Roland cap tops leaking?

[phototec]

I had a first time problem yesterday, I had some nozzles clogged after not using my Roland SP-540V printer for two weeks and was doing a head soaking over night, clamped off the tube between the pump and the "Y" below the cap tops, filled the cap tops with cleaning solution, parked the heads on the caps over night to soak. Also powered off the printer and removed the ink carts (this is the procedure I have done several times in the past without any problem).

After soaking the head for about 8 hours, I noticed blue ink (and maybe the black) that had drained all around the bottom of the capping station (see attached photos), my CYAN ink line was empty (clear) all the way back to the ink cartridge,the one thing that saved me from loosing all the CYAN ink and making even a bigger mess, was that I had pulled out the four ink carts while the head was soaking overnight.

I say maybe black also because looking at the ink lines when it happened, you could see the Magenta, Yellow, a very very light Blue color line that looked empty and a Blue-Black line. I removed the old cap top and it was soaked in Cyan ink (see attached photo), and installed an old cap I had kept as a spare, did a powerful cleaning to draw ink into the line and the printer is working ok now.

Is it possible the foam pad in the blu/blk cap top swelled up and wicked the ink out of the ink lines, I have read something like that on Sings101 in the past?

So, do you have any idea what happened to cause the cyan ink (and maybe the black ink also), to wick out of the ink line(s) over night?

Thanks for any help with this

 

[player]

Galloping ink. Sometimes the ink just wants to be free.

 

[Solventinkjet]

How did you clamp the tube when doing the soak? If the clamp didn't close off completely, the cleaning solution moving through the line slowly could have caused a siphon effect especially if the cartridge was not in the machine at the time. The only thing that makes me think that that isn't the case is all of the ink around the cap top. It looks like the ink oozed out the sides which tells me that maybe the cap did not seal properly. Your posts indicate that you have a good grasp on these machines. I would say maybe this was a fluke in your normal procedure?

 

[phototec]

How did you clamp the tube when doing the soak? If the clamp didn't close off completely, the cleaning solution moving through the line slowly could have caused a siphon effect especially if the cartridge was not in the machine at the time. The only thing that makes me think that that isn't the case is all of the ink around the cap top. It looks like the ink oozed out the sides which tells me that maybe the cap did not seal properly. Your posts indicate that you have a good grasp on these machines. I would say maybe this was a fluke in your normal procedure?

Yes, I have done the head soaking procedure many times and never had any problem, also I have NEVER had any leak like this in my printer, it's not a virgin anymore.

It may be possible, my clamp was not sealing 100%, maybe I should use a stronger clamp, just didn't want to hurt the black tube.

Any thoughts about the cap top sponge swelling and causing a wicking effect?



Oh, BTW don't you sell cap tops for the Roland SP-540V (DX4), are they the same quality as the OEM cap tops?

Price?

Thanks for your helpful reply

 

[Solventinkjet]

In older Rolands (DX2/CJ and SC 500) there was a big problem with the cap top sponges swelling and wicking the ink through. In newer models it's not as much of a problem but I have seen it happen at least once. Check for stray fibers or swelling. It should be pretty easy to spot a problem. Also, usually when I do a head soak I bend the tube and tape it. That way there is nothing hard or pointy to damage the tubes.

We do sell the cap tops and they are OEM. The current price is $29.99.

 

[phototec]

In older Rolands (DX2/CJ and SC 500) there was a big problem with the cap top sponges swelling and wicking the ink through. In newer models it's not as much of a problem but I have seen it happen at least once. Check for stray fibers or swelling. It should be pretty easy to spot a problem. Also, usually when I do a head soak I bend the tube and tape it. That way there is nothing hard or pointy to damage the tubes.

We do sell the cap tops and they are OEM. The current price is $29.99.

Thanks for the reply, I did bend the black tube and used a soft plastic clamp to hole in that position, didn't think about tape.

How often should you replace the cap tops?

 

[player]

I bend them over and use those big black metal spring paper clips. They have rounded edges.