Total Ink Drop out - HELP!?

[katrisha]

I recently purchased refillable cartridges for our roland cj 500. After filling them I released the air bubbles with a syringe through the ink exit seal before running an "ink fill" on the printer. The first two prints were fine, but when i went to the third, i had total ink drop out. The head moves as it should but no ink is being discharged on the paper.

Any Ideas? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[artbot]

i think that on that model there is a capping station pump tube right there in the front. pull it, hook a syringe to the nipple of the capping station where the pump tube attached and pull a vacuum. see if you get ink into the syringe. when doing, listen for a hissing noise which would indicate that the capping seal is not making contact. ... also the pump tube on the early rolands have a history of getting soft and just falling off. that may be the issue.

 

[Gino]

Welcome from PA.......................................

 

[katrisha]

I tried that and got nothing, though i may not have had a night seal on the tube to the sucker. could there be any other reason?

 

[artbot]

if your carriage is parked and you are pulling a vacuum at the base of the capping station, and get nothing, then you probably have a capping station seal issue. have a partner press upwards on the base of the capping station into the platen of the heads and pull a vacuum again to make sure it is sealing. also, of course, make sure you are getting a decent seal at the capping station with the syringe. you should be able to pull ink this way no matter what. if not, you'd have to "not have ink" i your printer.

 

[katrisha]

Here is what i'm working with...scary i know! So am i suctioning from the white tubes where it connects to the capping station, or from the hole in the capping station it's self? also i noticed in the tubes connecting to the dampers there is very little ink and air bubbles slowly moving backwards in the black, blue, and (or magenta?) light magenta. you would really be saving my *** if you can help me out : )

 

[artbot]

these two points will pull a vacuum.

it's not probably that you would be losing ink on all dampers at once, unless none of them are screwed on securely an straight. an air leak at the cap will cause the positive pressure in your lines to drop allowing th ink to drift back down into your carts. take off a damper and pull a vacuum on the line until it is about 2/3 filled. leave it hanging for a bit. the ink should stay in the line. if it empties, you have a leak at the damper. if the damper isn't securely on the head's manifold it will not fill into the head. broken manifolds can be an issue, but there's no way you have broken all your manifold nipples.

i'd get back to the refillable cart issue. if that is when this started, it is probably suspect. what kind of carts are they? just basic clear? have you pulled one to inspect the needle in side your cart bay?

 

[katrisha]

yes they are just the clear ones from ink 2 image, i did all of that and still got nothing. I'm working with only what we have around to try and fix this so it's not the right type of syringe im sure. what kinda would i need?

 

[artbot]

just about any polyethylene syringe will work. you can get them at tractor and pet supply stores.