SC-545EX Problems - Help Please!

[jvoisel]

Still no luck with the machine. Friday made two weeks without being able to print anything

I found a new XC-540 in stock locally that they're offering a nice discount on, but I'm waiting till Tuesday for another quote from the guy I usually deal with.. Will more than likely go with a XR-640 is he can get it to me quick.

Any suggestions on the XC-540 vs XR-640?

 

[MrSalumi]

come on.. XR640 for sure..

the only advantage for the XC540 would be the head configuration as opposed to the new head arrangement. If you blow a head on the 540 its 900 bucks.. if you blow a head on the 640 its 2-3k... FYI

 

[jvoisel]

Yeah I've read that it's about $900 for a head vs $3500 for the set in the XR..

But we ordered the XR-640 yesterday! Should be here in about a month, hopefully.

 

[jvoisel]

XR-640 came in and it's been GREAT!

I'd still like to get this machine working though, here's a test print from today.. still the same thing, and more suggestions?

 

[MrSalumi]

congrats!! That looks like a massive amount of dropout. Keep us posted on what you find.

 

[jvoisel]

Noticed something new yesterday.. if i move the head all the way over to the end of the paper(base point 12" or so from end) the test print comes out almost perfect. if i start in the middle it's better than the ones I've posted but not as good as if I start all the way on the left side. So going to replace a few cables as the tech says I need to and see if that helps



I'll post the results, hopefully this can save someone else a headache later on!

 

[premiercolour]

I would soak the head overnight. Sometimes it helps, not just for coupe of hours. How did you soak the printhead? We clamped the hose under the cap top, fill up the cleaning solvent in the cap. Move the printhead on top of it for overnight. It helped good deal of it.

We have liter bottle cleaning solvent for all kinds of eco solvent and solvent inks. It works great. http://www.yessolvent.com/solvent-flush-liter-bottle/

 

[tomasimattia]

sc545ex user

hi all, sorry for my english i write from italy. I have the same machine!! you can clean the transparente string rear the carriage. In same times when i clean the entire string in trasparent plastic che quality return to normal. the string is very small, long 1.30m e height 2 cm. If you have problem contact me without problem!!

 

[tomasimattia]

sorry i forget!! small residual powder in the string cause a read error of carriage and the printing create banding.... the string is use for the machine to read the position!!

 

[Papajo]

The problem you have is that your machine cannot clean properly. Given the problem is present on every head, that's probably because the head carriage isn't properly aligned with the cap tops during cleanings.

You should watch from the front side if your cap tops are properly centered on the heads. If not you'll have to loosen the four screws that fix the capping station on the bed of the machine, then move slightly the whole capping station to the left or right so that the heads are aligned to the cap tops during cleaning.

Then you try a medium cleaning & test print to see if things are better, if so you can tighten the scews, close your machine and smile happily...

EDIT : Another way to check if your cap tops are properly aligned is to plug a syringe at the bottom of a cap top (just unplug on the Y junction and plug your syringe). If you feel no resistance and the syringe fills with air, the cap tops are either leaky or misaligned.

 

[Dragon.GB]

When the first pass is OK and the second pass has missing areas, it is usually indicative of ink starvation. I had similar problems. Because our print room is really not warm enough in the winter, it makes things worse. The first major improvement I mades was to replace the standard dampers with the larger versions which are available. This increased the ammount of ink immediately available to the head.also in cold weather I have to run the printer at a slower speed (typically 750mm/s instead of 1000mm/s on our 745ex) particularly when printing large areas of the same colour. to see if inkstarvation is your problem, just run the printer at a slower speed (no cost, no effort!) or at the highest resolution which runs more slowly.and see if that solves the problem. If it does, then larger dampers may alleviate the problem.

 

[Jack Knight1979]

I too have a 745ex and need to run much slower in the winter. As soon as it warms up a but, I can print fast again.

Ink starvation is a PITA.

 

[Dragon.GB]

Just noticed your comment about the test being OK if it is further over to the left. This definitely points to ink starvation. The first pass is OK but the ink is not replenished quickly enough for the second pass. When the test is further across, it takes longer for the head to return home then come out again giving the ink enough time to replenish the head before the next pass.

I should add that I use third party bulk ink which appears to be more viscous than the Roland ink so precipitating the supply problem particularly in cold weather.

 

[jvoisel]

I would soak the head overnight. Sometimes it helps, not just for coupe of hours. How did you soak the printhead? We clamped the hose under the cap top, fill up the cleaning solvent in the cap. Move the printhead on top of it for overnight. It helped good deal of it.

We have liter bottle cleaning solvent for all kinds of eco solvent and solvent inks. It works great. http://www.yessolvent.com/solvent-flush-liter-bottle/

I've soaked it over night twice now, didn't help the print one bit

sorry i forget!! small residual powder in the string cause a read error of carriage and the printing create banding.... the string is use for the machine to read the position!!

I've cleaned the encoder strip and replaced the sensor.

The problem you have is that your machine cannot clean properly. Given the problem is present on every head, that's probably because the head carriage isn't properly aligned with the cap tops during cleanings.

You should watch from the front side if your cap tops are properly centered on the heads. If not you'll have to loosen the four screws that fix the capping station on the bed of the machine, then move slightly the whole capping station to the left or right so that the heads are aligned to the cap tops during cleaning.

Then you try a medium cleaning & test print to see if things are better, if so you can tighten the scews, close your machine and smile happily...

EDIT : Another way to check if your cap tops are properly aligned is to plug a syringe at the bottom of a cap top (just unplug on the Y junction and plug your syringe). If you feel no resistance and the syringe fills with air, the cap tops are either leaky or misaligned.

I've checked this with a syringe, and it seems like it's aligned correctly.

Just noticed your comment about the test being OK if it is further over to the left. This definitely points to ink starvation. The first pass is OK but the ink is not replenished quickly enough for the second pass. When the test is further across, it takes longer for the head to return home then come out again giving the ink enough time to replenish the head before the next pass.

I should add that I use third party bulk ink which appears to be more viscous than the Roland ink so precipitating the supply problem particularly in cold weather.

Thank You!! I actually tried printing at 500mm/s and it got better but still not good enough, at 250mm/s the print looks PERFECT as it did before this problem started, but it takes SO long to print! I ran a few jobs at this speed and all is well, so now I just have to figure out the ink starvation problem.

Where can I get the larger dampeners? Mine were all just replaced but it's worth a shot to try the larger ones.

 

[jvoisel]

Anyone else have recommendations on where to start on trying to solve the ink starvation issue?

10 of the 12 cartridges were close to empty so I went ahead and replaced them all, now the machine has 12 fresh cartridges. Not sure what all I should start checking; pumps, lines, etc.

 

[Jack Knight1979]

Disconnect the dampers from the heads. Flush the lines with your inkset's cleaning solution, then flush with Roland flush. Then put OEM ink in the system. Change all the dampers and run OEM.

Before putting the new dampers on the heads, flush heads with bulk flush, then Roland flush, then hook up the lines to the heads. Do a few normal cleanings to prime the heads with the OEM ink

I had this SAME problem a few years ago on Triangle ink. NOTHING fixed it. I even tried a new head with ZERO luck. I flushed the entire system and ran OEM inks which took care of it.

I then switched to Solaris and have had no problems since. I don't run OEM because it's a PITA needing 12 cartridges to run my printer. Six bulk tanks is the way to go!

 

[Dragon.GB]

Large Dampers

Large dampers are readily available from printer parts suppliers. I got ours from Digiprint Supplies in Belgium (http://www.digiprint-supplies.com/roland-mutoh-mimaki-dx4-large-damper-2mm-m004902-1035836.html)but I'm sure that there are numerous suppliers in the States. Make sure that adapters are included as they are made for larger bore ink tubes. They are about twice as tall as the standard so the bracket that clamps them down cannot be used. I cut a strip of 10mm foam board, taped a strip of foam rubber onto it and fastened it in with self tapping screws through the sides of the carriage and into the ends of the strip. It is important to secure them as I ran it for a while without clamping them and the tubes on the head manifolds onto which the dampers are fitted started breaking. I believe that it was due to the weight of the larger damper full of ink getting thrown from side to side as the head changed direction during printing.

Did the ink starvation occur to all colours suddenly at the same time? If so, I would check the run of the supply pipes through the macine. Something may have crimped or squashed them slightly so restricting the ink flow. This is the only thing I can think of that would affect all colours at the same time.

If the problem occurred gradually, one head at a time then the flushing of the pipes suggested by an earlier reply would seem to be indicated. The "choke points" in the system are the needles which enter the ink cartridges. these have a very fine bore with a miniscule hole across them through which the ink has to pass. It strikes me that this is an obvious place for blockages to occur. Unfortunately it is neccessary to dismantle half the machine to gain access to them so reverse flushing by squirting cleaning fluid down the lines from the head end using a syringe and putting an empty cartridge at the other end to collect the fuid is the easiest option. the only way to gauge the success or otherwise is by any felt change in the resistance offerred by the syringe.

Good luck and let me know if this has been any help.