Roland Versacamm VS-300 Waste Ink not draining

[ElectraRail]

Hi there. I am new to this forum, so please be gentle.

I use a Versacamm VS-300 to produce self-adhesive vinyl stickers for model railway vehicles, which has been in use for about three years, with a major overhaul and print head change last year.

Recently, I noticed a lot of contamination of the print with dark blue waste ink. When openign it up, there was a lot of spillage around the pump. Tech support advised this is due to a pipe being disconnected from the pump but I cannot see any dislodged pipes.

There are two pipes that go from the capping station to the right-hand side of the pump and one pipe which goes from the left-hand side of the pump to the waste bottle. There is space for another pipe on the left of the pump but I cannot see where this might be.

I am hoping this not going to be an expensive fix, as that would probably spell the end of my business - any help gratefully received.

 

[96XP]

Shouldn't be too difficult to fix, nor expensive. However, you may want to clean that mess up inside as it looks to be spread in areas it shouldn't be.
*Always unplug the power before servicing.

If it were me, I would start at the drain bottle and work my way up to the pump, then capping station.

Empty your drain bottle.
Remove all hoses and clean them thoroughly.
Remove and clean 'Y' pipe with toothpick, and cleaning fluid. (if there is one)
Remove the pump and clean it too.
Reassemble and make sure your tubes are well seated in the 'Y' pipe or respective connections. If you don't, there will be an air leak.

If you are able, fill the caps with cleaning fluid and try turning the gear wheel manually with your thumb to see if it is turning/draining, or binding.
Either way, try a clean cycle after you have it freshly put back together.

If all else fails, I would suspect the pump, but do these things first.

One more thing I'll mention, is to keep your misting sponge soaked with cleaning fluid. This will prevent solid build-up, on down the line, thus reducing build-up in the drain tubes.
If you seldomly us the printer, like days apart, don't just turn off the power and walk away as it is programed to self clean.
I state this because I knew someone a few years ago that was too cheap to leave it plugged in, and caused major clogging.

Good luck.

 

[ElectraRail]

Many thanks for your assistance - I will give this a go. Apart from the discolouration, the test prints are not too bad, as I have been leaving the printer on to do the self-clean, so hopefully this will do the trick.

 

[cornholio]

Your discharge tube is likely blocked!
Often the tube gets pinched by the waste bottle. Check that.
The cap of the pump outlet has popped off. I have seen it a couple of times.
You either need to find the cap in this mess, or close the open pump port with a closed short piece of tubing. (I close one side with a cable tie)
Then, if you have problems with banding every 4-5 inches, you need to clean or replace the feed encoder disk and maybe the sensor.

 

[netsol]

drain lines clogged with dried ink?
take llines off the y connectors
use a tapered syringe (solventinkjet.com sellls REALLY NICE ones) and since they are waste lines you can flush with rubbing alcohol for a couple dollars
you can take the drain loose from the discharge going to the waste container, or put alcohol disectly into the pumps. (it can't hurt to flush the pumps)

once you do that, put the syringe on the hose off the captops and pull some ink through

 

[IsItFasst]

I always keep several feet of that hose in my supply just in case it gets clogged. Easy and cheap to replace instead of trying to clean it if it's clogged bad enough.

 

[cornholio]

Look at the commented image.

 

[Zoogee World]

As mentioned above, it looks like the cap is missing on that top left side. There is no line that goes, just a little cap.

 

[ElectraRail]

Many thanks everyone for the assistance - it seems to be coming together now.

 

[ElectraRail]

I found the problem with the waste ink not flowing was due to the waste pipe somehow getting trapped under the print head mounting. I have cleared this and waste ink is present in the pipe, which seems to have stopped the waste welling up through the cap top.

However, there is now no ink flowing through to the print head, other than a smidge of black. I have tried numerous cleans and a head soak but no joy. Wondering if the lack of use has caused a dry up or blockage somewhere.

 

[Zoogee World]

I found the problem with the waste ink not flowing was due to the waste pipe somehow getting trapped under the print head mounting. I have cleared this and waste ink is present in the pipe, which seems to have stopped the waste welling up through the cap top.

However, there is now no ink flowing through to the print head, other than a smidge of black. I have tried numerous cleans and a head soak but no joy. Wondering if the lack of use has caused a dry up or blockage somewhere.

While not being used, was the head sitting on the cap top? If not, it probably dried out. You could do a 48 hour head soak and that should help.