Roland Versacamm VP540 Help

[Roger_MCP]

I have a Roland Versacamm VP540. I recently sent out 2 of my print heads for servicing, but I did not have replacement print heads to put in their place. Basically my machine is sitting collecting dust. I do more cutting than printing. Is there a way to deactivate or setup the machine to act as a cutter only or do I have to wait until I put the print heads back in. Any help is appreciated. Thanks

 

[garyroy]

I'm no technician, just a fellow VersaCamm owner.

When you say 'servicing your heads" are you referring to ultrasonic cleaning or some such procedure?
If I knew my printer was going to be down for a while, I may have done a system purge with cleaning cartridges to remove the ink from all the lines and the remaining print heads.
Since your past that point now, may I ask if the machine is still returning to the capping station? If so, there's a chance the heads won't dry up.
Just keep cutting and hopefully restore the heads as soon as possible.
Are you able to run a test print even though 2 of the heads are missing?
I might do that daily to keep ink flowing through those lines, but only if I was sure I could somehow close down the lines feeding the 2 missing print heads.

Gathering dust is a bad thing for DX4 print heads. Print heads love to be run. They work best when fresh ink is going through them every day.
Print something every day, even 10 sq ft of vinyl if you can. Make a yard sign but keep the ink flowing through the lines.
I'm not saying the other 2 heads failed due to lack of ink flow, but I bought a used VP one time with SUPER low hours on the machine.
Less than 100 or so printing hours. I actually had to replace 3 of the heads because they printed super funky. I was told by a tech that they never printed enough
and so they deteriorated just sitting with ink in them. Print print print. When you restore the machine please let us know how it went. It might help others reading the post
later on.

 

[Roger_MCP]

I haven't run the machine since the print heads were removed. Its been a couple of weeks. If 2 of the print heads are out, how do I stop the ink from going through, or is that what the dampers are for? If you can let me know how to plug the ink lines to the two missing print heads, that would be great.

Yes, the two print heads are out for cleaning and one of those is getting the manifold replaced.

 

[garyroy]

When you disconnected the print heads, how did you close off the lines?
I would think you would have crimped them and put on a clip of some sort.

 

[Roger_MCP]

I didn't do anything...I replaced the dampers on all of them. I haven't had any leaking.

 

[garyroy]

so far, so good.
Don't test print then. When will the refurbished heads go in?

 

[BigDogPrinterMan]

I didn't do anything...I replaced the dampers on all of them. I haven't had any leaking.

May I ask the point of risking time and money sending out the cheapest solvent heads on the market for cleaning? At $500 a pop on digi, it’s hard for me to personally understand the justification. The membranes in DX4’s are so sensitive, when it’s gone, it’s gone.

Did this service offer a promise of X functionality or money back, or anything of the sort?

 

[Kemik]

If I were you, I would soak some foam pads with cleaning fluid and place them between the printheads and dampers to try and save your 2 remaining printheads, if it's not too late already.