Hello all, I have an Encad Novajet Pro 600e. I know it's an old machine but the shop that I am working for just can't replace it right now. I am having some problems with getting one of the cartridges to fire properly. We received this machine from a neighbor of ours and he had been using replacement cartridges (the kind without the computer chip) and he had taped a chip to the contact behind the cartridge in order to "fool" the machine into thinking that the cartridge had a chip. I know that this sounds totally rigged up, but it was working fine. Well, the machine sat dormant for a couple of weeks and now my magenta will not fire. I cleaned the jet plate and I have established good flow from the plate. I have tried uninstalling and then re-installing this damn cartridge 10 times. Nothing. Then I ran it through some of the tests programmed into the menu. Nothing. I ran it through the "prime" function and I noticed something interesting. After it "primes" all of the colors, it prints this line of text: "COMPENSATION AVAILABLE IN THE ABOVE # OF PASSES." And then under that line of text, it reads: YELLOW (1,2,4,6,8,10) MAGENTA (-,-,-,-,-,-,-) CYAN (1,2,4,6,8,10) BLACK (1,2,4,6,8,10). Does anyone have a suggestion for me? I'm banging my head on the wall with this one. I know that you can purchase a chip that you install to the machine's board that bypasses the need for the cartridge chip but my boss HATES spending money and even if I did order the part, I would have to wait 3 weeks for it to ship from China. Any help would be appreciated.
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Problems with my Encad Novajet Pro 600e
- Thread starter blacksong
- Start date
OldPaint
New Member
your boss that much of a cheapo??? he pay you in peanuts??? you can order that chip on ebay for $29.00....WHEN I GOT MINE, for my encad 736. i also got 4 clear carts for $55.00. this printer has never worked better........since i put in the chip and changed out couple of the encad carts for generic ones. if your boss is making money with the printer......SPEND SOME DAMN MONEY.........so it will work!!!!!!SHHHHHHHHHHEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSEEE!!!!
OldPaint... you crack me up dude! he actually pays me in aluminum cans that i turn in at the scrap yard... it's not a bad deal once you get used to it 
i'm kidding of course! I found the part on ebay and it looks great! thank you for your help, i will be getting that very soon! i will let you know how the machine is running after that! one more question... where is the best place to buy ink? i have been using GO+ ink and there is a supplier here in richmond that has 500ml bottles for $45.00. he also has the chip decoder and cartridges but his prices for those items are much higher than the prices i saw on ebay, which led me to think that i might be able to find the inks cheaper too. do you know of anyone? if not, and $45.00 is a great price for a 500ml bottle of GO+ ink, then i would be happy to pass along this guys information to you.
i'm kidding of course! I found the part on ebay and it looks great! thank you for your help, i will be getting that very soon! i will let you know how the machine is running after that! one more question... where is the best place to buy ink? i have been using GO+ ink and there is a supplier here in richmond that has 500ml bottles for $45.00. he also has the chip decoder and cartridges but his prices for those items are much higher than the prices i saw on ebay, which led me to think that i might be able to find the inks cheaper too. do you know of anyone? if not, and $45.00 is a great price for a 500ml bottle of GO+ ink, then i would be happy to pass along this guys information to you.
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Techman
New Member
goto encad (kodak) or somewhere and geet the owners manual so you can decipher those codes. They tell you every thing there. oooo compensation means the cart is dead by the way.
Don't worry about $45 for ink? It used to be $225.. $45 is so low that it is a non issue.
I just did 2 4' x 4' window sheets for a place that simply said "coming soon" and his logo. It used all of 15 mili of ink. Whats that? about 50 cents? Got paid $100 bux.
Run that printer until it drops. Make money with it. Charge a good price for your stuff. Get your parts and ink any where its cheap. Your guy has a good price,
That chip will not take 3 weeks to get here from china,. This printer wil make you money.
Don't worry about $45 for ink? It used to be $225.. $45 is so low that it is a non issue.
I just did 2 4' x 4' window sheets for a place that simply said "coming soon" and his logo. It used all of 15 mili of ink. Whats that? about 50 cents? Got paid $100 bux.
Run that printer until it drops. Make money with it. Charge a good price for your stuff. Get your parts and ink any where its cheap. Your guy has a good price,
That chip will not take 3 weeks to get here from china,. This printer wil make you money.
I agree with Techman. I own an 850 and it's been a great printer. I did install the chip to bypass the ink limit and use empty chinese carts. My cost to print posters, pop up stands... is almost nothing all the while my comp is buying $25,000 new printers. The colors I get when printing in 8-color mode is great too. The reason I want to get a new printer is Kodak quit making the GX hi fi inks - L & M Cyan and Magenta. If they didn't I would have no reason to switch. Run that baby till it dies!
As far as your problem, Order new generic carts from China and toss the one that's giving you problems. I've worked with these carts for 14 years. If there's a broken connection somewhere they won't work. Try switching the position of the prob cart with the cart next to it. You don't have to open the supply lines... they'll reach. Run a prime and see if the prob follows the cart. It probably will. This shows you that it's the cart and not the printer. Can you pull up the ink usage for the carts and does that cart show up? If that little chip on the cart is slightly off in placement it will not show up under ink usage. It will show 000 - well, it should beep and say unrecognized cart too.
You can also try boiling up some distilled water and then put the bottom of the cart in the hot water for 5 minutes or so. this can sometime loosen up the clog but I don't think it's clogged. it sounds like a breakdown somewhere on the cart.
If you're in a bind and need a new cart ASAP let me know. I'm in Pennsy and can loan you one - $5 priority mail should have it to you in a day or so.
Slap your boss for being so cheap! If he's making money off the printer, he'll need to keep up with it or he'll keep having problems.
As far as your problem, Order new generic carts from China and toss the one that's giving you problems. I've worked with these carts for 14 years. If there's a broken connection somewhere they won't work. Try switching the position of the prob cart with the cart next to it. You don't have to open the supply lines... they'll reach. Run a prime and see if the prob follows the cart. It probably will. This shows you that it's the cart and not the printer. Can you pull up the ink usage for the carts and does that cart show up? If that little chip on the cart is slightly off in placement it will not show up under ink usage. It will show 000 - well, it should beep and say unrecognized cart too.
You can also try boiling up some distilled water and then put the bottom of the cart in the hot water for 5 minutes or so. this can sometime loosen up the clog but I don't think it's clogged. it sounds like a breakdown somewhere on the cart.
If you're in a bind and need a new cart ASAP let me know. I'm in Pennsy and can loan you one - $5 priority mail should have it to you in a day or so.
Slap your boss for being so cheap! If he's making money off the printer, he'll need to keep up with it or he'll keep having problems.
this is my first post on signs101 & i'm new to this site, but this thread is what brought me here after a google search for Encad Novajet Pro 600e. I came across a posting online of someone looking to trade one of these printers for a guitar amp that i happen to have. I paid $300 for the amp years 10 ago and i NEVER use it, so i wouldn't be losing anything of much value to me. But the last thing i need is a machine that'd be more of a headache than a money maker.. Right now i make signs for a living full time but i outsource all digital printing.. Any advice about whether i should pick up this Encad printer or avoid it would be appreciated!
artbot
New Member
a 600e? that is going back a ways. if you just want a poster here and there, any printer will make you money. but encads are odd machines. they are prone to throwing belts, and carriage axis issues (it's a whole carriage precariously balanced on a linear rail). the good news is china is knocking these things out to this day. namely a 750 replica. so you can get many of the parts for it almost free. you'll need a rip (unless he has one) that will cost you five times the cost of the printer. that's not cool. that competes with getting an old school roland which comes free with color choice rip. but if you must cut your teeth on the wide format world, it comes with a rip, it works decently well. you could at least find out if you either love or despise printing. just keep in mind this is an indoor printer. just basic stuff.
thanks for the info artbot! i have very limited experience with printing, so i appreciate it...
i see there's a driver setup in my version of flexi (8.5) for this encad printer.. would i need additional rip software besides that? also, you said it is only good for indoor stuff. i thought i read somewhere that you can find usable UV inks/laminates or something..?
my only real experience with printing besides setting up files and sending them to a local dude who prints on an HP, was a few years ago i worked here and there with a roland color camm that used the ribbon cartridges.. it was a total piece of junk
i see there's a driver setup in my version of flexi (8.5) for this encad printer.. would i need additional rip software besides that? also, you said it is only good for indoor stuff. i thought i read somewhere that you can find usable UV inks/laminates or something..?
my only real experience with printing besides setting up files and sending them to a local dude who prints on an HP, was a few years ago i worked here and there with a roland color camm that used the ribbon cartridges.. it was a total piece of junk
artbot
New Member
well, you can use the go+ inks (pigmented) which will out last the solvent ink in the sun by ten fold. but to compete against guys with slovent printers and a nice laminator, that's a different category of "outdoor". you should be good to go on the rip. i say, pick up some ink on ebay. order a decoder and a batch of cartridges and have a go at it. also, there's this new latex ink for encad coming out. i'm ordering a set next week. my bet is it doesn't work. but i'm gonna try it. that may be the way to go? stay tuned.
VLADIO You are a Genius!
Thanks for your input above - ie switching the non-firing cartridge with the one next to it. I went through 3 cartridges (including an OEM Encad) and none worked. I was ready to rip into the carriage. Switched two around and found that I indeed had three cartridges that were lemons. The fourth one finally worked.
I am finding a very high failure rate on the Chinese knock off cartridges. I would appreciate some feedback as to what actual brand / supplier others are using that have been good quality at a good price.
Thanks
DrMark920
Thanks for your input above - ie switching the non-firing cartridge with the one next to it. I went through 3 cartridges (including an OEM Encad) and none worked. I was ready to rip into the carriage. Switched two around and found that I indeed had three cartridges that were lemons. The fourth one finally worked.
I am finding a very high failure rate on the Chinese knock off cartridges. I would appreciate some feedback as to what actual brand / supplier others are using that have been good quality at a good price.
Thanks
DrMark920