Mutoh VJ 1204 Startup & Head Soak - Newbie!

[Kollman32]

Hi all--I'm so glad I found this message board, I'm sure I'll find it very useful.

I just bought a slightly used Mutoh VJ 1204 that was used in a sign shop for 5 months until the guy had health issues--the thing is immaculate and appears to be very well taken care of. The previous owner had ran 2 sets of cleaning fluid through the lines before shipping it to me. The sign shop had to be closed due to the owner having a stroke unfortunately. My question is: Can someone direct me what to do to get this up and running initially? I am kind of lost as to get it charged with ink, soaking the head, etc. I am a newb, so if someone could walk me through how to get this up and running(being very descriptive), I'd be really grateful. Thanks

Justin Kollman
JK Designs
jkdesigns32@gmail.com
www.facebook.com/jkdesigns32
North Dakota, USA

 

[Solventinkjet]

We will need to know what state the printer is in to help you best. When you turn the printer on, what does the screen say? Don't worry. Turing the machine on without ink isn't going to hurt anything.

 

[Kollman32]

It is in a ready to print state, although it has never really been set up.

 

[Solventinkjet]

Ok, it should be pretty straight forward then. Follow these steps below:

- Turn the machine off. Now hold the Up, Right and Down button wile turning the machine on. You can let go when a menu item shows up on the screen.
- Hit down to scroll through the menu and find "Check 3: Ink Charge" Hit enter.
- The screen should now say "Normal" or "Little". Select normal, hit enter and the machine will attempt to charge with ink.
- When the cycle is done (takes at least 10 mins) turn the machine off and then back on again in normal mode.
- Load material and let the machine measure the material. When "Ready to print" shows up hold the left key for 3 seconds. This will print as test print.

Depending on the condition of the machine, your test print may be perfect or have issues. The ink fill-up should only take one try to fill completely so if it doesn't you will need to troubleshoot the ink system. If your prints don't look right, you could have maintenance station issues or even head issues if they didn't flush the system correctly. It sounds like from your original post that they flushed twice which should have been more than enough to keep the machine from clogging.

Edit: You will need the ink cartridges in the machine to do this which I forgot to add

 

[Kollman32]

Thank you so much for guiding me! The operation manual and maintenance manual have so many options to do troubleshooting its like going on to webmd.com for a head cold and realize your dying a slow & painful death lol. Also, I ordered some solvent, cleaning swabs, and waste ink tray sponge from you on Friday afternoon the 27th and received it the following Monday morning(yesterday)--I will definetly be ordering more from you in the future!!!

 

[Kollman32]

Frustrated! HELP

I went through the steps you told me and did the normal charge, did a test print with a little ink spitting out. The Magenta line look like it charged a little, but the rest look like there is ink & air spaced out through the line(see pics). I did a couple cleanings, went back into troubleshooting mode, did another normal fill without any different results. After checking out the lines coming from the ink cartridges, it looks like there is still cleaning fluid in the line, so I'm not sure how any ink has moved from the cartridge to the lines at all. I checked the ink levels and it shows 43% on all 4 of them---I'm beyond frustrated with this machine. I was told from the previous owner to do a head soak(not sure how to do that either), and that I should manually pull ink through the lines(again I don't want to mess that up). Any more help would be greatly appreciated!!!! Please take a look at the pics--maybe you experts can recognize something I'm not!

 

[Solventinkjet]

It's pretty common for a cap top to go bad on used machines after they are flushed and sit for a little bit. It looks like it worked a little bit but it is probably pulling a little bit of air which is causing the pump to not be able to pull at full force. Give us a call and we can help troubleshoot a little further and get you the parts you might need. 303-733-6671

 

[Kollman32]

Alright, so I'm at my wits end with this POS Mutoh 1204. I started by pulling the lines and dampeners off the manifold. I primed the lines--everything went smooth and replaced the dampers when I was in there as well. Next I soaked the head with cleaner at the maint. station. After a couple hours I did a clean, then a full charge. The ink didn't move at all(I got some cleaner to go through the waste dump hoses). When the pumps were sucking I could hear a small air leak so I took out the maint. station and replaced the cap top and flushed all the lines with solvent cleaner. I replaced the station and re-soaked the head, did a cleaning, and did a little charge with no ink movement at all. Is there another pump or way to check that I don't have a plugged pump? I'm debating just selling the thing and buying another Graphtec plotter for the money I've stuck in to this. Also, my ink level is down to 30% but the cartridges are plump full(i understand it estimates is because of the cleaning and charging). Any suggestions??? Or anyone want to buy a printer? haha

 

[chrisphilipps]

As long as your print head is in the printer level your maintenance station is shot and needs to be replaced. The chips are being marked every time you run a cleaning or ink charge but since no ink is flowing the chips are showing lower than the actual ink in the cartridge.

We have them for sale on our website below.

https://www.thegrs.com/shop.net/Pro...desc=Mutoh-Maintainence-Station-for-VJ&key=it

 

[Kollman32]

Thanks for the reply. Is there a way to check if it's level? I know you can set it after you can print but I'm stuck at square 1 yet. Thanks and I'll order a new cap station. Are there any other pumps or is the maint. Station the only point at which its draws the ink?