serious printing problems with my roland cj 500 converted

[otisN]

hi to all,
i'm new to the forum.
i have a roland cj 500 converted to eco solvent that has been truobling me for about 3 month now.(just baught it and it was working well)
it started with lack of 2 colors (magente and yellow), so since i am new in the sector i invited a technician to check it out.
so the tecnician(who i suspect is not an expert of this printer) told me to change the heads (just baught how can it be head problem?). so i changed hte heads, but the problem of ink lack was not risolved.
so he then said may be it is the ink pump that has problems, at this point i decided to change the complet pump system(capping unit, dampers, pump, pump motor). the problem now became the pump and pump motor.
the problem now is that the pump is not rotating. the motor cannot rotate the pump, i changed the motor thinking that it was the problem but still no change.
when the motor is not connected to the pump, it run normally, but when connected it does not turn the pump. i am despated after all the expenture i made (1500€) completly changing everything in this printer. can some one the help me please. maybe my tecnician has not done things the right way? please please help.ù
thanks alot

 

[FrankW]

Does the pump motor "scream" when trying to rotate the pump? Does the pump rotates when the parallel cable (or specially parallel printserver) is disconnected from the printer?

With spending 1'500 Euro you should have exceeded the value of the printer itself.

 

[otisN]

thanks for responding. when the pump is conected to the motor it screams and when it is disconnected from the cable it turns freely.
well, i never planned to spend that much on this printed but since i already change the heads i decided to the whole pump system know very well that i exceeded the value of the machine it self but i would have been contented to see it workrd well after the expenditure.
Any idea of what is the problem?
thanks

 

[FrankW]

I doesn't understand what you have meant. Have you disconnected the parallel printer cable (or parallel printserver) from the printer? The cable outside, at the back of the printer? Have you tried THEN to do a cleaning or so to check the pump?

 

[otisN]

yes, i disconnected the printer cable. the pump is a new pump. i have doen the controls. the problem is that the pump connected to the motor makes some noice but is not rotating, thus the pump cannot pull ink. are they other ckecking to be done for the pump to rotate normally. what else can hinder the pump from rotating apart from the motor?

 

[Schickworks]

I used to have a converted CJ-500 myself. it ran well and did the job for years until I could afford to get into a new XC-540. The pump and components was one of the things that always gave us grief. without seeing it, my guess is that the tubes are clogged. if you squeeze the tubes along their length, do you feel anything hard inside them? The way the pump works on those (at least on mine) if the lines got any clogs around the pump, it could jam on them and stop rotating. Not sure if this helps. Good luck with trying to get it sorted out.

 

[FrankW]

yes, i disconnected the printer cable. the pump is a new pump. i have doen the controls. the problem is that the pump connected to the motor makes some noice but is not rotating, thus the pump cannot pull ink. are they other ckecking to be done for the pump to rotate normally. what else can hinder the pump from rotating apart from the motor?

It is a known problem with this generation of roland machines: as soon as you connect devices through a parallel cable which are not grounded (specially little printservers and notebook computers with no ground wire on power supply), the pump motor makes bad noise, but won't work. If disconnecting the cables and try to clean with the parallel cable or print server disconnected, the pump works fine.

You need to use a printserver with groundwire, a standard PC with a 3-wire power plug or to ground the parallel port at the printer, for example scratching away the colour below the screws which fixes the parallel port and try to ground the cover anyway.

 

[otisN]

thanks alot Frank, i will try this tomorrow and let you know.

 

[anozira02]

I have a Cj-500 and been using it for years,,,Conversion has nothing to do with it...Possibly you may have it installed wrong,, not seated properly... I would take out the pump and reinstall it again and make sure the tubs are clear from any gears...If the lines clogged up it should still work the difference is the capping will over flow with ink, in which case the waste lines need to be flushed...

 

[otisN]

thanks for you advice. i will let know after trying that too.

 

[otisN]

hi FrankW, hi anozira02
i have discovered that the problem imay not be the pump or motor since they are all new but the problem may be some configurations not done?
i am asking because i realised a funny behavior of the motor, when i put on the printer the motor starts rotating and after a while it stops and screems. so we disconennected the motor from the pump and examianed the per performance, we discovered that it rotates and after a while it blocks.(this is when it's not connected to the pump)
well all these malfunctions started when we change the capping unit. because the motor had'nt any problem before. did we forgot to do something after the capping installation? has this got anything to do with the rotation of the motor? any idea from any body?
thanks

 

[Oldoldoldman]

hi, does the motor get hot when it locks up? It will probably run for a certain time or certain number of revs and maybe you can compare it with another. Can you spin it when it screams? Is the board controlling it getting hot at driver location and causing malfunction? All long shots in the dark.
tom

 

[otisN]

hi tom,
how can i control if the board is in control of the motor. i thing the pump motor driver of the board may be the cause of this malfunction?

 

[Oldoldoldman]

all long shots in the dark

I would disconnect the motor from the pump after timing how long it takes to start screaming. Make sure the motor is clear of anything to get caught in it and then run the machine again. See if the motor runs longer and does or dosent make the noise. If it runs longer and completes the cycle then its the pump. Remember nothing will get pumped, your just testing to see if motor will run without binding up when the pump is not hooked up. All this is assuming there is no sensor to tell the machine the motor is disconnected from the pump. Just make sure none of the pump will get snagged while machine is running. tom