Suggestions SP-300V

[Jim Hill]

Changed print head and installed with no problem.
I also put cleaning solution on the head first following the directions that came with the head.

I have not yet done all the adjustments to the head because when I tried a test print first nothing printer or I should say very little printed.

Because both heads were not printing and the magenta and yellow had been wording fine I am thinking it's a ribbon cable problem.

I have checked and rechecked all the ribbon cables a few times to make sure they were plugged in correctly.

Ribbon cables for both heads are one year old with No ink on them along with new ribbon cables above them.

I also changed all the dampers which look perfect along with both cap tops and the pump and motor.
Others parts I changed were the wipers, scarper, and sponge.

I cleaned encoder strip with alcohol twice.

I am not receiving any error messages!!!

Any idea what it might be?
Jim

 

[crny1]

Not familiar with the sp300v per sey but by chance is there a blown fuse on the board for that head? This happened to me when changing a head on a xc540. One of the little copper trace fingers folded over while inserting the ribbon cable and I didnt notice it.

 

[Solventinkjet]

I see this all the time. Your original issue was probably that your cap tops are clogged or just worn out. So you replace the head thinking it's the head but it was really just a bad seal between the head and cap top. So when you put the new head in, the bad cap tops still don't seal and so no ink gets pulled through. It looks like the cap tops are the only thing you didn't replace so I would start there. If you want to get up and running quickly, there is a chance that the cap top tube or pump tube is just clogged so you can blow out the clog usually with a syringe and cleaning solution. As long as there is ink in the dampers, 1 normal cleaning should get you a near perfect or perfect test pattern.

 

[Jim Hill]

I see this all the time. Your original issue was probably that your cap tops are clogged or just worn out. So you replace the head thinking it's the head but it was really just a bad seal between the head and cap top. So when you put the new head in, the bad cap tops still don't seal and so no ink gets pulled through. It looks like the cap tops are the only thing you didn't replace so I would start there. If you want to get up and running quickly, there is a chance that the cap top tube or pump tube is just clogged so you can blow out the clog usually with a syringe and cleaning solution. As long as there is ink in the dampers, 1 normal cleaning should get you a near perfect or perfect test pattern.

VanderJ:

Thanks for your reply.
I forgot to mention that I also changed both caps tops before installing the New print head.

I will check the drain line from the pump is see if it might be clogged.
I did notice that the brand new cap top for the magenta and yellow color had black ink on it so I changed to another new cap top this morning so maybe it might be a clogged drain hose.

Thanks Jim

 

[Solventinkjet]

VanderJ:

Thanks for your reply.
I forgot to mention that I also changed both caps tops before installing the New print head.

I will check the drain line from the pump is see if it might be clogged.
I did notice that the brand new cap top for the magenta and yellow color had black ink on it so I changed to another new cap top this morning so maybe it might be a clogged drain hose.

Thanks Jim

If the tubes are clear from clogs and you can see ink flowing through the waste lines when running a cleaning cycle, unfortunately the above post is probably correct and a fuse was blown.

 

[Jim Hill]

If the tubes are clear from clogs and you can see ink flowing through the waste lines when running a cleaning cycle, unfortunately the above post is probably correct and a fuse was blown.

Any instructions on the correct way to check for a blown fuse on the head board?

Jim

 

[Solventinkjet]

Any instructions on the correct way to check for a blown fuse on the head board?

Jim

Get a multimeter and set it to the continuity setting. Then hold the pins on each side of the fuse. If it beeps, the fuse is good. If it doesn't, the fuse is bad. The fuses you want to check on the SP300 are F2 and F3 on the main board. They will be labeled. You can sometimes find a cheaper continuity tester which usually is just a light that turns on instead of a beep.

 

[Jim Hill]

Get a multimeter and set it to the continuity setting. Then hold the pins on each side of the fuse. If it beeps, the fuse is good. If it doesn't, the fuse is bad. The fuses you want to check on the SP300 are F2 and F3 on the main board. They will be labeled. You can sometimes find a cheaper continuity tester which usually is just a light that turns on instead of a beep.

VanderJ:

I just checked both fuses F2 AND F3 and both read 002 to 003 which shows they are both good and not blown.

Jim

 

[Solventinkjet]

VanderJ:

I just checked both fuses F2 AND F3 and both read 002 to 003 which shows they are both good and not blown.

Jim

If there is ink flowing through the waste tubes during a cleaning cycle you should be getting at least some nozzles to fire. If nothing at all fires, then something is wrong electronically.

 

[Jim Hill]

If there is ink flowing through the waste tubes during a cleaning cycle you should be getting at least some nozzles to fire. If nothing at all fires, then something is wrong electronically.

If there is ink flowing through the waste tubes during a cleaning cycle you should be getting at least some nozzles to fire. If nothing at all fires, then something is wrong electronically.

VanderJ:

I have now replaced all of the plastic tube lines from the cap tops to the drain hose and yet I have nothing coming out of the drain hose. I am using clear hose so that I can see if it is draining.
I put cleaning solution into each plastic fitting until it was running out each end of the fitting.

I notice when I do a medium cleaning both cap tops are full of cleaning solution so it appears it is not draining

Is it possible to put the new pump in backwards? I had to remove the brass fitting off of the old pump but I looked it first to make sure that I was putting back on the shaft with the set screw facing away from the motor.

When I am looking at the pump shaft spinning from the front of the printer it spins counterclockwise so from the side the electric motor is on it is spinning clockwise.

Is that correct?

Jim

 

[Solventinkjet]

VanderJ:

I have now replaced all of the plastic tube lines from the cap tops to the drain hose and yet I have nothing coming out of the drain hose. I am using clear hose so that I can see if it is draining.
I put cleaning solution into each plastic fitting until it was running out each end of the fitting.

I notice when I do a medium cleaning both cap tops are full of cleaning solution so it appears it is not draining

Is it possible to put the new pump in backwards? I had to remove the brass fitting off of the old pump but I looked it first to make sure that I was putting back on the shaft with the set screw facing away from the motor.

When I am looking at the pump shaft spinning from the front of the printer it spins counterclockwise so from the side the electric motor is on it is spinning clockwise.

Is that correct?

Jim

I can never remember without one right in front of me but there should be an embossed arrow in the black plastic on the pump that points to the direction the in k should flow. Sometimes there are these extra little nozzles on the pump that need to be covered with a stopper. If the new pump doesn't have that, you should be able to take them off your old one.

I would test the caps first. Cap the heads and then hook a syringe up to the cap tube and pull. You should feel resistance and ink should flow soon after. If you pull straight air, the cap isn't sealing well with the head. If you pull and get tons of suction and no ink, it's clogged somewhere.

 

[Jim Hill]

I can never remember without one right in front of me but there should be an embossed arrow in the black plastic on the pump that points to the direction the in k should flow. Sometimes there are these extra little nozzles on the pump that need to be covered with a stopper. If the new pump doesn't have that, you should be able to take them off your old one.

I would test the caps first. Cap the heads and then hook a syringe up to the cap tube and pull. You should feel resistance and ink should flow soon after. If you pull straight air, the cap isn't sealing well with the head. If you pull and get tons of suction and no ink, it's clogged somewhere.

VanderJ:

When I connect my syringe to the tube for each cap top I can pull the ink through fine and the lines fill up with ink but once I do a test print the pump is not pulling the ink through the lines or draining. The drain tank is empty.

It seems to me the pump is pushing the ink back to the car tops and creating a mess which means the pump must be spinning the wrong way.

 

[Solventinkjet]

VanderJ:

When I connect my syringe to the tube for each cap top I can pull the ink through fine and the lines fill up with ink but once I do a test print the pump is not pulling the ink through the lines or draining. The drain tank is empty.

It seems to me the pump is pushing the ink back to the car tops and creating a mess which means the pump must be spinning the wrong way.

I would agree. If you can pull from the cap tubes, they are fine. It has to be the pump especially if ink is in the dampers already which it sounds like the case.

 

[Jim Hill]

I would agree. If you can pull from the cap tubes, they are fine. It has to be the pump especially if ink is in the dampers already which it sounds like the case.

VanderJ:

I took the pump back out and check everything to make sure it was in correctly and other then realigning the brass gear on the motor shaft everything look right.
I am thinking that brass gear was just not meshing correctly with the pump gear.

When I tried it the motor was pushing some ink out the drain line like it should.

I also noticed that the yellow and cyan color have some cross contamination so on Wed. morning I will once again replace those dampers with New dampers and try it again.

I never ran into this problem in the past but at least both heads are firing so that is a good sign.
Once I have figured out the pump problem I should be able to start doing the adjustments on the new print head.

Thanks for your help. Jim

 

[Jim Hill]

I can never remember without one right in front of me but there should be an embossed arrow in the black plastic on the pump that points to the direction the in k should flow. Sometimes there are these extra little nozzles on the pump that need to be covered with a stopper. If the new pump doesn't have that, you should be able to take them off your old one.

I would test the caps first. Cap the heads and then hook a syringe up to the cap tube and pull. You should feel resistance and ink should flow soon after. If you pull straight air, the cap isn't sealing well with the head. If you pull and get tons of suction and no ink, it's clogged somewhere.

I have replaced the cap tops a few times now and the problem I am having is kind of a weird one.

I now have both print heads printing but it is only the magenta and black that are printing. I tried a few medium cleaning but each time I do that the cap tops are full to the top and going over with ink them which for some reason is not being pulled through the lines. So when I do a medium cleaning there is ink just running over the sides and making a big mess.

The pump in brand new along with the pump motor and I have replaced every line from the cap tops to the drain line and the drain bottle does not have much in it.

Since this whole pump system works with the rubber hoses I am wonder if there is an air leak some where that when the pump kicks on it's easier to suck air then ink.

I have never run into this problem before and I even took the brand pump apart to see exactly how it works.

Right now each time I do a test print they are slowly coming out better each time.
I tried with the syringe putting a little cleaning solution on each head over night to let them soak but the cleaning solution just sits there in the cap top.

I am thinking maybe it is bad cap tops that might be the problem.

I am running out of ideas on how to fix the problem.

Thanks Jim