Oce' 318 Flatbed Ink dropping out

[azprintguy]

I have an Oce 318 that starts printing a dark blue color fine and then after about 5 inches just starts to get worse. Any sugestions on how to fix? Filters look good.

 

[SignMeUpGraphics]

Can you define "worse"?
Do you have any photos you can share?

 

[azprintguy]

In the first picture you can see on the left how it starts off good and by the end it's bad. The second picture is the other end of the board and you can see how faded it looks. My nozzle checks all look good.

 

[azprintguy]

 

[azprintguy]

 

[SignMeUpGraphics]

Hmm, this is a first for me. When your ink filters were changed last?
It kind of feels like the ink supply to the heads can't be maintained for very long.

Are you able to print some solid individual colour blocks as a test? Pure C, pure M, pure Y and pure K to see if we can isolate the issue to a single channel?
Maybe one of the ink pumps is on its way out.

 

[edcooleyar]

Some ideas:
Ink filters need changed, meniscus vacuum is too high, pump is bad, or ink line is pinched.

 

[UGCalgary]

Some ideas:
Ink filters need changed, meniscus vacuum is too high, pump is bad, or ink line is pinched.

I have the same problem with our One Arizona 250GT with our yellow ink. Starts printing for 5 inches them the yellow drops out.

 

[ToTo]

I have the same problem with our One Arizona 250GT with our yellow ink. Starts printing for 5 inches them the yellow drops out.

Clean your printhead gently with a lint free cloth and let it sit for 15 minutes. Then check if one or more heads build up ink on the nozzle plate. If yes, replace the meniscus filter in carriage.

 

[edcooleyar]

You can watch the ink status page while printing. If it goes low and stays low more than a few seconds you probably have a weak pump. If not that, check your meniscus vacuum.

 

[UGCalgary]

You can watch the ink status page while printing. If it goes low and stays low more than a few seconds you probably have a weak pump. If not that, check your meniscus vacuum.

What should the meniscus vacuum be?
Should meniscus vacuum stay the same throughout the entire print cycle?

 

[Select Bulgaria Service]

What should the meniscus vacuum be?
Should meniscus vacuum stay the same throughout the entire print cycle?

There is procedure and tool to adjust the meniscus vacuum. You have to take a look at the heads surface first and to clean good the heads and head plate.

View attachment 157816

Clean the heads and head plate.
If the problem persists:
1. Nozzle test. Is this test clean?
2. Find out which color is the problem by printing solid colors.
3. Replace the ink filter. There will probably be no change, but still ...
4. Remove the corresponding head and check if the black thick hose is in good condition.
5. Check the filter on the head itself.
6. You can swap the locations of two heads. Etc.
7. May be you have head that is close to death.

Too much possibilities. You have to check each one by one.

 

[Bonzai901]

Looks to me like your Cyan is dropping out, print solid color bars one color at a time and find out the culprit then go from there and figure out the problem.