Smoke_Jaguar
Man who touches printers inappropriately.
Silicone o-ring/seal grease works fine. Subtank just clips on, remove lines and sensors first. Run subtank discharge as shown in service manual and mark sensors to avoid mixing them up.
-
I want to thank all the members that have upgraded your accounts. I truly appreciate your support of the site monetarily. Supporting the site keeps this site up and running as a lot of work daily goes on behind the scenes. Click to Support Signs101 ...
Need help getting a used Mimaki UCJV300 running again
- Thread starter HGdesign
- Start date
Great news. subtank#1 replacement went smoothly and appears to have cleared the ink 61b errors.
Thank you so very much for all your help and tips and thank God I am seeing some light at the end of the tunnel.
Attached is a photo of the print head tests that I did so far. There is a normal cleaning step between each one, and a Hard Clean on the Head 2 only for a few of them.
Head #1 is outputting a nearly clean result. Head #2 however seems to be struggling quite a bit, with Lm, and Lc starting to come back, but almost nothing on the white channels.
Please let me know what you think of these results, and what would be the safest way to proceed from here.
- Is it safe to keep doing head cleanings on the Head#2. Soft, norm, hard, ultras?
Thank you again so very much!
Thank you so very much for all your help and tips and thank God I am seeing some light at the end of the tunnel.
Attached is a photo of the print head tests that I did so far. There is a normal cleaning step between each one, and a Hard Clean on the Head 2 only for a few of them.
Head #1 is outputting a nearly clean result. Head #2 however seems to be struggling quite a bit, with Lm, and Lc starting to come back, but almost nothing on the white channels.
Please let me know what you think of these results, and what would be the safest way to proceed from here.
- Is it safe to keep doing head cleanings on the Head#2. Soft, norm, hard, ultras?
Thank you again so very much!
Smoke_Jaguar
Man who touches printers inappropriately.
Do head washes, they work pretty well. Gently wipe the nozzle plate and platen down with cleaning solution as well. make sure your wipers are nice and straight. Also, go and check your wiper gap, covered in service manual. Old ink building up on the nozzle plate will cause deflected heads.
Ok, will do my best to check these details and follow this advice for my next round of efforts.
- Any limit to how many cleanings are safe to do, and which type are safe?
- Could the white channels be not flowing freely to the head and its running without ink? If so, is that a risk of causing head damage?
Thank you
- Any limit to how many cleanings are safe to do, and which type are safe?
- Could the white channels be not flowing freely to the head and its running without ink? If so, is that a risk of causing head damage?
Thank you
Smoke_Jaguar
Man who touches printers inappropriately.
Yup, where the ink jets from.
As for number of cleanings, doesn't really matter too much. Just uses ink. Ink itself is basically coolant for the heads to some degree. That said, ink is also heated for jetting properties. Best not to run dry heads, and cleaning cycles typically will fire all the nozzles. Can run an air purge to 'wet' the nozzles as well. Air in the heads will definitely keep things from firing. Ink transfers force, air absorbs it. Air/bubbles in the head keep the ink from being able to be jetted.
Thank you for that great explanation, that really helps understand the importance of avoiding air in the head.
- A side question on the old subtank removed from the printer: Do you normally save them, or put any cleaning fluids thru them for possible use down the road, or are they useless?
- A side question on the old subtank removed from the printer: Do you normally save them, or put any cleaning fluids thru them for possible use down the road, or are they useless?
Smoke_Jaguar
Man who touches printers inappropriately.
Flushing subtanks results in a terrible morning where multiple liters of ink overflow your waste tank and ooze all over your floor.
Been making progress using your recommendations. Here is my latest print test. I am seeing a faint set of white lines on about 75% of the white nozzles now. Is the white supposed to be so faint, or does this mean the nozzles are not fully open yet?
- Also, just had a thought: I've been doing "nozzle washes" where you fill the capping station. Is that what you meant, or are you referring to a more extensive head wash where the flushing liquid is loaded in place of the inks into the white channels?
- So far I've done nozzle washes, subtank discharge/fill, air purge, and cleanings normal & hard
Thank you
- Also, just had a thought: I've been doing "nozzle washes" where you fill the capping station. Is that what you meant, or are you referring to a more extensive head wash where the flushing liquid is loaded in place of the inks into the white channels?
- So far I've done nozzle washes, subtank discharge/fill, air purge, and cleanings normal & hard
Thank you
Smoke_Jaguar
Man who touches printers inappropriately.
White takes some time and effort, once safe to print, not a bad idea to do some white-box prints on crappy media. Make sure your caps are flowing well, and circulation is doing its thing. If you want, mix of flush in with the white ink by siphoning some from the bottle station with a syringe and topping it off with flush. Might have some sedimented pigment in the head. If you have an old subtank (leave white lines disconnected), clip it on and use a syringe and some tubing to push/pull into the head. When removing the good subtank, make sure it is empty and keep it upright so the filter pads do not get contaminated with ink The little flushing elbow fitting can be ordered separately, or just use the one on the machine and flush channels 7 & 8 by pushing and pulling the solvent back and forth. Swap the flush out as it gets whiter and keep doing it until relatively clean. Your goal is not to push flush through the nozzles, it is to clean the passage above the nozzle plate. Gen5 heads have 2 input paths, one on the front and one on the back of the head for each channel. Most printers, these are connected together with a Y fitting, Mimaki leaves the port terminated with an air-bleed fitting (still not sure why). If you wish to push flush through the nozzles, be gentle and cap off both air ports (they give you extras with subtanks, grey termination clips) on the subtank and inject through the air purge port. When done, empty the head by pushing a bit of air through the line and the nozzles. After that, put the good subtank back on and do an air purge afterwards.
Thank you so much for all the great advice! I think I am finally getting really close and starting to see some clean tests! I really can't thank you enough for all your guidance. This last suggestion is really useful and if anyone has as similar issue with white ink sitting for long time, I think its really interesting way to tackle the white issue! I am not sure if I did it quite right ( trying to push/pull using two syringes to the supply and return on the subtank, at the same time))
The thing I still don't understand is how these subtanks work, and what damages them:
- This is what I understand so far:
- The back air tube allows for pressure control?
- The ink is supplied to the top for each color
- For white, there is also a return that pulls from the bottom of the subtank and runs it back to the pump
- Can't get ink to the top of the subtank where it enters the top filter. Is that the main risk? It damages the filter? Or does it enter the air line from there and ruin the pressure control
- Are there any valves, or delicate damageable components in the subtanks that can be damaged by pushing in or out and damaging some internal components, etc...
- And once you have a good setup, or a new subtank in, does it last a while, or can it get damaged easily during routine use as well?
Again, Thank you so, so much! I am going to spend the next few days trying to test prints now while continuing to fine tune, double check all the physical adjustments of the head, heights, spacings of all parts that have specific reference measuments in the manual. The print quality is starting to look great already so I hope to take care of maintaining it properly. Still don't understand what could have caused the blown Station IV PCB when I got it.
The thing I still don't understand is how these subtanks work, and what damages them:
- This is what I understand so far:
- The back air tube allows for pressure control?
- The ink is supplied to the top for each color
- For white, there is also a return that pulls from the bottom of the subtank and runs it back to the pump
- Can't get ink to the top of the subtank where it enters the top filter. Is that the main risk? It damages the filter? Or does it enter the air line from there and ruin the pressure control
- Are there any valves, or delicate damageable components in the subtanks that can be damaged by pushing in or out and damaging some internal components, etc...
- And once you have a good setup, or a new subtank in, does it last a while, or can it get damaged easily during routine use as well?
Again, Thank you so, so much! I am going to spend the next few days trying to test prints now while continuing to fine tune, double check all the physical adjustments of the head, heights, spacings of all parts that have specific reference measuments in the manual. The print quality is starting to look great already so I hope to take care of maintaining it properly. Still don't understand what could have caused the blown Station IV PCB when I got it.
Smoke_Jaguar
Man who touches printers inappropriately.
Subtanks either delaminate and leak air, or the built in filters get contaminated and permanently clogged. The ink's pigment fills the mesh and basically blocks the filter, thus keeping ink from getting into the vacuum/pressure system.
Pressure helps discharge ink, vacuum keeps ink from dripping out as well as pulling ink into the subtank when valves open. Subtanks tend to last a long time, but they are vulnerable to getting damaged and are worth keeping a spare handy to keep downtime to a minimum. Wipers, cleaner, wiper tray, ink valve(s), subtank and pump tubing (or circulator pump assemblies as a whole) are all good supplies to have on hand.
Pressure helps discharge ink, vacuum keeps ink from dripping out as well as pulling ink into the subtank when valves open. Subtanks tend to last a long time, but they are vulnerable to getting damaged and are worth keeping a spare handy to keep downtime to a minimum. Wipers, cleaner, wiper tray, ink valve(s), subtank and pump tubing (or circulator pump assemblies as a whole) are all good supplies to have on hand.
MelloImagingTechnologies
Many years in the Production Business
HG-
What are you looking to produce?
I have been replacing Mimaki and Roland printers all over the country as Grimco buys up servicing dealers and eliminates service!
What are you looking to produce?
I have been replacing Mimaki and Roland printers all over the country as Grimco buys up servicing dealers and eliminates service!
Smoke_Jaguar
Man who touches printers inappropriately.
Shoot, I have 5 people waiting on UCJV300s, can't get enough of those things.
Greetings, hope you are all doing well.
I am happy to report that the printer has been performing beautifully and reliably and I have been able to run a range of media and prints thru it. Very grateful for all the help I received from you generous members in getting the machine back up and running prints!
I am now trying to get better at ongoing maintenance, and understanding settings from the software and control panel to help get the cleanest prints and cleanest cuts in various situations. I think this will likely take me some time to learn, experiment, and fine tune for various media and quality needs.
Questions regarding maintenance:
- The machine seems to be set to do very frequent recirculation / refresh.
- If I power off at the control panel ( but leave main rocker switches on) --> it's back on within 30 minutes and running the circulation pumps
- It then shuts off, and then powers on again within an hour again and sometimes only for a brief time and then off again ( does not always seem to do circulation, and sometimes is on for only a minute and then off again) This continues fairly frequently but I have not had a chance to log the actual pattern of on/off and what it does each time yet. I sometimes flip off the main switch until I return the next day or two later just so it's not running so much.
- I have not figured out what settings control these maintenance cycles and their frequencies and what are reasonable settings to use. I am currently only running 5 - 20 sq. ft. of prints and then power off for a day or two before running some more.
- Ideally I'd like to set the machine to run the least amount of maintenance cycles and go a full day or multiple days (if possible) before powering on by itself to recirculate, etc. Open to advise on what settings would be reasonable
- As for manual cleaning of the print head and station: Is it best to always clean them both after every use, or are there cases where you can let a day or two pass in between if you only ran a tiny amount of printing?
- Any benefits to manually cleaning before running VS. cleaning after running (before shutting down)?
Question regarding printing:
- Is there a way to know where the start of each print will land on the media. I have been able to estimate it relative to the cut strip but sometimes it feeds the media forward an inch or two and sometimes it does not before starting the print. It's not as big a deal when I have a roll, but some of my projects will be on a sheet that will be ruined if the print start varies too much or is random amounts. Found some posts about this, but did not see a clear approach to use for reliable start positioning.
Thank you !
I am happy to report that the printer has been performing beautifully and reliably and I have been able to run a range of media and prints thru it. Very grateful for all the help I received from you generous members in getting the machine back up and running prints!
I am now trying to get better at ongoing maintenance, and understanding settings from the software and control panel to help get the cleanest prints and cleanest cuts in various situations. I think this will likely take me some time to learn, experiment, and fine tune for various media and quality needs.
Questions regarding maintenance:
- The machine seems to be set to do very frequent recirculation / refresh.
- If I power off at the control panel ( but leave main rocker switches on) --> it's back on within 30 minutes and running the circulation pumps
- It then shuts off, and then powers on again within an hour again and sometimes only for a brief time and then off again ( does not always seem to do circulation, and sometimes is on for only a minute and then off again) This continues fairly frequently but I have not had a chance to log the actual pattern of on/off and what it does each time yet. I sometimes flip off the main switch until I return the next day or two later just so it's not running so much.
- I have not figured out what settings control these maintenance cycles and their frequencies and what are reasonable settings to use. I am currently only running 5 - 20 sq. ft. of prints and then power off for a day or two before running some more.
- Ideally I'd like to set the machine to run the least amount of maintenance cycles and go a full day or multiple days (if possible) before powering on by itself to recirculate, etc. Open to advise on what settings would be reasonable
- As for manual cleaning of the print head and station: Is it best to always clean them both after every use, or are there cases where you can let a day or two pass in between if you only ran a tiny amount of printing?
- Any benefits to manually cleaning before running VS. cleaning after running (before shutting down)?
Question regarding printing:
- Is there a way to know where the start of each print will land on the media. I have been able to estimate it relative to the cut strip but sometimes it feeds the media forward an inch or two and sometimes it does not before starting the print. It's not as big a deal when I have a roll, but some of my projects will be on a sheet that will be ruined if the print start varies too much or is random amounts. Found some posts about this, but did not see a clear approach to use for reliable start positioning.
Thank you !
Smoke_Jaguar
Man who touches printers inappropriately.
The cycling that happens most often is just recirculating the white ink. Yeah, it'll do it a lot and be annoying as hell for a bit, but you'll get used to it. Honestly would've just made more sense to just use a really basic microcontroller to do circulation duty, but the thing has to boot fully to run the cycle and then shut back down.
As for the refresh and cleaning cycles, they use trivial amounts of ink and can just go to default settings.
Make sure to keep an eye on your waste tank for signs of leakage. Maintenance> Waste Tank will show estimated percentage of how full your ink tank is calculated to be. Empty it, reset it to 5% and check weekly. If it says something like 12% and is damn near full, you'll know something is up.
Never done much sheet printing, so can't be much help there.
As for the refresh and cleaning cycles, they use trivial amounts of ink and can just go to default settings.
Make sure to keep an eye on your waste tank for signs of leakage. Maintenance> Waste Tank will show estimated percentage of how full your ink tank is calculated to be. Empty it, reset it to 5% and check weekly. If it says something like 12% and is damn near full, you'll know something is up.
Never done much sheet printing, so can't be much help there.