Relocating Oce Arizona 318GL

[Rlaw44]

Hey All,

I'm moving our Arizona 318GL from New Hampshire to New York. The owner refuses to pay Canon to rent a crate or to shut it down and re-install it. So I'm stuck trying to figure it out.

We have a rigging company doing the actual move, but my concern is more with the ink and the print heads. The printer will be without power for about 6-7 days. My thought is to run flush kits through each line as if I'm changing the ink set (which I am going to do once we power it back up) but instead of loading the ink up right away, just leaving the flush in the lines until we power it back up. Will the printer even let me do that?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated, thanks!!

 

[AlsEU]

Do you have flush in pouches (like inks)? Or in the external container? If it's the container, you will need flushing kits, which should be connected to the machine instead of ink pouches. You have to secure the carriage to the gantry (you should have the special plate to do this). Gantry should be secured to the table with special metal blocks. Also, you should lower the carriage manually to the level, where it rests on two special rubber supports. If you don't have the SDS key, it may be difficult to empty the inks system and flush it, as all required tests are hidden in the service menu. Also be aware, that you shouldn't lift the printer without pallet - you may bend the table. The printer should be lifted while standing on the pallet (ideally - on the original floor from the crate) to maintain the geometry of the table and gantry.
And believe me (and tell it to the owner) - money saved on such move will be spent later on for the calibration, idle time, wasted substrates and angry customers.

 

[Rlaw44]

Thanks so much for the response. I ordered the flush kits ( 1 for each color, 2 for white - 6 total) and the ink, I'd assume they are pouches but not 100% sure as I haven't received them yet. I have the plates, screws and rubber bumpers that came with the printer, just have to figure out exactly where they go (blocks seem pretty straight forward, I just have to figure out the carriage bracket). How do you manually lower the carriage?

I was worried about needing a service key, but apparently changing ink sets is a procedure that's allowed to be done by customer, I'm just hoping it lets me do half the procedure now, half the procedure 7 days later lol.

I was clear with the rigging company that this had to moved on a pallet, they've dealt with flatbed printers before so that makes me feel a little more comfortable.

I agree, I really pushed to pay $4k to have Canon at least do the shut down and start up, which he agreed to, but once he found out he had to pay almost $3k additional for flush and ink he thought it was robbery. Really just hoping I can make this work at this point.

 

[KSTrooper]

I feel your pain, and I only had to move our 318GL from one building to another on the same property. It was down for about half a day. I sweated moving it for a week beforehand though. We managed to do it on our own by widening a few doorways to our destination and made sure the electrician had everything ready to go at the new location. But it still made me nervous.

 

[AlsEU]

Thanks so much for the response. I ordered the flush kits ( 1 for each color, 2 for white - 6 total) and the ink, I'd assume they are pouches but not 100% sure as I haven't received them yet. I have the plates, screws and rubber bumpers that came with the printer, just have to figure out exactly where they go (blocks seem pretty straight forward, I just have to figure out the carriage bracket). How do you manually lower the carriage?

Rubber bumpers should be between at the top of the gantry, under the carriage, near the Z-axis motor screws. If you want to lower the carriage manually, remove the carriage cover and manually rotate the screw in each Z-axis motor. No more than half of the turn at each side, than half on the other side - you have to keep it level always (the Z-axis screws are in the plastic covers, which may be broken easily). Of course, the printer must be switched off at this stage.
Position for the securing the carriage to the gantry is not in the carriage home position - look at the gantry from the bottom, you will see holes for the screws. You need three screws to fix it properly, not four. Move the carriage to this position manually, lower the carriage (with the bumpers) and then fix it to the gantry.

To fix blocks, which secures gantry to the table, you have to remove lower covers at both ends of the gantry - blocks should be installed this way:
1. move the gantry to the centre of the table
2. place the gantry lock block to match up with the four holes on the side of the beam (at each side of the table). The small pin on the block must be at the top of the block
3. push the gantry lock upwards so the pin is inserted into the hole in the beam
4. secure the block with four screws and tighten screws
5. move the gantry over both locks, so the four holes on the plate line up with the holes in the side of the beam
6. secure the gantry to the locks, tighten screws

 

[Rlaw44]

Awesome, I appreciate the detailed description. I feel a little more confident. There's also a red angeled bracket with 2- 1/2" square holes at one end and a 3/8" round hole at the other, as well as a 2" flat square plate with 4 holes, can't figure out where they go. Are they necessary? Going by your steps, everything should already be secure.

Now I just have to hope it lets me flush the ink.

I'm shutting it down on Thursday, I'll let you know how it goes. Thanks for your help!!

 

[AlsEU]

A There's also a red angeled bracket with 2- 1/2" square holes at one end and a 3/8" round hole at the other, as well as a 2" flat square plate with 4 holes, can't figure out where they go. Are they necessary?

Could you make a photo and publish it anywhere?

 

[Rlaw44]

Could you make a photo and publish it anywhere?

Ok. Got the Oce moved and everything started up fine. But now the white head is dripping from the head pretty aggressively, almost as if it's constantly purging ink. The filter on top of the carriage is filled with white ink, so I'm going to replace that and see what happens. I'm hoping it's not the vacuum, or even worse the print head.

There is also a "Ink heat system error". Every time I try to heat up the ink, it turns on for about 10 seconds and then shoots an error. Coolant pumps seem to be running and all connections are secure, I don't know what else it could be. It did always run a little hot (48 C) and took twice as long to heat as my other Oce, maybe it was on it's way out and didn't survive the trip?

 

[SignMeUpGraphics]

Check/replace the filter closest to the black valve on top of the heads. Our white head bleeds like it's been stabbed when that becomes full of ink.
This "feature" is a by-product of a vacuum leak elsewhere in the system I think.

As for ink system errors, not too sure as we only see those in the middle of winter (ie. now in Australia) but it takes a good 40 minutes of heating before the printer gives up.
Sound more like the temperature sensor or something nearby may have become faulty.