Need Help Turning off printers potentially for a long period of time

Planning to leave my 560 running so it will clean the heads periodically. At least that's what my tech told me, and I've let that thing sleep for 2+ weeks at a time with no degradation.

 

Recommendation is no. Maybe if you drained the lines, pulled the heads, and planned on replacing the consumables when you go back.

 

aren't there cleaning cartridges you can buy for those printers, - and run thru the system?

 

Not familiar with the ink cartridge size/prices but surely leaving the HP’s in sleep mode can’t use that much electricity?

for arguments sake we’ll say the inks are $100 each and you need 4 per printer. That’s $1200 worth of ink that you’re prepared to lose - surely you’d pay less than that on electricity just keeping them on and on standby/sleep - for say, at least a month? (Genuine question). Might also have to factor in heads too?

that being said, I am unfamiliar with HP’s but I’m pretty sure one of the benefits of them is you can have them unplugged for a while and not have to worry about them dying (like with the solvents).

your best bet might be turn them off and then just go out once a week/every two weeks or so and just turn them on and throw a print through them to get some ink moving. Assuming that counts as essential movement if it’s going to impede on your livelihood in the long run.

 

The flatbed uses a vacuum to hold the ink in - if you unplug it without draining the lines, all the ink will leak out. you need to keep it plugged in unless you drain all the lines. You'd need to pay to get it unplug-ready... I'd say leave it on and let it do its cleanings. Last thing you want is to have to buy a $3000 head just to save a few bucks in ink/electricity.

The 260/560 you can unplug - if its unplugged for longer than a few weeks, you may need to remove the heads and do a slight head soak to get them back up and running - but ive recovered heads that were sitting after being used for 6 months. Worst case you lose some heads and need new ones... but theyre pretty safe to keep unplugged if you want to.

 

Leave them plugged in. they don't draw enough power yo be concerned

 

The flatbed I would definitely not turn off. I know on our EFI machines we can turn the ink supply off, flush all the heads to remove the ink and then turn the machine off and manually lower the head down on to soaked cleaning wipes just like they do when they ship. If we were to go into mandatory shut down I will still come in and run the machines at least once a week.

 

i would double check with your tech but we have roland machines and a fugi flat bed all have been left on during our 2 week company shutdown and they run their regular cycles of self cleaning and ink renewal. if that is not an option and you have to shut them down i would flush the lines with cleaning fluid and get all the ink out and just start from scratch when you return to normal work schedule

 

You should leave them plugged in. If they don't cycle regularly the heads can dry up. The cost of electricity is minimal compared to the headaches and costs of getting your machines back up and running.

 

As far as our L260 goes, and before thet the L25500, I've had them turned off for 4 weeks or more at a time - and rebooted with no problems at all. I always turn the L260 off at the wall after a day's printing. I learned years ago when a spike fried our PC, and via the serial lead, blew a board on our cnc router which was not plugged into the mains power - and the spike was somehow induced by electrical current in the air from thunder-the surge protector was useless.

That happened twice.

Now the entire workshop gets every PC, plus printer lasers and router disconnected from the wall every night. It's a good habit when you finally get used to it!

But 4-5 weeks of being totally off never bothered the L260. I can't speak for the newer models though...

 

We're still operational guys if you need to shut down your shops for whatever reason. We ship blind (Drop shipping) at no additional charge of course. We're here for you if you need us. https://www.firesprint.com

To answer the OP, you really should do whatever you can to leave your equipment plugged in. Not a great option if you think you'll lose power though.