-dg-41179

Here is the link to OEM Ink Cartridges
This item will be shipped from our southern California warehouse. Order by 5 pm pst to ship on the same business day. Choose next day shipping to arrive next day.
220ML ECO ULTRA
440ML ECO ULTRA

 

Thank you both, RG & FC for the inside info, will try and change out.

 

My buddy that used to work for me (running hp l25500) moved away and started working elsewhere with a solvent machine (Some sort of valujet). We would still talk all the time, and he would complain about cleaning the printer, but I never actually comprehended I guess. This all seems like a crazy amount of maintenance, is this par for mutoh's or all solvent printers?

 

I see, reading the posts on this kind of stuff, I had imagined this must be a frequent operation, but rather it is an operation every owner has to perform at some point? I'm grateful we went latex, we have frequent dead times in the print side of production. It's not common to go a week without touching it, then turn around and run 2 rolls through it, or 2 feet. And my maintenance is limited to this $100+ cartridge I shove in it...

 

That's some really good info on the Latex printers, FatCat. It's about time for me to upgrade from the 1204 printer. I have already decided against a Latex for some of the reasons you listed, plus I don't have a 220v outlet where the printer has to go and I don't keep the humidity really low in my print room. Looks like my next printer will be an Epson. I just wish that Epson has a 54" printer in their SureColor "S" class.

 

Not necessarily trying to promote/defend the latex, or dump on the solvents, but I'd like to address the issues.
Wasting material is the worst, on my hp 560, if I do not have enough material (pretty much only calendared materials that warp under heat) run out to stay 'relaxed' while the printer warms up before a print, it will either crash or scrape, both being a failure on the print. The extra foot or so comes in handy when laminating though, as we tend to go a day between laminating prints, the arlon 3420 that I use tends to have a glue line where the liner and the lam where left separated. I prefer to run that off before I laminate my new print, so I mount my new print, run the remainder of the old print through to get the glue line out, then lam my print, but leave the last 1'-2' in the laminator for the next time I start a lamination.
Color, while I know my reds aren't super red, it is superior to my last printer. I've never experienced issues with consistency, but I've never replaced a printhead between panels on a job. That would seem like poor foresight to a degree, as the printheads last quite a while and don't tend to 'fail', just drop out over time, so I'd imagine you'd notice before you get ready for a 150' run. We also do not do a terrific amount of color matching for end users, so its hard to have someone complain about pms 201 not being spot on because they don't tend to have a pms book, though I have matched plenty of pms colors with the onboad spectro and onyx.
My biggest pro that is the only one I know for certain is the benefit of printing and laminating the same day. I print and install the same day all the time, either onto materials for production or for print only jobs, and the time it saves me is incredible. Before we had a printer we would order local prints, and even if he could run it right then, we couldn't get it for another day or two. I myself have noticed that I'm doing myself a disservice if I wait a couple of days to laminate, it would seem that the backing slowly absorbs back moisture that the printer dried out of it, giving me a (very slightly mind you) wave in materials as they go through the laminator, just enough that you have to watch and adjust tension continuously. If it's the same day, none of the same issues tend to arise.
I can not say as far as consumables go whether we replace stuff more frequently, but in my situation, printing seldomly as opposed to primarily, the longevity of the machine in an idle state is a must, and therefore the machine makes the most sense for us.

I got a new AC unit when we got the printer, and it was good. After 6 months we got a dehumidifier and it was great. Not to knock your print room setup, but if you have the room air conditioned, it might be prudent to look at adding one. Aside from the materials behaving more consistently, the room feels incredible, though it slows production because nobody wants to walk out of 70 deg 10% humidity into 85 deg 100% humidity...