My VG-2 is dripping ink everywhere

[Bryce I]

PICTURES BELOW
A while ago I noticed drops of cyan ink on both of the media guides, and the surrounding area. Recently the drops have become pools, and it's getting on the media too. Right around when the issue went from "that's funny" to "this looks really bad" my nozzle test prints went south too. pictures below, but its like this: first print will be missing a bunch of blue dots. do a normal cleaning, next test, some of the blue dots are back, but now there's a bunch of blue dots mixed in with the magenta. I do a medium cleaning, and now the blue and magenta are missing many dots. I assume the test prints and ink drops are related, but maybe two separate issues?
Any thoughts and insights are appreciated. Thanks!

 

[balstestrat]

Damper possibly. Blocked captop?

 

[Jester]

It sounds like it's time for a technician visit. There's not too much you can self-diagnose or self-adjust on a VG2.

 

[victor bogdanov]

shine a light on the cap tops, are there are banner hairs on it or on the printhead? I had some banner strands on my captops one and it was causing ink drips and I remember a tech telling me he's seen banner hairs drain a whole ink cart

 

[Joe House]

Bryce, try doing a damper fill. (No Tech Needed) If the start up sequence doesn't get you into damper fill mode, update your firmware.
To enter the Fill Damper Mode, you must power off the printer from the front control panel. Leave the power on in back and press and hold the [Pause] and [Enter] buttons while you power on from the front control panel.

Once the printer is in the Fill Damper mode, select the head group that you need to perform the damper fill on, then press the Enter Key to perform the damper fill. Your ink bags should be at least 50% full before starting this - you can return to your old ink bag afterwards to use up the rest of the ink in it. Make sure that your waste ink bottle is empty or nearly empty. Make sure that you do not remove any cartridges while the damper fill is being performed. If the printer stops with a cleaning error, make sure that you perform the Fill Damper again.

Perform the Damper Fill function twice, then turn off the printer and restart it normally (with no keys pressed while powering up). Perform a medium cleaning and then follow this with a test print to see if nozzle drop out is still occurring. Print normally and observe if the leaking/weeping ink issue is resolved.

Good Luck

 

[Bryce I]

Bryce, try doing a damper fill. (No Tech Needed) If the start up sequence doesn't get you into damper fill mode, update your firmware.
To enter the Fill Damper Mode, you must power off the printer from the front control panel. Leave the power on in back and press and hold the [Pause] and [Enter] buttons while you power on from the front control panel.

Once the printer is in the Fill Damper mode, select the head group that you need to perform the damper fill on, then press the Enter Key to perform the damper fill. Your ink bags should be at least 50% full before starting this - you can return to your old ink bag afterwards to use up the rest of the ink in it. Make sure that your waste ink bottle is empty or nearly empty. Make sure that you do not remove any cartridges while the damper fill is being performed. If the printer stops with a cleaning error, make sure that you perform the Fill Damper again.

Perform the Damper Fill function twice, then turn off the printer and restart it normally (with no keys pressed while powering up). Perform a medium cleaning and then follow this with a test print to see if nozzle drop out is still occurring. Print normally and observe if the leaking/weeping ink issue is resolved.

Good Luck

Thanks Joe! Damper fill did the trick. no more drips and test prints looking good. Super appreciate it!

 

[LED Signs & Designs Texas]

My VG2 shows the firmware "up to date", but will not let me enter into the damper fill mode by holding the pause & enter button at the same time you power on the front? Any advise?

 

[emhmotorsports]

My VG2 shows the firmware "up to date", but will not let me enter into the damper fill mode by holding the pause & enter button at the same time you power on the front? Any advise?

Mine also will not do it. Running version 3.10 (latest prior to TR2 upgrade firmware). When I attempt it, it just says "turn power on again". I can only do damper fill through service mode at the moment. When I got the machine, it had version 2.40 or something like that, wish I would've had the forethought to try it then just to see if Roland dropped this feature starting in 3.10.

 

[LED Signs & Designs Texas]

How do you get in service mode on the VG2?

Thanks

 

[emhmotorsports]

How do you get in service mode on the VG2?

Thanks

Provided you didn't upgrade to TR2 inks, you punch in this sequence with the power off (main power switch in the back is on, however):
1) down arrow
2) right arrow
3) left arrow
4) up arrow
5) right arrow + down arrow + left arrow + power (in this order, but hold down together! I use 2 hands personally)

It's a bit tricky, will take some practice. This basically adds a new item into the menu called "service menu". Use with caution, if you go clicking on things you can end up in modes that take a loooong time to finish and/or wasting ink. To fill dampers you should find it under Service Menu -> Sub Menu -> Fill Dampers.

 

[balstestrat]

Provided you didn't upgrade to TR2 inks, you punch in this sequence with the power off (main power switch in the back is on, however):
1) down arrow
2) right arrow
3) left arrow
4) up arrow
5) right arrow + down arrow + left arrow + power (in this order, but hold down together! I use 2 hands personally)

It's a bit tricky, will take some practice. This basically adds a new item into the menu called "service menu". Use with caution, if you go clicking on things you can end up in modes that take a loooong time to finish and/or wasting ink. To fill dampers you should find it under Service Menu -> Sub Menu -> Fill Dampers.

VG2 has TR2 ink. He can't access service menu.

You however can't do the damper fill start up process because you are running too old FW.

 

[emhmotorsports]

VG2 has TR2 ink. He can't access service menu.

You however can't do the damper fill start up process because you are running too old FW.

Thanks for the clarification!

 

[LED Signs & Designs Texas]

My firmware is the latest and it will not let me enter service mode, any advise? I really need to stop this thing from dripping on everything.

 

[Joe House]

Rick, what version is your firmware? My post above explains how to enter the damper fill mode. If you have a VG2 with the latest firmware, you don't need to enter service mode in order to perform the damper fill.

Good Luck,