New Epson S30 drops ink

[Felix Sepulveda]

Hi All, finally I decided to buy an Epson S30 almost two months ago. This is my first Ecosolvent printer. I'm still getting to know the machine. Sometimes I get drops of ink during printing (specially magenta and yellow). I'm in the Dominican Republic and Epson has more or less good service here. My dampers were changed by Epson, but I still get the problem sometimes. It almost always occur when an ink cart is low on ink. The technician told me that maybe when the ink pressure is low the ink lines might get bubbles. Has this happened to any of the Surecolor owners here? should I request another damper change ? or it might be an head issue ?

Certainly if a do a low level cleaning and put a new cart in the almost empty color, the problem goes away...... but of course I can't accept this as a normal procedure.

Thanks for your help.

 

[mpn]

Do they look like this? If so I'm interested in the answer you get. Still waiting on any kind of answer from Epson.

 

[Snydo]

If you have been running it a lot these few months, I would suggest putting in a new wiper. When ours starts dropping like that I do a medium cleaning cycle and change the wiper and have never had it not go away immediately. I go through at least one set of ink per week and very rarely change ink carts before the 'empty' light comes on.

 

[mpn]

If you have been running it a lot these few months, I would suggest putting in a new wiper. When ours starts dropping like that I do a medium cleaning cycle and change the wiper and have never had it not go away immediately. I go through at least one set of ink per week and very rarely change ink carts before the 'empty' light comes on.

I'll give it a shot on the next run. Another question for you Snydo... Do you have any issues with panel alignment on tiled jobs? I have run into an issue and the only way to resolve it is to not use the take up reel. It makes no difference which vinyl I run or heat settings either. It seems that the take up reel pulls at different amounts depending on how much is on the feed roll? (weight of intake material?)

 

[artbot]

the ink in the cart is like a pile of chain at the top of the roof. the ink coming down the lines is this same chain hanging off of a roof. this chain and the gravity on the chain (actually surface tension inside the ink tube) pulls the ink all the way to the head. if the cart gets low this can cause the "heavy end" of the chain ("on the roof") to become to light allowing for a break in the surface tension because the ink line weight is imbalanced. this can cause drips.

make sure that your printer is level. the problem may solve itself if you raise the left side of the printer by just a bit. ...very small amount.

 

[Snydo]

I'll give it a shot on the next run. Another question for you Snydo... Do you have any issues with panel alignment on tiled jobs? I have run into an issue and the only way to resolve it is to not use the take up reel. It makes no difference which vinyl I run or heat settings either. It seems that the take up reel pulls at different amounts depending on how much is on the feed roll? (weight of intake material?)

Easily the least impressive aspect of S series is the take up system, what I do is place a single piece of tape exactly in the center of the media, taking care to tape it to the take-up roll as squarely as possible. You will know when you get it right, it will take up a full roll perfectly. As far as panel alignment, no real issues with that.

It's also worth noting that I shake the hell out of new ink cartridges, to the order of 20-30 seconds. I would try pulling those carts that are low and shaking them thoroughly before sending a job and see if that helps.

Like artbot said, make sure your level.

 

[Felix Sepulveda]

Yes MPB, my drops look like yours..... I think Epson knows very well about the problem or at least it has happened with many machines. When the technician saw the drops he was with and assistant an they both looked each other like saying: "one more" (this is pure speculation). They asked for the dampers change immediately.

On the other hand I think I have not printed a lot, I'm finishing my second set of inks plus a magenta cart. According to the cleaning instructions, for my case, it is not time yet to change the wiper. I will try to do the head cleaning procedure more often (will go from 7 days to 4 days) and will put special attention to the wiper.

Thanks, also, for the leveling trick, I will see if that improves the situation. So far the printer is perfectly leveled and the technicians told me to move as few as possible. In one vendor video I saw the operator leaving the wheels loose and moving the printer to change rolls.

Thanks again, lets keep sharing our findings and solutions. God Bless you all.

 

[mpn]

Easily the least impressive aspect of S series is the take up system, what I do is place a single piece of tape exactly in the center of the media, taking care to tape it to the take-up roll as squarely as possible. You will know when you get it right, it will take up a full roll perfectly. As far as panel alignment, no real issues with that.

It's also worth noting that I shake the hell out of new ink cartridges, to the order of 20-30 seconds. I would try pulling those carts that are low and shaking them thoroughly before sending a job and see if that helps.

Like artbot said, make sure your level.

No problem with printing full rolls with the take-up reel, it rolls up straight and no telescoping at all. The issue we're having is the panel alignment after printing. If we leave the material on the take up reel automatic setting there is an unacceptable size difference from the top to bottom of tiled panels.
I have run 1 particular job through with and without the take up reel. ( had to rerun because of ink drops) These panels were measured before laminating to rule out stretching there. Straight from the printer on 8' panels there was a 1/8" difference, and on 14' we have a 1/4". Also put it on the 6000 and had no issues at all. ( ruled out the file as a problem)

Felix, we seem to have the same problem as you. We have used our Surecolor about as much as that. The ink drops, close to empty cartridge and leveling issues etc are frustrating to say the least.

As far as the maintenance, this machine is kept cleaner and cared for more than anything else in our shop.