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Need Help VP-540 no black or cyan printing

Flippnswtichez

Flippnswtichez

New Member
About 6 months ago the printer was working okay. I bought it used and the previous owner told me the heads would need to be replaced soon but it should be fine for the things I do because I would not be using it as much as they did.

I did a couple of prints and then it sat for a while. During this time my electricity has gone on and off numerous times in a day almost once a month. (No clue why the electric company has been doing it.) It happens pretty rapidly. I went to use the printer again and was getting no color at all. New to owning a machine like this, I thought back to what the previous owner said.

SO, I have replaced all the Heads, Caps, and dampers. Still, nothing was working. I got on the forums and started reading up. I discovered the fuses and replaced them as well. After I replaced them I have Magenta and Yellow firing and working great.

I tried to swamp the cables from magenta and yellow to the black and cyan, nothing. I am able to pull ink with a syringe through the cap, so the ink is coming through the heads. A little help on what to check next?
 
Solventinkjet

Solventinkjet

DIY Printer Fixing Guide
Something is probably blowing the black/cyan fuse on power up. Usually it's a damaged or dirty head cable. Make sure no ink splatter got on the cable leads and also make sure the leads aren't popping off the plastic backer. If they don't look perfect, replace them. Any time a head doesn't fire at all but ink flows through it when you pull with a syringe, it's 99% of the time the blown fuse and you just have to find out what is blowing it. It could be the head itself or even damage to the main board from the power outages but it's almost always the head cable.
 
Flippnswtichez

Flippnswtichez

New Member
Solventinkjet said:
Something is probably blowing the black/cyan fuse on power up. Usually it's a damaged or dirty head cable. Make sure no ink splatter got on the cable leads and also make sure the leads aren't popping off the plastic backer. If they don't look perfect, replace them. Any time a head doesn't fire at all but ink flows through it when you pull with a syringe, it's 99% of the time the blown fuse and you just have to find out what is blowing it. It could be the head itself or even damage to the main board from the power outages but it's almost always the head cable.
Click to expand...
Thank you for the help! I will give it a try.
 
J

Joe House

Sign Equipment Technician
Did you have your printer on a UPS/Surge Suppressor? All that dirty electricity can do all kinds of damage throughout the printer.

Good Luck
 
Flippnswtichez

Flippnswtichez

New Member
Joe House said:
Did you have your printer on a UPS/Surge Suppressor? All that dirty electricity can do all kinds of damage throughout the printer.

Good Luck
Click to expand...

I did not :-/

If changing the ribbons do nothing. What would be my next step? I build my own pcb boards and all. I am just not familiar with these machines. I have the equipment and capabilities to replace anything on the boards. I am just trying to save myself time and money coming to experts and the experienced to help solve my issues. I really appreciate the help and input!
 
Flippnswtichez

Flippnswtichez

New Member
Ribbon replacement did not correct the problem. It is still popping the fuse on power-up. I also removed the ribbons and put a new fuse in and powered it on and the fuse blew on power-up.
 
Flippnswtichez

Flippnswtichez

New Member
That was the problem. Just have to figure out the next problem. Why the colors are dropping. Yellow is perfect.
 

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Pewter0000

Pewter0000

Graphic Design | Production
Flippnswtichez said:
That was the problem. Just have to figure out the next problem. Why the colors are dropping. Yellow is perfect.
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Before you make any more test prints, I'd be careful your media is flat to avoid any head strikes - in that photo it looks like they're a large ripple in the media, and the media clamp doesn't seem like it's holding it down. You really want to be feeding the media flat and smooth into the machine, and at a nice straight angle to avoid it buckling. That's not a solution to the drop out, but it will help avoid damaging your nice new heads
 
D

DonteT473

New Member
I do have a question I hope I'm not judged upon, I recently did a lot of reading because I to am having problems similar to yours, can anyone point me in the location of this head board. I need to remove it to bring it to the technician. Thank you very much.
 
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