Replacing DX2 printhead on Roland SC-500/SJ-500 printer

[antonitus]

Does anyone know how to remove a DX2 printhead on a Roland SC-500 printer, which is similar to an SJ-500 printer. There is absolutely nothing on YouTube to show me how. The Service manual is bloody useless as I did everything it mentioned with now luck. Once I know how I will try to upload a video on YouTube if possible to help others in similar boat to me.

Thanks.

 

[ProPDF]

It can be a little tricky if you have never done it.Remove the 1 screw and spring pull slightly forward, rotate clockwise slightly and pull out. If you have never re-installed one before it can take some moving around in position to get it to sit right. That machine is extremely old and slow....be careful how much money you dump into it. It would be a great cutter worst case.

 

[antonitus]

It can be a little tricky if you have never done it.Remove the 1 screw and spring pull slightly forward, rotate clockwise slightly and pull out. If you have never re-installed one before it can take some moving around in position to get it to sit right. That machine is extremely old and slow....be careful how much money you dump into it. It would be a great cutter worst case.

I know exactly what you mean about it being old. but I'm stuck with it and I at least want to see if I can get it to print something. It was like carrying a small car up one flight of stairs to get it in, so I'd like to use it for a short while before I get rid of it, although I'm in no hurry as I'm dreading to carrying it out again. Plus I am not using it as a business, so no budget for another better printer/cutter. You're right the printer is perfect foe cutting and I'd be happy just to use that only. I'm not really spending much on it as I get some stuff from China and they are cheap anyway, it's just the waiting to get them I don't like. I also heard that it was a good printer for a lot of people back in the day and I'm not too fussed that it will print slowly as long as it prints something well..

I managed to remove the printhead with a little wiggling, so thanks for your help, much appreciated.

 

[ProPDF]

Like any roland print head change make sure your power is off and not connected to the wall or you can start blowing fuses. Also do not let any liquid get on the cables or cable ends. Don't get ink on the inside of any new print head connector as well. It's good practice to hit the power button a few times after you unplug it from the power source to discharge capacitors completely.

If you get the heads working or new heads.... get you some chinese ink and an X-rite device. Those printers are really good quality actually....they can do great prints if you create a custom profile with an X-rite device. Without a profile it will print really bad. You can convert them to USB also and run them on Windows 10 with Flexi 12 if you desire.

 

[antonitus]

Like any roland print head change make sure your power is off and not connected to the wall or you can start blowing fuses. Also do not let any liquid get on the cables or cable ends. Don't get ink on the inside of any new print head connector as well. It's good practice to hit the power button a few times after you unplug it from the power source to discharge capacitors completely.

If you get the heads working or new heads.... get you some chinese ink and an X-rite device. Those printers are really good quality actually....they can do great prints if you create a custom profile with an X-rite device. Without a profile it will print really bad. You can convert them to USB also and run them on Windows 10 with Flexi 12 if you desire.

Thanks perfectpdf, very informative information. I managed to remove the printhead in the end, getting it in again is a different story. I soaked the head in solvent flush liquid, connected a syringe to the 3 ink connectors and they are beyond repair, liquid is not coming out at all. This printer was stationery for 2 years, so they are beyond repair, so now I am looking for the colour and the black printheads. What a pain and they are so expensive too. These companies have us by the balls, so to speak with over inflated prices. Why they are so expensive is such a con. China sell loads of these printheads that are brand new stating they are original Epson printheads. If they are still manufacturing them, then why are they so expensive . No justice in this world and there are thousands of these compatible printers that use DX2 printheads.

Can I ask you what an X-rite device is? I already have a few litres of JetBest ink. I also have Flexi 8.6 with loads of profiles, however I am still learning how to use profiles to get better prints. As I've never printed on this printer before and I got it quite cheap, I don't have much of a clue about profiles, but I will learn of course. Do you have a link to that Chinese ink. I am based in the UK, but the Chinese send stuff worldwide. At the moment my printer is networked and I have a parallel to USB cable, that I don't need. Thanks.

 

[Christopher spry]

Thanks perfectpdf, very informative information. I managed to remove the printhead in the end, getting it in again is a different story. I soaked the head in solvent flush liquid, connected a syringe to the 3 ink connectors and they are beyond repair, liquid is not coming out at all. This printer was stationery for 2 years, so they are beyond repair, so now I am looking for the colour and the black printheads. What a pain and they are so expensive too. These companies have us by the balls, so to speak with over inflated prices. Why they are so expensive is such a con. China sell loads of these printheads that are brand new stating they are original Epson printheads. If they are still manufacturing them, then why are they so expensive . No justice in this world and there are thousands of these compatible printers that use DX2 printheads.

Can I ask you what an X-rite device is? I already have a few litres of JetBest ink. I also have Flexi 8.6 with loads of profiles, however I am still learning how to use profiles to get better prints. As I've never printed on this printer before and I got it quite cheap, I don't have much of a clue about profiles, but I will learn of course. Do you have a link to that Chinese ink. I am based in the UK, but the Chinese send stuff worldwide. At the moment my printer is networked and I have a parallel to USB cable, that I don't need. Thanks.

Did you have any luck with your printer??
I have the same printer and its been stood for a very long time(years probably), and was thinking of giving it a go to try and get it back working again, I was told that by using the correct profiles the printer was a good quality printer, but very slow. For me slow wouldn't be a problem as I never in the need for work to be done fast, but it would be nice if I had someone going through the same process, possibly swap ideas and get somewhere, don't have any option with getting a better machine, so I am happy to try it. let me know how you got on please.

 

[Christopher spry]

Like any roland print head change make sure your power is off and not connected to the wall or you can start blowing fuses. Also do not let any liquid get on the cables or cable ends. Don't get ink on the inside of any new print head connector as well. It's good practice to hit the power button a few times after you unplug it from the power source to discharge capacitors completely.

If you get the heads working or new heads.... get you some chinese ink and an X-rite device. Those printers are really good quality actually....they can do great prints if you create a custom profile with an X-rite device. Without a profile it will print really bad. You can convert them to USB also and run them on Windows 10 with Flexi 12 if you desire.

Hi perfectpdf,
what Chinese ink would you recommend, also how do you convert it to USB to run windows 10?? this would be a brill thing to do if it isn't to complicated.
I am in the same sort of boat with my printer as antonitus, and considering getting my machine, (I had it given to me). Can't afford a X-rite device, so will have to hope for custom profiles to match the media and inks, hopefully??

 

[tetonsio]

I dont know if you keep dealing with your printer but let me tell you I put back to work an old Mutoh alcon Outdoor. One month ago I replaced Pump and Cleaning Station I found in some Europe store. The printhead with yellow and Magenta colors is really bad so I will try to find a full nozzles printable printhead. For the color profiles I use the Simulation option in PhotoPrint 5.0 running perfectly on win 10 and the printer I simulate is an Epson Artisan 1430 . So I add this ICC profile and colors are really fine. I only reduce the Ink limits per color when I print 1440 DPI.
I own an I1 gretag but I could not build any good ICC profile because the Photoprint 5.0 profiling option does not work fine, besides I have lot of lines in my colors. Maybe if the printheads print at full I could get a nice result.
For anyone dealing with it, I hope you can make your printers work again, is sad to get rid of them when everything is working apart from a printhead.
Excuse for my english, I am in Colombia.

 

[Mark in allentown]

It can be a little tricky if you have never done it.Remove the 1 screw and spring pull slightly forward, rotate clockwise slightly and pull out. If you have never re-installed one before it can take some moving around in position to get it to sit right. That machine is extremely old and slow....be careful how much money you dump into it. It would be a great cutter worst case.

,,i am trying to locate a source for replacement heads for my roland sj 500 printer, is anyone out there who is willing to send me any information?

 

[ProPDF]

,,i am trying to locate a source for replacement heads for my roland sj 500 printer, is anyone out there who is willing to send me any information?

Check ebay as it is the last place they have been seen out of China and Europe but please note most of them are considered used heads as they are pulled from smaller epsons and some people have reported problems. Your best bet would be to use the machine as a cutter only and then try to pick-up a used SP540v for example online to do your printing. It's not worth it anymore to repair these machines vs just picking up a SP300v/i or SP540v/i used even in non working condition. The SP machines at least will allow you to use versaworks. The old SC,CJ,SJ will run on Roland's colorrip forcing you into a older windows OS, you maybe able to get around this by using Parallels and loading windows xp but you would be on your own with any issues. The cheapest 3rd party solution would be Flexi subscription RIP you can run on windows 10 for example and they have all the drivers for this machine to print cut and make profiles. They are great machines, extremely slow but with no parts their end of life was a long long time ago to which your savings will all be eaten up by jumping through hoops with your TIME. Good Luck!!