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Roland XC-540 sitting full of ink for 2 years My Progress mabee help others

stickarz

New Member
Hi Guys and Girls this is my first post so be kind :smile:

I bought a Roland XC-540 that kinda had an accident
poor thing went to an insurance company in 2011 anyway it was auctioned in 2013 Yay I bought it
I knew the heads would be blocked as it was full of ink and the ink cartriges were not in it just runs of ink stain out the back
So I took the punt This is my story so far and I have only been working on it for a week!
I didnt turn it on I replaced the wipers and the capping stations and bought some cleaning cartridges (Genuine Roland x 4) a syringe from the local chemist
replaced the items and put in the cleaning cartridges into lets say the 2 blacks then 2 cycan ETC (only 2 at a time)
after cleaning everything under the heads I turn it on to park the heads into the capping station removed the corosponding hose from the pump hooked up the syringe to the hose
and started sucking the ink/cleaner thru. O DEAR nothing, blocked solid Thinking I have to call someone gave up for the day. After dreaming about it I thought to drain the dampers of ink
so I did then sucked the cleaning solution down to the dampers and that flushed the lines. OK I got cleaning solution in the dampers then I hooked the lines up again, next step the heads.
went back to using the syringe on the hose to the pump a little come thru but got better and better Then the next head and so forth. After using all the flush I put in the ink and started to suck the ink down the same way
with the syringe once that was done I hooked the pump hoses up and turned it on. First thing I did was done a deep clean then a print test, NOT GOOD not even 20% but the story does get better Thinking that I have to spit for 6 heads what was the worst thing that could happen, I went out and bought some Butal Cellosolve and (naughty boy) cleaned the bottom of the heads lightly wiped with a swab and gently patted one (Cyan) with another clean swab of soaked butyl let it sit for 5 min and patted it again (it was the worst head of the print test) I also squirted the capping stations with the stuff so the heads may soak there as well, did another printest and bang Cyan about 80% did it again and again and my Cyan and Yellow is now 100% still working on the others I will keep you posted on my success or failure


I will be replacing the dampers once they arrive Mark
 

stickarz

New Member
followup

I cleaned with a swab again last night and a medium clean not much difference from a few days ago (still waiting for the parts to come) the image attached is from the first print test to last night
and you can see my progress I think the black mabee worn out as its the color you use the most
 

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heyskull

New Member
I wish the Mimaki JV3 I bought and had been offline for two months (so I was told) looked half as good as that!
If I was you I would get the thing printing.
I would run it on a very high quality do a test print and the start and the end and compare.
Making these machines work does them no harm at all.

SC
 

stickarz

New Member
Got all my thing in the mail today and started to replace the dampers and the sent the wrong ones, too small and the hose nuts didnt fit either so once I pulled the dampers off took to the head screws and
pulled the head out to flush it with the dampers they supplied with a syringe. the light cycan and majenta under a good magnifying glass I looked at the head and it looks like they had what I call headstrike
anyway I flushed them and pulled the ink thru and no difference at all mabee 1 or 2 bars better no biggy so I ripped out the Black Ha Ha Ha I condemmed it as soon as I looked Picture says all
there is a good side of the story yellow and cyan's good not even touching that, My fairy tale just had a major car crash, I thought I had hopes to help others but I did pull 2 colors to 100% mabee this was crook from the other person who owned it. This picture of the black head the other two were nothing like this one


_DSC0311 re.jpg _DSC0303re.jpg
 

stickarz

New Member
Update on progress

Its now up and running perfectly
I replaced L Cyan L Magenta and Black heads I thought I could get by with the rest (see pict above)
I guess when I wound the heads down manualy to replace the caps and clean it when I first got it, it pulled the coating off the head face
as well as it also had headstrike
No I couldnt get away with the Majenta as I did all the aligning and adjustments when I printed some colors that made up CMYK banding was bad
also found that someone had robbed parts off the heaterboard and the heater did not work at all which made the ink blend into other colors
I read the schematic diagrame and the heaters (well designed by roland by the way) they put in 110 volt heating elements and there are 2 in each series
In my printer 6 all up but wait we are on 240Volts here so they had to go in series. Roland have a plug jumper on the heaterboard for 110 or 240 volt
very good Roland Anyway I made up a jumper and now the heater is working and what a difference in the print no bleading problems
Back to the remaing head I put a new one in and no banding perfect print so have a look at the majenta in the jpeg above and if your head testprint I would say
you have banding problems too my yellow has one jet blocked but it doesnt seem to matter
also figured out how not to go thru buckets of ink when you replace the heads, the first time by the book instructions it pumped half of a 220m set of inks
yes half pull off the hoses to your pump and when its finished thinking and laughing that its poured half your ink into your drain bottle laugh back and reconnect your hoses
I cried the first time I poured out the ink from the drain bottle Thanks all !!! any other problems I will either ask or help By the way the heads cost with rank no $675.00 aud without freight
 

stickarz

New Member
DX4 Heads Australia

where did you buy the heads at that price i would like the link

Thanks

Hi sorry, Im a bit late in replying

I paid 674 AUD but he has jacked them up to 750 AUD I do know him but he trades as possm6 on ebay Brisbane
just checked maybe a bit dearer that is with rank numbers
 
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