valuejet 1204 cleaning issue

[wesley]

Hello everyone,
Was wondering if anyone could please answer a quesstion about a valuejet 1204.
When I do a cleaning, no ink comes out of the drain tubes leading to the waste tank. Does this mean that it isnt really performing a cleaning even though its going thru the motions? It seems to print fine...
I am having an issue with one of the black ink lines that is causing me to only get one block of black show up when i do a test pattern. Could the two problems be related? Pump maybe or dampers?
Any thought would be hugely appreciated.

 

[henryp]

Yes, it not really cleaning if there is no ink coming out of the waste ink tubes. There could an air leak somewhere between the cap assembly and the printhead. Also check the maintenance unit for clogged / damaged waste ink tubes.

 

[Compilla]

Check for dried ink around the head, cap and wiper.
Be sure the seal it is in good shape
Soak the capping station with cleaning solvent, let it sit for 30 minutes.
Do a strong cleaning with head in low and see if that helps...

 

[Stealth Ryder]

Check for dried ink around the head, cap and wiper.
Be sure the seal it is in good shap
Soak the capping station with cleaning solvent, let it sit for 30 minutes.
Do a strong cleaning with head in low and see if that helps...

Agreed...

 

[wesley]

Thanks alot for your replies everyone. Compilla, the wiper and seal on capping station seem to look good and have tried running cleaner thru the cap several times even doing head soak by parking the head over the cap while full of cleaner. Is there a way to actually see how the head looks on the bottom side? thanks again for your help

 

[sfr table hockey]

I'm not sure how close your printer is to the old Rolands but when my drain line tubes are plugged the pump still trys to work as normal but can't suck any ink into the heads as long as the drain line is blocked. If you can remove the drain line from the capping station and fill a syringe with cleaning fluid and force some through the drain line, you should feel resistance if there is a blockage, and if no blockage you should see the fluid going into the drain bottle.

So make sure drain lines are not blocked.

 

[Jeff South Florida]

I do a regular cleaning of my drain lines. My demo printer does not print much, so the ink dries in the lines.
The best way to inspect would be to pull the fromt door,bottom plastic from the door hinge, and the metal cover over the maint. station and inspect the lines.
I would start by using alcohol to do the testing. It is alot cheaper. Pull the spittoon pad off and put some alcohol down the drain. If it makes it to the waist your main line is not clogged. Next you can put some in the cap and run a cleaning. If you get some fluid in the waste, than the line is clear enough and the pump is working. This would tell me that the cap is not sealing the bottom of the head and you are pulling air instead of ink. If nothing comes out, then the cap tubes through the pump are clogged. You can try to fill the cap with cleaning fluid and let the tubes soak. I have had that work if they are not too bad.

 

[wesley]

Thanks alot guys. I'll give these ideas a try tomorrow and let you know what comes of it.