VJ 1204 Questions

[scauffiel]

I have a couple of things going on with my VJ 1204. For some reason, even though I have it cleaning itself every 18 hours, somehow I still ended up with damn near an entire missing bank of cyan one morning. I've soaked the heads via pad soaked with cleaning solution in the capping station for about thirty minutes, but only got back a few bars when I did the nozzle check (after a strong cleaning). Went to do a second strong cleaning and BAM - out of magenta. <sigh> Now I can't put the printer to sleep, it won't let me, I'm guessing until I replace the magenta. Can't get another magenta cart here until probably Monday at the earliest. Do I turn the printer off? Leave it on? Park the head on a soaked pad again until then? I DO have a cleaning cart, should I replace the empty magenta with that?

I pulled the capping station and checked the drain lines and they seem to be draining fine; I can see stuff moving into the clear tubes when doing the cleaning.

Should the cleaning fluid STAY in the capping station? Meaning, if I fill it up, is it supposed to stay full? Or is it supposed to drain? Mine drains; you can see the fluid sit there for a few but after a second or two you can see the top of the pad as the fluid gets lower and lower. Is that right? I'd think that would mean there's a leak somewhere as isn't the cap / capping station supposed to be airtight?

Not sure what I should do next really, so here's a corn dog.



Edit: While typing this out and editing, my printer shut down the vacuum but still won't go to sleep.

Appreciate any thoughts,
S.

 

[heyskull]

Hi
I would check that the capping station is clean around the seal as a leak will allow the ink to drain back.
The Fluid will leak into the pump if poured into the capping station.

I don't think you should run the VJ1204 empty as unlike the VJ1604 it doesn't have a subtank and when empty only has the ink in lines!

As for shttuing down, it is not shutting down as it needs ink to carry on cleaning so you are in a no win situation.
I would say it doesn't matter wether you knock it off at the mains over the weekend as their isn't enough ink in the system to do a clean any way.
It may be advisable to soak the heads over the weekend so at least they will not block up.


Hope this helps

SC

 

[Stealth Ryder]

I hate to say it but I will... Never ever, not have spare ink carts...

 

[scauffiel]

Hi
I would check that the capping station is clean around the seal as a leak will allow the ink to drain back.
The Fluid will leak into the pump if poured into the capping station.

I don't think you should run the VJ1204 empty as unlike the VJ1604 it doesn't have a subtank and when empty only has the ink in lines!

As for shttuing down, it is not shutting down as it needs ink to carry on cleaning so you are in a no win situation.
I would say it doesn't matter wether you knock it off at the mains over the weekend as their isn't enough ink in the system to do a clean any way.
It may be advisable to soak the heads over the weekend so at least they will not block up.


Hope this helps

SC

Okay, so at the very least, soak the heads, check. Now, do I do that by soaking a cloth and parking the head on it or just pour some into the capping station and then park it?

I hate to say it but I will... Never ever, not have spare ink carts...

Man, tell me about it - the worst part is I definitely have myself to blame for not paying attention to detail. I did a quick scan of my inventory, saw carts and figgered I was good to go. Had I actually READ the butt ends of the carts I would have seen they were for my Epson, NOT my Mutoh.

Thanks for the help!

 

[heyskull]

Okay, so at the very least, soak the heads, check. Now, do I do that by soaking a cloth and parking the head on it or just pour some into the capping station and then park it?



I put a bit of lint free cloth in the station add a little flushing fluid out of one of the carts and then park it all back.

Only some times I do this especially when I leave over a weekend the colours can bleed into each line. But after a few dense prints it comes clear.

SC

 

[SummitSignsandmore]

I gotta spare Magenta cart. in PA if you need it for the weekend.. You REALLY don't want that piece to dry up..

 

[scauffiel]

I gotta spare Magenta cart. in PA if you need it for the weekend.. You REALLY don't want that piece to dry up..

Thanks man, that's very cool of you but I couldn't have gotten it here any faster than these carts came anyway. I appreciate it, I really do.

Okay, so at the very least, soak the heads, check. Now, do I do that by soaking a cloth and parking the head on it or just pour some into the capping station and then park it?

I put a bit of lint free cloth in the station add a little flushing fluid out of one of the carts and then park it all back.

Only some times I do this especially when I leave over a weekend the colours can bleed into each line. But after a few dense prints it comes clear.

SC

Okay, I've cleaned everything to the best of my ability but I still only get a couple of lines on the left bank of cyan - everything else prints nice and strong. I have a cleaning cart but can't find any directions on using it or on doing a head wash. I've tried to find it in the panel directory (like the user guide suggests) but it doesn't show up there. I put the cleaning cart in in place of the cyan (hoping to just flush the cyan) but it just tells me that the original ( C ) cart isn't in place or something.

So how does one go about using one of these cleaning carts and/or doing a head wash? I've also looked and searched all over the site; does anyone have the maintenance manual for the 1204? I found and pulled down the 1604 but it appears to be fairly different from the couple of things I looked at.

Thanks for all the help!

 

[artbot]

does your cleaning cart have an empty space on it for an id chip. put an old chip that has some "room" on it and the printer will think there is the proper ink in the machine.

 

[scauffiel]

There's a chip on there already - CAN you even run a single cleaning cart at a time?

 

[henryp]

There's a chip on there already - CAN you even run a single cleaning cart at a time?

Automatic cleaning by selecting Headwash or Longstore Menu on the printer's control panel? NO, you will need 4 cartridges in one go.

Manual cleaning using a syringe? YES