Versacamm is all jacked up

[High Octane]

I'm not even all the way through my second set of inks and my versacamm is jacked up....The sevice guys say that I need new dampers $158.00, new print head $645, 2 hours labor $260.00, Gas mileage $61.00 total - $1124.40
Like I said hardly ever use the machine and I'm not ever through the second set of inks...all this is bad? What the hell! I Even Clean the damn thing all the time.......

 

[ChicagoGraphics]

Sorry to hear that
But you should allways try to have work for your printer, even if it's just a small sample. How long have you had your Roland?

 

[High Octane]

A little over a year

 

[ChicagoGraphics]

Maybe you should think it over a buy yourself a service contract from the company you bought it from. I wish my heads only cost 645.00

 

[Gino]

Wow, that's some expensive head you got there.


:Oops: couldn't resist that !!

 

[Mike Paul]

New printhead?... must be clogged.
I'm curious if it is the K only. Been hearing some buzz over on Roland's site about the K nozzles clogging quite often with Max inks...

 

[ChicagoGraphics]

Dont know about them eco-sol inks. But If you gonna buy a solvent printer
the only way to go is with a true solvent

 

[3dsignco]

High Octane,
If you are mechanical minded the dampeners are very easy to change. Just a lot screws to get there.And just be careful (The hint that the Dampners are failing is that your inks are mixing in the head before they print giving you odd colors. Usally an Orange tint in pure yellow) They seemed a little high at your stated price I think I just paid $20 each for them.
The head could be possible saved. I kept getting a clogged Magenta so I took 98% Alcohol. (Make sure you use 98 or better as rubbing can crystalize) and fill the capping station then do a med to strong cleaning. After the cleaning refil the capping station and Park the head and let it soak for awhile. Start at 20 to 30 mins then do another med cleaning. See what happens. repeat once or twice. The nice thing about this it also will clean out your capping station which can get gunked up also.
There is another trick I did when it got real bad but this will make any service dept Cringe in Horror. If your intersted in this feel free to Email or call as I don't want someone to try this on a Warrented Machine as it violates every warentee ever written.
I really started researching the printers after getting screwed by service calls also. It's also real nice that Roland will not sell you a service manual for a machine that I own free and clear. Talk about getting Bentover

 

[andy]

From what I hear the solvent is the carrier for the ink. Once the solvent evaporates you are left with a solid lump of ink.

Full solvent printers are recommended to be run everyday to keep the ink moving through the system and stopping everything from drying up- even if it's just a small test print.

My advice would be to fix it and sell it- if you are only using one set of ink every six months the money you have tied up in the machine could be working better for you somewhere else. Bear in mind that the lifecycle of a Versacamm or any printer is 3 yrs max.

 

[Checkers]

Welcome to the big time. If you want to play you got to pay
Just like any other piece of equipment, you will have problems with a printer, even if you don't use it. Just take a look at an automobile, if it sits too long, things start rotting out and begin to break.
And trust me, A service contract is a good idea. Just like an attorney, you can pay them now or pay them later. Unfortunately, the later always costs more.

Checkers

 

[high impact]

You didn't say what your problem was. I went through HE*** with my sp300v and service provider trying to "guess" at fixing mine and it wasn't even a year old yet.

I had ink clogging in the magenta and mix of yellow and magenta. Then one morning I find my cyan had emptied itself all over the floor. They changed a pump to no avail. I finally ended up flushing and cleaning the daylights out of it. Soaking the heads by continually filling the capping stations with cleaning solution...then changed the capping stations and doing some strong and med cleanings and viola! FIXED. This thing prints like day one again. NOW I print something small almost everyday just to keep those nozzles happy!

Good luck!

 

[Former member]

If you dont use it you lose it. Heads clog if you dont use them regularly. Try to print something small every day or so... (like mark said)if you dont have "print" jobs try printing/cutting some of the jobs you would have just cut in colored vinyl. I rarely buy anything other than white media since I purchased my printer. Start designing for print not vinyl, and you'll notice how much more you'll use your printer.
Sounds like you've had the machine about as long as I have, and if you are only on your second set of inks then your are definitely not using it enough. I usually go through a full set of 220 ml every three weeks, sometimes faster.
And dont forget to clean it weekly.
Cheers!-Rich

 

[thesignshop.ws]

inks leaking

Our supplier informed us about a month ago about a problem roland had been having with inks leaking (which ours had just started leaking magenta). The parts were covered by roland and we just had to pay $65 for him to repalace the part now no problems. Been very happy with ours just wish we would have bought the bigger. Dont know if anyone else knows of this but thought Id put it out there.

 

[High Octane]

The problem was banding....in both regular and econo mode....prints good in high quality but I sure can't print everything I do in High quality mode...

 

[resqfiremedic]

Guess Ive been lucky!! I have had mine for about 2 yrs and only recently started having problems. My K head or K half is partially clogged. I have been trying everything but looks like Im going to have to buy one soon. Now I try to do a test print eveyday that insures all jets fire on all colors. Im using the eco-col max inks.

 

[vid]

... There is another trick I did when it got real bad but this will make any service dept Cringe in Horror. ...

Ummmmmmm, does your trick involve a Shop-Vac, duct tape and a bottle of cheap tequila? I hope not, because that one is really, REALLY bad...


...even without the VersaCamm.





You may also want to explore PrintingDigital.net. Click through the link on the sponsor page (...so Fred gets a referral to a merchant member).

I found a nice step by step maintenance cleaning tute there --- I got a, "Wow, this is clean!" last week when the service tech came by to warranty replace our pump, anyway. There may be more tips and tricks that could be helpful in the "archives"..... g'luck

 

[cdiesel]

We had our sp300 for just shy of two years and didn't have any real problems. The only thing that we had to fix was a pump upgrade (free from roland) and the little carrier strip that encases the info bus going to the cutter head got dirty. Our reps taped it, but that made things worse. I ended up taking the whole thing apart and cleaning with alcohol, and worked like brand new again. I'd suggest some SERIOUS cleaning like others have said. I can't see you really needing a new head, just gotta get the ink outta there.

 

[Ian Stewart-Koster]

A mate of mine with the Pro-2 says the way he has had the best life from it, (and it's been murder having to put up with the problems he's had, especially after the warranty ended) was to get a UPS, and have the printer ALWAYS turned on- never tutn it off, even when going home for the day/night.
Yes it must be kept busy, but always on was even better.

 

[Ken]

Always on, do a test print at least once a week..3 days is better..keep the juice flowing...
Ken

 

[Sign Works]

High Octane, When I first got my VersaCamm I was not told to leave the main power on and within a short time the heads dried up badly. I followed suggestions from another user on another forum to clear the heads. Take a small piece of flat smooth glass, put a puddle of cleaning solution on the glass and hold it up to the heads (ever so gently) hold it there for several minutes, repeat several times, also filling the capping stations with cleaning solution and parking the heads there will help to unclog the nozzles, follow these steps with a cleaning/med. cleaning cycle. This resolved my problem and printer has been printing fine ever since, and yes, I leave the main power on continously now.