Need Help ValueJet 1324x

[TheSam1]

I am new to the forum market! I work for a Municipal Govt and have had the printer for about 2 years. Recently, as I was printing signs, a few of the colors started fading out as they were printing. I have had a tech out and he replaced tubing, print head and capping station. We have swapped to all new ink bags and cleaned everything that we could. If I print a small patch, it seems to do very good. It is only when I print large signs that is starts fading out. I was thinking that the lines may be collapsing or stopped up, but they all appear to be in great shape. Could this possibly be an issue with the control board or some other type of electronics? Any help will be GREATLY appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Take it easy on me, like I said, not real great with forums!!

 

[Solventinkjet]

Ink drop out during the print is almost always a damper issue. Did the tech change the dampers and o-rings with the head? If not, that is where I would start. Honestly, if he didn't go straight to the dampers to fix the issue in the first place, I would question his motive to go straight to changing ink line, head and maintenance station first.

Ink drop out happens when air is allowed to enter the ink system. The area where this happens the most is between the ink line and damper. Most of the time the damper is just worn out or the seal between the ink line and damper fails.

Also, if you are using a bulk ink system that adds a ton of areas where air can be introduced and if the dampers, new head and maintenance station don't do the trick, that would be the next thing to look at.

 

[TheSam1]

Ink drop out during the print is almost always a damper issue. Did the tech change the dampers and o-rings with the head? If not, that is where I would start. Honestly, if he didn't go straight to the dampers to fix the issue in the first place, I would question his motive to go straight to changing ink line, head and maintenance station first.

Ink drop out happens when air is allowed to enter the ink system. The area where this happens the most is between the ink line and damper. Most of the time the damper is just worn out or the seal between the ink line and damper fails.

Also, if you are using a bulk ink system that adds a ton of areas where air can be introduced and if the dampers, new head and maintenance station don't do the trick, that would be the next thing to look at.

Thank you for responding. The print-head was actually one of the first things that he replaced. In that print-head that he installed were all new dampers and o-rings. This machine was actually sold to us by AveryDennison as their TrafficJet printer. I use only AveryDennison ink, and it is my understanding that they produce all of there own ink. I have noticed that when I do a "Little Charge," and then print directly after, the fading is very minimal. I am not real crazy about the way that the 950ml ink bags fit into the cartridge. It seems very sketchy and a good place to introduce air. I have double and triple checked every cartridge to make sure that it is sealed and seated in place. I only have 4 colors and I do not blend colors for anything. I strictly make signs that are the colors of my ink (Red,Yellow,Green and Black) Red is the one that I seem to have the most problem out of, but the last test print color blocks, the red, yellow and green faded out some.

 

[Solventinkjet]

Ah that explains it. Those are great machines and ink but in the deal Avery made With Mutoh to re-brand their machines, Avery decided to contract Bell and Howell to do the service work. I don't want to bash them too much because they are a company that works on many different machines in different industries but fixing Mutoh printers is not their specialty. Going straight to changing head on ink drop out issues would be considered very hasty, and probably a money grab, to any Mutoh tech with any real field experience.

If Avery offers cartridges for that ink, you can always throw those in and test whether it's the bulk ink system causing the issue. If they don't unfortunately you are stuck looking for the ol' air leak in the ink line troubleshooting which is not the funnest procedure to do. Basically, you have to look to see where air is and track down where it's coming from.

 

[TheSam1]

Ah that explains it. Those are great machines and ink but in the deal Avery made With Mutoh to re-brand their machines, Avery decided to contract Bell and Howell to do the service work. I don't want to bash them too much because they are a company that works on many different machines in different industries but fixing Mutoh printers is not their specialty. Going straight to changing head on ink drop out issues would be considered very hasty, and probably a money grab, to any Mutoh tech with any real field experience.

If Avery offers cartridges for that ink, you can always throw those in and test whether it's the bulk ink system causing the issue. If they don't unfortunately you are stuck looking for the ol' air leak in the ink line troubleshooting which is not the funnest procedure to do. Basically, you have to look to see where air is and track down where it's coming from.

I guess that I should have mentioned that it was a tech from Avery that repaired it this last time. A while back I had a tech from Bell and Howell come and perform light maintenance work on the machine. The tech from Avery is very knowledgeable, it just takes a while for him to get here, which is understandable. I was really reaching out to try and hopefully get some advice. Which I greatly appreciate by the way. I will check in to the Avery cartridges and go from there.

Again, thank you so much for the help!!!