VJ 1204 troubleshooting

[InstantMurals]

First of all, I want to say thanks to everyone out there on this board for all the knowledge that they have put in here. I've been running dual VJ1204's (one since 2008 which is the subject of this post) and without the depth of the information on this board, I would have posted this in 2009. Anyway, I've got 5 cyan nozzles that have been clogged for the past week resulting in white bands in all cyan/blue art. This is a best guess cause/effect deduction. Been head soaking and doing everything I could find to unclog them, with the exception of any type of invasive surgery. Now, I think that is the only option.
I am getting ink in the waste tank on cleaning cycles as well as solution flowing through the capping station into the tank. I was going to try a 24 hour head soak tonight, then wear the old painting clothes to the office tomorrow and start by cleaning out the drain tubes from the capping station. From all the reading I have been doing, this seems like the logical first step.
Does anyone have any suggestions and or tips on cleaning up the maintenance station? Or any other suggestions I might try?
I have never removed the print head although it looks fairly straightforward, but I am somewhat hesitant to make a $2k mistake.
Any help would be enormously appreciated!
Thanks,
Ryan
Instant Murals Design

 

[FatCat]

May or may not be able to recover those without some serious elbow grease and a little luck. If that is the same head since 2008 it may just be time for a new one...

 

[InstantMurals]

Thanks for the reply, FatCat. No dice. Looking like a new head is on the horizon.

 

[Arstron]

I would play around with different printing profiles. I have around 20 dropped nozles in my nozzle check, printing in graphics 2 is out of the question, but quality 1 has been descent enough. I havnt done a nozzle check in probably 5 months, but my head has been progressively getting worst. I wish I only had 5 dropped cyan nozzles.

 

[FatCat]

I would play around with different printing profiles. I have around 20 dropped nozles in my nozzle check, printing in graphics 2 is out of the question, but quality 1 has been descent enough. I havnt done a nozzle check in probably 5 months, but my head has been progressively getting worst. I wish I only had 5 dropped cyan nozzles.

Have you honestly tried to figure out why you have so many dropped nozzles and fix it? Almost every issue I've every had with dropped nozzles has been directly associated with cleanliness and condition of the capping station seal and/or drain lines. Also, head strikes can case them, and 3rd party ink could also come into play as some are better/worse than others.

Things like this never get better on their own - they just get worse.

Just sayin...

 

[Arstron]

InstantMurals,
I would try soaking it some more, have you tried pulling ink with a syringe through the capping station while the print head is parked? Soaking the head for 15 minutes then pulling ink can help better then soaking. Soaking will loosen up any dried ink and pulling it can suck it out.

FatCat, I do know what caused it, its the big scratches I put on the head when I let it rub the metal carriage 4 years ago, live and learn. I keep my the entire maintenace area pretty clean though, I havnt had the plastic cover on that end of the machine in a veyr long time to make it easier to clean. However my printer has just sat for 12 days until yesterday and I found the reason for my poor print quality from yesterday. I had about 20 nozzles that was active. I have the print head out now and will have it running good again after lunch. I do not recommend anyone doing this as I have damaged enough parts in the past. However I removed the print head completely and have it setting a plastic bottle (cut the top off of a rapid tac 2 bottle actually). I cleaned the bottom of the print gently then turned it like it normally sits in the printer. Using mutoh cleaning solution in a syringe with a hose, I connect the hose to the tits that the dampers sit on and very slowly push the cleaning solution in. Once the flow of ink out of the print head turns clear I move on to the next one. This seems to let some of the solution sit inside to break up any hard to get places. I then flipped it upside down, cut a square off one of my lent free clothes to fit just the head and soak it with cleaning solution. I keep adding more every 5-10 minutes. After lunch I will flip it right side up again and run the solution back through the tits to remove any contamination and then I will hook it all back up and hope for the best.

Again its easy to make a costly mistake doing this, you must be careful not to let the print head touch anything, you also must be careful with the dampers as you can break one of the tits off. I know 4 years ago you couldn't buy just that plastic piece, it came with the print head assembly only. You also have to realign the print head. Again I would recommend the easier soaking methods first. Also I cant give much advice on removing any of the parts, as I keep a lot of my parts off of my machine because I have taken it apart so much in the past. I could probably write a book on things not to do and things to watch for when working on this machine. lol

 

[InstantMurals]

InstantMurals,
I would try soaking it some more, have you tried pulling ink with a syringe through the capping station while the print head is parked? Soaking the head for 15 minutes then pulling ink can help better then soaking. Soaking will loosen up any dried ink and pulling it can suck it out.

Thanks Arstron, I've tried that and everthing else besides a direct connection with a shop-vac...hmmmm, no, probably not a good idea. Honestly, it doesn't really matter too much. I can still print most everything I have to on it, sans a true blue or cyan, which I can print on my other 1204. And ~4 years on a print head is a good distance so I figure she's ready for a overhaul. Actually looking forward to it. Still soaking and cleaning though, and hoping for a miracle until I get around to getting a new head.
Again, Thanks. And for my next trick, "Help, trying to change a print head and..." hehe

 

[randya]

If all or most of your missign nozzles are on one channel, you can bypass that channels with the "Effects" "Superfine"

There are two channels of each color A and B.
Superfine A will print only channel A
Superfine B will print only channel B

It is half speed, but can keep you printing in some cases.

 

[InstantMurals]

Thanks for pointing me in that direction, Randya. I messed around with the effect settings a bit and turns out it prints MUCH better on Fine&wave2 than it was on 1. Looks like I'll be able to get some more miles out of her after all. Again, Thank you Sir!