Roland keeping cap and lines moist

[benski]

Can anybody give me insight if it’s necessary to put solution on cap top daily/weekly? To keep lines clean.
It’s my first Roland and where I purchased it they said not necessary.
My Mutohs if I miss a week it raised havoc unclogging my pump and lines. How does Roland do it if it’s true.
Vs540.

 

[Solventinkjet]

It is a known problem with Mutohs after the ink formula change. Newer Mutohs fix the problem but legacy ones do have clogging issues. The Roland VS series shouldn't have as many issues. You might do it once a month to prevent clogging if at all. Similarly, the Mimaki machines have an on board cartridge that does it for you and these machines all use Epson based tech so at some point an engineer thought it was worth letting solution run through the pump once in a while.

 

[netsol]

AT A MINIMUM, i do a nozzle check every day on all my machines, and i wet all captops while the head is in motion

MOST DAYS, i print a 12 inch colorvwheel on each machine

 

[Crizzy]

Can anybody give me insight if it’s necessary to put solution on cap top daily/weekly? To keep lines clean.
It’s my first Roland and where I purchased it they said not necessary.
My Mutohs if I miss a week it raised havoc unclogging my pump and lines. How does Roland do it if it’s true.
Vs540.

I'm not an expert as I've got my sp540i only 4-5 months ago but I was told to clean it like this guy

.

Also keep it plugged in and print at least once a week something.

I use genuine ink as that's what the guy previously bas used also.

I've emailed the company that I buy the supplies from as they do maintenance for these and asked for a yearly maintenance plan and the guy said that is not needed as long as I keep it clean and print weekly through it.

 

[cornholio]

If you use original ink and parts, it's not necessary to do such things.

 

[somcalmetim]

Roland VG series machines start up and run their own periodic cleanings on a schedule. So any extra solution in the caps would just be cycled off next time it runs its own maintenance routine. I let the caps soak in extra solution when cleaning heads but as soon as you finish cleaning the machine takes over head/cap control and any extra will just be regulated by the machines own maint routines....even earlier machines run a routine when you finish cleaning so any extra solution added to caps would be wasted.

 

[somcalmetim]

c

 

[damonCA21]

yes, the SP printers also do this. This is why you leave it plugged in all the time, it will periodically clean the heads even if the printer isnt used to print.

What the Roland pump does is to purge itself by sucking the ink out from the captop and pump lines, then it locks so no air can get to the heads to dry them out. If you have clear lines on your pump and captop you can see this as no ink is left between the input to the pump and the captop.

If ink was left in the captop then this could dry and clog the head, as it also could if it was left in the pump lines clogging those.

Adding cleaning fluid doesn't hurt, but it will just be sucked out as soon as it runs a self cleaning cycle so there is no need to do it. In 18 years I have never done this.

I have never had a captop hose blocked and have only once had a pump clogged which was at the Y piece where the two lines join which is a weak point of the design. I solved this by running hoses directly from each captop to each of the inputs on the pump which solves the problem.

 

[benski]

It is a known problem with Mutohs after the ink formula change. Newer Mutohs fix the problem but legacy ones do have clogging issues. The Roland VS series shouldn't have as many issues. You might do it once a month to prevent clogging if at all. Similarly, the Mimaki machines have an on board cartridge that does it for you and these machines all use Epson based tech so at some point an engineer thought it was worth letting solution run through the pump once in a while.

thank you for reply that makes sense.

 

[benski]

AT A MINIMUM, i do a nozzle check every day on all my machines, and i wet all captops while the head is in motion

MOST DAYS, i print a 12 inch colorvwheel on each machine

right on will do!

 

[benski]

I'm not an expert as I've got my sp540i only 4-5 months ago but I was told to clean it like this guy

.

Also keep it plugged in and print at least once a week something.

I use genuine ink as that's what the guy previously bas used also.

I've emailed the company that I buy the supplies from as they do maintenance for these and asked for a yearly maintenance plan and the guy said that is not needed as long as I keep it clean and print weekly through it.

really appreciate it!!

 

[benski]

yes, the SP printers also do this. This is why you leave it plugged in all the time, it will periodically clean the heads even if the printer isnt used to print.

What the Roland pump does is to purge itself by sucking the ink out from the captop and pump lines, then it locks so no air can get to the heads to dry them out. If you have clear lines on your pump and captop you can see this as no ink is left between the input to the pump and the captop.

If ink was left in the captop then this could dry and clog the head, as it also could if it was left in the pump lines clogging those.

Adding cleaning fluid doesn't hurt, but it will just be sucked out as soon as it runs a self cleaning cycle so there is no need to do it. In 18 years I have never done this.

I have never had a captop hose blocked and have only once had a pump clogged which was at the Y piece where the two lines join which is a weak point of the design. I solved this by running hoses directly from each captop to each of the inputs on the pump which solves the problem.

cool thanks again!