Printer goes thru printing process, but no image left behind, How would that happen?

[vinylink0331]

Valuejet 1204 48"
Flexisign Pro

Printer will go thru the printing process fine from program. Will warm up and start printing. Printer is not dropping any ink at all. No error messages, printer seems to think that everything is working fine. What are the reasons why ink wouldn't be coming thru the print head?

 

[Salmoneye]

Tried a test print from the printer itself to check the heads?

 

[player]

Heads dried up?

Dampers on top of heads clogged or leaked?

+1 on the test print.

 

[vinylink0331]

Not printing a nozzle check.

I tried printing a nozzle check and the same thing. Goes thru the motions, but no ink. I looked at my head and it doesnt seem level. Could that be causing the problem?

 

[heyskull]

To help you further.
Was the machine printing OK prior to this fault?
Have you just acquired this machine or it a machine you have owned for a while?
So many things it could be but if you don't tell us the history of the machine we will struggle to help.

SC

 

[vinylink0331]

Will an Ink Charge push ink thru the dampers?

Bought the printer brand new at Signwarehouse in a package. Had it for about 5 years. Have some problems over the years nothing major. My husband and I have made all repairs on it since we got it. It was working the day before this happened. I did notice that dampers are not full. Does anyone know how full the dampers are supposed to be?

Seal has been cleaned around capping station, capping station clean and ready to go, wiper clean and free of debris. Everything seems to be fine except the dampers seem to be missing some ink.

 

[Solventinkjet]

Your dampers should be about half full. Run a cleaning cycle and then take the waste tray out to see if it is wet with ink. If it is dry, you have an ink flow issue. If it is wet, you most likely have a blown fuse or other electrical issue. If your head is not parallel with the platen, that can cause the cap top to not match up with the head and cause it to dry out. Send a picture of the front of the head and maybe we can let you know if it is sitting correctly or not. My guess is that since this happend overnight, it is probably a blown fuse on the main board.

 

[vinylink0331]

Fixed it.

Apparently, print head was not re-installed straight. It is working now. We actually had just taken the whole thing apart. For instance we removed dampers, print head, etc. We flushed the head and drew cleaning fluid thru the head. Soaked it, cleaned up all around the edges, etc. Removed maintenance station and cleaned tubes on bottom. Got a lot of gunk out of there. We did all of this because our black was missing nozzles. Guess What, after all of that, it is still missing nozzles. Everything else looks great. Where exactly are the nozzles located? It has to be something specific to the black lines. I just cant figure this one out.

I need to know exactly where the nozzles are in the printer. Are they up inside the print head? Also, dampers are not as full as they used to be. What is the appropriate level for ink to fill the dampers, does anyone know?

 

[J Hill Designs]

AFAIK dampers should be ~half full