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sp540 urgent problem, help!!

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bruce brown

New Member
Hi Folks, I'm new here so I hope someone can help.We have a really urgent problem -we have 2 roland sp540v printers.During a large print, the black ink dropped out halfway through, so we switched to the other printer.Then halfway through the Cyan dropped out on this machine.We called an engineer out and he checked everything and reckoned the heads were faulty.

BUT.... I swapped all the heads around between the 2 printers, and all the heads work in each machine on the red/yellow side but not on blue/black.

I have changed all the manifolds,dampers, caps and tubes.Swapped over the head cables, flushed the heads and tubes, and checked the internal fuses.

The new black/blue dampers are not filling up on one of the printers, not sure why?

There is definitely nothing wrong with the heads, but I am stumped now as to what is wrong, has anyone any any advice?We have no printers and have work backing up, we re desperate to get this fixed.
 
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netsol

Active Member
air leak?
just the other day i had to swap a cracked manifold on one of my dx4 heads

did you take a syringe and pull ink through, from the pump input hose? (breaking it loose at the y adapter under the captop)
lots of these machines will run forever, but are very cranky when you want to pull ink into empty dampers
 
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bruce brown

New Member
netsol said:
air leak?
just the other day i had to swap a cracked manifold on one of my dx4 heads

did you take a syringe and pull ink through, from the pump input hose? (breaking it loose at the y adapter under the captop)
lots of these machines will run forever, but are very cranky when you want to pull ink into empty dampers
Click to expand...
Hi, thanks for the reply. I have tried pulling ink through at the captop y adaptor.This works fine on one printer but it still won't print. The other printer wouldn't allow in through(created a vacuum in the syringe), but now draws air.
I've ordered new caps as thats the only thing i havent changed but i'm not convinced thats the problem.
 
premiercolour

premiercolour

Merchant Member
We are premiercolour.com located in S. California. We fix printers. I would always use oem cap top, wiper. We have a damper vendor which we used over 10 years so we always use their dampers. Not their wiper or cap top. Since you replaced the manifold, did you replace it correctly? Manifold is always aftermarket because Roland doesn't sell them. Is that a good quality manifold? Next, perfect nozzle check does not mean you have a good printhead. How old is the printhead? Each printhead I would say, depends on the usage, 4-6 years. Next, to find out if the head is about to go is to perform fill test under service mode. Go to service mode, perform fill test. If you see edges of the color bars are showing overspray. That's a sign of bad printhead. That does not stop here. We have a DX7 printhead that shows perfect nozzle check except missing 1 color. Fill test looks perfect except missing 1 color. We couldn't get it going. We then used syringe to push cleaning solution through. We see solution is leaking from the side of the printhead which means the membrane is broken, not through the nozzle. That means it is a bad head 100%.

what made the engineer said it is a bad printhead? People who knows how to fix printer doesn't mean they really know how to fix printers.
 
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unmateria

New Member
Hey Bruce :) dont panic!
Fill the cap with cleaning solution and try sucking with a syringe from the pump (with no printhead parked on the cap), from both tubes at the same time... You see the cleaning fluid going to the 2 holes? Or just 1?
If it is sucking from both holes we can continue checking where air is incoming.
Remove affected colours dampers from the manifold and suck with a syringe from them... You should be able to fill them in several times. If they dont fill... Check cartdridge rubber and replace with another new one or new cartdridge and try to fill damper again. If it doesnt fill, check orings on the tubing and replace and wet them. After filling the damper, let it there during and hour and check if bubbles appear in tubing system. If no bubbles appear, you can try now to pinch the damper on the printhead manifold and suck a little until black ink appear in the syringe from the pump. Just suck, but DONT do a cleaning after that. Just print a nozzle check without cleaning it before. Does it print something or just blank?
 
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netsol

Active Member
those machines are a b**th when they don't want to prime

i get impatient & use one of the handheld vacuum pumps mechanics use to bleed brakes


although, i always suspect a hairline crack in a manifold when it seems impossible to pull ink through
 
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bruce brown

New Member
Hi Guys , thanks for all your replies,especially unmateria.I will give your suggestion a try later today and report back.
Just to clarify-The fuses have been checked and are good, the heads(complete with manifolds) have been interchanged from black/cyan to red/yellow on each machine AND between machines, so each head and manifold has been tested in every position on both printers.They all print perfectly in red/yellow positions but not blue /black so the heads and manifolds are fine.Dampers are new .All head cables have been swapped over and all work in yellow /red positions, so they are fine.
premiercolour said:
We are premiercolour.com located in S. California. We fix printers. I would always use oem cap top, wiper. We have a damper vendor which we used over 10 years so we always use their dampers. Not their wiper or cap top. Since you replaced the manifold, did you replace it correctly? Manifold is always aftermarket because Roland doesn't sell them. Is that a good quality manifold? Next, perfect nozzle check does not mean you have a good printhead. How old is the printhead? Each printhead I would say, depends on the usage, 4-6 years. Next, to find out if the head is about to go is to perform fill test under service mode. Go to service mode, perform fill test. If you see edges of the color bars are showing overspray. That's a sign of bad printhead. That does not stop here. We have a DX7 printhead that shows perfect nozzle check except missing 1 color. Fill test looks perfect except missing 1 color. We couldn't get it going. We then used syringe to push cleaning solution through. We see solution is leaking from the side of the printhead which means the membrane is broken, not through the nozzle. That means it is a bad head 100%.

what made the engineer said it is a bad printhead? People who knows how to fix printer doesn't mean they really know how to fix printers.
Click to expand...
 
Zoogee World

Zoogee World

Domed Promotional Product Supplier
bruce brown said:
Hi Guys , thanks for all your replies,especially unmateria.I will give your suggestion a try later today and report back.
Just to clarify-The fuses have been checked and are good, the heads(complete with manifolds) have been interchanged from black/cyan to red/yellow on each machine AND between machines, so each head and manifold has been tested in every position on both printers.They all print perfectly in red/yellow positions but not blue /black so the heads and manifolds are fine.Dampers are new .All head cables have been swapped over and all work in yellow /red positions, so they are fine.
Click to expand...
To rule out the cap tops, have you switched them, moved the yellow/magenta to cyan/black? If it still doesn't work, you can rule that out pretty well. Did you try swapping the head cables?
 
spooledUP7

spooledUP7

New Member
That's a super interesting problem and I look forward to seeing the resolution. I also have an SP-540v and I have experienced something similar to this a couple of times; once from running my bulk cartridge dry, and the other from my cap damper leaking air at the hose fitting.
Anyway, easy fixes on my end, but here is a suggestion for your problem.
If the lines are filling with air and the dampers are empty then I would isolate the dampers from the printhead to determine where the leak is.
You can test if you have a leak in your supply line (ink cartridge to damper) by removing the damper from the printhead manifold and observing the dampers/line. The dampers have a check valve and will not allow fluid to back flow, but if you have a leak anywhere between the damper valve, fitting and ink cartridge then you will see air travel backwards through the line. If your dampers are initially empty then simply use a large syringe to pull through the damper opening. The dampers window film should look sucked in while you draw in the ink, and if you see it relax back to flat then you know you have a leak. Let the dampers rest overnight to see if they hold. If they leaked down then check your damper o-ring and the damper itself for any defects. I'm not versed enough on how to determine a leak on the other end of the supply line (cartridge needle etc.), but I imagine removing the damper and somehow drawing and capping the line would show if the line has a leak in it or not. Beyond that I have no idea where else you could check. If the line/damper held then you know your manifold/printhead/cap station have issues. $500 printheads might be in the cards.
 
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bruce brown

New Member
Just fitted new caps,still not printing cyan/black.
Caps, cables, pipes, dampers ,fuses all replaced now.
Must be an electrical issue, any ideas?
 
Zoogee World

Zoogee World

Domed Promotional Product Supplier
bruce brown said:
Yep, tried all those.
Click to expand...
Just to confirm, when you swapped the cables, you left the heads in their proper place, just switched the ends of the magenta yellow cables on the cyan/black head a vice versa, and it should have printed black and cyan where yellow and magenta would be and vice versa? If you haven't and you do and you see a reverse, could be the print carriage board.
 
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