VP-540 leaking inks to drain bottle overnight.

[rockiat]

Hi all,

I've just bought over a 2nd hand VP-540 and have just flushed out the 3rd party cheapo ink the previous owner had used and replaced it with Eco-Sol MAX.

What we've done was to install new 220cc catridges, drain out all the inks and suck the new inks into the damper from the bottom of the damper with the help of a syringe. Then we installed the damper back on the heads and managed to print without any problems. What i noticed was, when i've switched it off and pushed the print carriage out, the head caps were filled with ink to the brim. My question is, is that normal?

Then, the next day i powered up the unit and heard this dripping coming from the drain bottle. And to my surprise, the bottle was full!! And the bigger surprise was all the low ink alarms came on stating i'm out of all inks!

Seems, like the ink has been dripping out of the heads into the cap and into the drain bottle.

Has anyone ever encountered this? And if yes, what can i do to stop this? Now i've put in a new set of CMYK 440cc Eco-Sol MAX. And am printing now, going to take out the carts tonight.

 

[Gene@mpls]

Look at the capping station- there is a spongy thing retained by a wire in the
middle- if that sponge gets old and expands to touch the print head, I think it
will wick ink out of the head and fill the bottle. I read somewhere that there
are 2 layers of the sponge- some people pull out the first layer when the cap
station is new to alleviate this problem.

 

[rockiat]

Hi Gene,

I've just changed the caps to new ones prior to switching to ECO-SOL Max. Any other possibilities?

Thanks for the quick reply!

 

[rockiat]

Just turned off my printer and checked the top caps and they're still full of ink. Is that normal?

 

[GTSTech_1]

Gene was right about "wicking" with the expanded sponges. With your new caps, expanded sponge would not cause this. Try backing down the capping position, willing to bet it's set to high, and instead of the sponge causing the wick, the rubber edges of cap top are causing the "wicking"

My .02

 

[Jack Knight1979]

agreed.

 

[CS-SignSupply]

A used machine, buy 2 new caps for $25 each and be done. Especially since they were used with third party ink.

---- Edit -----

Sorry... did not read the entire post

 

[BRUSHMARKS]

We had a similiar problem a few months back on our mimaki it was the pumps. Hope this helps.

 

[rockiat]

Thanks guys, pardon my noobness but.... how do i backdown the capping. The previous owner was not kind to the machine. Ink spills everywhere inside!

Ciber : Changed all caps, wipers and even the scraper. Wanted to change the pump too but dealer had no stock.

 

[rockiat]

Alright, took out the cartridges last nite and when i came in this morning, whatever ink that was left in the hose line is gone and they've all drained out to the bottle. could it be a pump issue? Funny thing is, this didn't happen to the black as we never really tampered with the damper or had the need to suck out the inks when we changed to original inks.

 

[Charlie J]

One of the things that cause this with my old machine (sp-540v) was having the ink carts too high. Once my tech adjusted them downward, it helped with the siphoning

 

[rockiat]

I wonder how he did that :S. Will try and see what i can do with that one. I can see the heads are not the same height, the black (the one that isn't leaking) is slightly higher than the rest. Can't seem to find a way to adjust the height.

Could it be also due to the fact that i'm only on Firmware 1.10? Basically shooting in the dark here out of desperation

 

[MichaelAlmand]

maybe a line maybe cracked I had that happened to mine a line cracked and created a vacuum the weekends where the worst when monday morning came around all the ink was backing up through the pump into the capping station not a good sight.

 

[rockiat]

Not sure, i'm out of options. The inks lines are empty now and am trying to check whether the machine has an automatic function to suck the inks back! If not i may have to manually pull the inks into the dampers again.

 

[rockiat]

Alright, i suspect the problem is caused by the way i've pulled the inks out.

Previously i pulled it out with both dampers unplugged from the head. But now I tried pulling the inks out step by step with the inner damper first, plug it back in then the outer one then plug it in. Tested it and so far no uncontrolled draining or leaks and no overflowed caps!

 

[rockiat]

Still same problem. Everything leaked out. Hope someone out there can help me answer the following questions.

1. Is there a rule to replacing dampers? like any precedence order?

2. Is it ok with i move the carriage out after i've switched the machine off and push it back onto the caps again?

Can't seem to find any service manuals for VP-540.

 

[Gene@mpls]

http://www.signs101.com/forums/showthread.php?t=53359

 

[rockiat]

Is pumping inks into the ink lines manually with a syringe advisable for VP-540? we're used to doing it on our pigment based ink printer.

 

[strypguy]

This happened to me once on my sp300v. I had manually lowered my capping station to check cap tops and then raised it back up manually. This is where I made my mistake.
I raised the capping station too high and it touched the heads and all the inks drained that night.
If you manually lower it you should make sure to turn on the machine so it can adjust the capping station to the right height.
Just one possibility.

John

 

[rockiat]

I think u're right John, that's what i did, manually adjusting the cap station and not turning it on then off after that. Am monitoring it the next few days. I think Gene and Charlie's right too. What i've done was to adjust the flushing position for the caps and so far no leaks. But am still afraid to leave the inks plugged in overnite. Will do that once i get more comfortable with my days tests and observations.

Will update my observations when i'm home free Thanks guys!!!!