Print head issues...with test draw pics. Please help

[jdwilliams1]

https://www.dropbox.com/s/0vq537h5yue1pxg/20140417_101822.jpg

Here is a link to my test draw. I know it is very bad but I have a few issues.

1. I have never seen this...why does it appear these is black ink in the yellow test test area. I have tried new cartridges rubber caps etc. Would love your thoughts

2. Cannot get magenta to fire. Have trie new rubber caps, cleaning, syringe, pump test. Running out of options and tech will be the next step but would love opinions on here.

Thanks a bunch

Jay

 

[Tekkie1]

So I assume this is for the JF1631?
if so
What ink config are you using?
dual CMYK?
Or cmykLcLm ww or clear?
dual cmyk is the only way to run a Jf1631.
This is from my experience with 3 machines now, it seems to give bettter results.
the contamination you have yellow black could be the wiper not sucking as it cleans?
if you attach a syringe onto the line below the head of the magenta and if you draw the syringe fully out ,then do a clean does the syringe get sucked or drawn down?
If yes,then you have no leaks through the head, if no then you may have a air leak. I have seen the ink lines into the side of the head under the cover detach and the ink goes down the side of the head rather than through it, however you should hear air through the head when u manually pull the syringe.
If you take the cover off the damper and do a clean does the damper diaphram get sucked in?
if yes, good, if not then you may have a blocked head or faulty damper or blocked ink line.
I sometimes in service mode go to ageing and manually turn on the pump for the head I am looking at and watch what happens with the damper as it should empty then as the pump stops you should see it fill slowly as the vacuum evens out.
worst case you could try cleaning fluid through a syringe into the head and see what drips out, if nothing then blocked head.
EFI make a very good cleaning fluid and I use this a lot on UV machines.
let me know how you go
Tekkie1

 

[jdwilliams1]

So I assume this is for the JF1631?
if so
What ink config are you using?
dual CMYK?
Or cmykLcLm ww or clear?
dual cmyk is the only way to run a Jf1631.
This is from my experience with 3 machines now, it seems to give bettter results.
the contamination you have yellow black could be the wiper not sucking as it cleans?
if you attach a syringe onto the line below the head of the magenta and if you draw the syringe fully out ,then do a clean does the syringe get sucked or drawn down?
If yes,then you have no leaks through the head, if no then you may have a air leak. I have seen the ink lines into the side of the head under the cover detach and the ink goes down the side of the head rather than through it, however you should hear air through the head when u manually pull the syringe.
If you take the cover off the damper and do a clean does the damper diaphram get sucked in?
if yes, good, if not then you may have a blocked head or faulty damper or blocked ink line.
I sometimes in service mode go to ageing and manually turn on the pump for the head I am looking at and watch what happens with the damper as it should empty then as the pump stops you should see it fill slowly as the vacuum evens out.
worst case you could try cleaning fluid through a syringe into the head and see what drips out, if nothing then blocked head.
EFI make a very good cleaning fluid and I use this a lot on UV machines.
let me know how you go
Tekkie1

Tekkie1, all of your input here is very much appreciated and I am going to work on this over the weekend and get back to you but one thing you said jumps out at me...


"dual cmyk is the only way to run a Jf1631"

Can you elaborate on this? I assume you are saying run CMYK on the top row and CMYK on the bottom row. Does this create a higher quality print at possibly a lower pass number? I am very anxious to hear what you have to say about this.

Right now all 3 of my JF1631 have wasted white heads in the two white slots(they do not work and are bad heads just sitting there.), so my machines are running CMYK Lm Lc WW(on two of them and one is just CMYK)

Again thanks so much, I will try some of the options you gave me here over the weekend and let you know.

 

[jdwilliams1]

Tekkie1, all of your input here is very much appreciated and I am going to work on this over the weekend and get back to you but one thing you said jumps out at me...


"dual cmyk is the only way to run a Jf1631"

Can you elaborate on this? I assume you are saying run CMYK on the top row and CMYK on the bottom row. Does this create a higher quality print at possibly a lower pass number? I am very anxious to hear what you have to say about this.

Right now all 3 of my JF1631 have wasted white heads in the two white slots(they do not work and are bad heads just sitting there.), so my machines are running CMYK Lm Lc WW(on two of them and one is just CMYK)

Again thanks so much, I will try some of the options you gave me here over the weekend and let you know.

Hi Tekkie1, just wanted to reach out to you again. Can you help me learn more about turning a jf1631 into a dual cmyk machine?

Thanks
Jay

 

[Tekkie1]

Ok
magenta cyan yellow black black yellow cyan magenta
is the way it should be done.
where the first cart at the top left is magenta and the bottom left is also magenta, so it goes in a circle.
there is an option to change this in" ink change" in service mode from memory. You will need working heads in all eight slots, you will also need to flush out and probably replace all the dampers on the bottom row/ or the heads from the black middle to the right i.e heads 5678.
You will see a great improvement in the print quality.
However in saying this the alignment has to be spot on , and this takes a lot of time with a magnifyer. I use a usb camera attached to my laptop with 200x zoom it works a treat. I have one customer who has this setup who is winning contracts as the machine is so so good.
The profiles used are just the standard mimaki ones that he has modified by reducing the overall density of ink, but decreasing the dot size of the 3 sizes you can adjust. Bi direction print is very good.
I am talking rasterlink 5 IP as the rip 600x 600 Dpi at 6 or 8 passes
If there is ever a problem with missing nozzles the extra heads seem to compensate so u can still have a reasonable print, but you must increase the pass rate to compensate.
Tekkie1

 

[jdwilliams1]

Ok
magenta cyan yellow black black yellow cyan magenta
is the way it should be done.
where the first cart at the top left is magenta and the bottom left is also magenta, so it goes in a circle.
there is an option to change this in" ink change" in service mode from memory. You will need working heads in all eight slots, you will also need to flush out and probably replace all the dampers on the bottom row/ or the heads from the black middle to the right i.e heads 5678.
You will see a great improvement in the print quality.
However in saying this the alignment has to be spot on , and this takes a lot of time with a magnifyer. I use a usb camera attached to my laptop with 200x zoom it works a treat. I have one customer who has this setup who is winning contracts as the machine is so so good.
The profiles used are just the standard mimaki ones that he has modified by reducing the overall density of ink, but decreasing the dot size of the 3 sizes you can adjust. Bi direction print is very good.
I am talking rasterlink 5 IP as the rip 600x 600 Dpi at 6 or 8 passes
If there is ever a problem with missing nozzles the extra heads seem to compensate so u can still have a reasonable print, but you must increase the pass rate to compensate.
Tekkie1

Tekkie, I really hate to bug you but this is follow up to the magenta issue I have been having.

Since we spoke I replaced the damper, cleaned out the wiper so it sucks(which fixed the contamination of inks in the test draw...thanks!) and so far I am still having issues. So what I decided to do was switch the cyan and magenta ink links and then did a 2 minute pump motor draw and then several test prints. Wanted to get your thoughts of the results so I have attached them here. All the sudden there is far more ink coming through the magenta head(which is now cyan, as you can see on the left), and the magenta is coming through the cyan head pretty ok. what do you think?

Also are you a technician?

Thanks again
Jay

 

[Tekkie1]

Do you have access to cleaning fluid?
Also do u have a new damper?
Those heads cyan amd magenta are not that good.
What I would do is remove the ink line and damper to each of the heads one at a time and with a new damper attached I would fill the damper with cleaning fluid and using the syringe from under each head I would suck cleaning fluid through the head. Do this on both heads and leave cleaning fluid in the heads over night. I would then return all to normal and do some normal cleans and see what the nozzle test is like and how many nozzles I get back.
I have had success doing this , but I have also had no change depending on how bad the head is blocked.
The magenta may be more blocked as its closer to the lamps and reflectivity from the media can cause the ink to cure.
Dont be afraid to use a sponge swab and really scrub under the heads with cleaning fluid, as this is sometimes the only way to remove the cured ink from the heads.
Your other problem still may be an air leak from the head, I have had this many times just recently. Try and get some EFI cleaning fluid as its seems to be better for me
What u did by swapping ink lines I have also done and had the same result it seemed to be better, and I have no idea why.
The answer to your last question is yes. I seem to get all the weird and wonderful problems that nobody else gets..LOL
One more thing.
in the setup menu make sure you select "wait cap"when the carriage parks, not on the left where it would normally sit, for some reason i have less problems when this is done

 

[jdwilliams1]

Do you have access to cleaning fluid?
Also do u have a new damper?
Those heads cyan amd magenta are not that good.
What I would do is remove the ink line and damper to each of the heads one at a time and with a new damper attached I would fill the damper with cleaning fluid and using the syringe from under each head I would suck cleaning fluid through the head. Do this on both heads and leave cleaning fluid in the heads over night. I would then return all to normal and do some normal cleans and see what the nozzle test is like and how many nozzles I get back.
I have had success doing this , but I have also had no change depending on how bad the head is blocked.
The magenta may be more blocked as its closer to the lamps and reflectivity from the media can cause the ink to cure.
Dont be afraid to use a sponge swab and really scrub under the heads with cleaning fluid, as this is sometimes the only way to remove the cured ink from the heads.
Your other problem still may be an air leak from the head, I have had this many times just recently. Try and get some EFI cleaning fluid as its seems to be better for me
What u did by swapping ink lines I have also done and had the same result it seemed to be better, and I have no idea why.
The answer to your last question is yes. I seem to get all the weird and wonderful problems that nobody else gets..LOL
One more thing.
in the setup menu make sure you select "wait cap"when the carriage parks, not on the left where it would normally sit, for some reason i have less problems when this is done

Thanks Tekkie1, I will work on this tonight.

Couple things when I google search EFI cleaning fluid I do not show any printer cleaner. Where can I get this?

Where would I find "wait cap"

Finally, are you a technician that travels? I want to set a machine up dual CMYK and I am worried about doing it myself.

Thanks
Jay

 

[Tekkie1]

EFI rastek UV cleaning fluid..look for a rastek dealer
Wait cap is in the setup or maintenece menu of your machine..turn it on
Travel..yes but I am a long way a way from u...LOL
Tekkie1

 

[jdwilliams1]

EFI rastek UV cleaning fluid..look for a rastek dealer
Wait cap is in the setup or maintenece menu of your machine..turn it on
Travel..yes but I am a long way a way from u...LOL
Tekkie1

Where are you located? I have no one close.

 

[Tekkie1]

15hr plus in a plane...LOL

 

[jdwilliams1]

15hr plus in a plane...LOL

oh, that is far away..lol

Would love to be able to chat with you as I go through some of these changes. Do you have skype?

 

[jdwilliams1]

Tekkiw, i was getting close to trying test print after completing a few of your suggestions and now at start up I am getting a error 108 hd thermis 2

 

[jdwilliams1]

Help with profiles for dual CMYK

Tekkie, I need your help hopefully soon.

My tech is on site and we have finally changed my JF 1631 over to dual CMYK and now we need detailed instructions on how to set up the color profiles for this. We have rasterlink, can you help?

Ok
magenta cyan yellow black black yellow cyan magenta
is the way it should be done.
where the first cart at the top left is magenta and the bottom left is also magenta, so it goes in a circle.
there is an option to change this in" ink change" in service mode from memory. You will need working heads in all eight slots, you will also need to flush out and probably replace all the dampers on the bottom row/ or the heads from the black middle to the right i.e heads 5678.
You will see a great improvement in the print quality.
However in saying this the alignment has to be spot on , and this takes a lot of time with a magnifyer. I use a usb camera attached to my laptop with 200x zoom it works a treat. I have one customer who has this setup who is winning contracts as the machine is so so good.
The profiles used are just the standard mimaki ones that he has modified by reducing the overall density of ink, but decreasing the dot size of the 3 sizes you can adjust. Bi direction print is very good.
I am talking rasterlink 5 IP as the rip 600x 600 Dpi at 6 or 8 passes
If there is ever a problem with missing nozzles the extra heads seem to compensate so u can still have a reasonable print, but you must increase the pass rate to compensate.
Tekkie1