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VS-540 Not Printing White Again

S

SteveHem

New Member
Hi, I wondered if anyone had any tips on how to get the white ink to the head and stay at the head?

I recently added white to my machine and finally after many powerful wash's and ink circulations and then pulling through with a syringe it finally made it to the head and after a while started printing a nice layer of white.

Problem is the next day and im back to square one (printing nothing) Infact now im trying everything i did before and still nothing!

Its driving me made as its very important i can print white and is the whole reason i went for this machine.

The head is 2 months old.

Any ideas?
 
N

netsol

Active Member
white ink has the most solids ,and they tend to settle
have you been removing and agitating your white inks daily? mutoh insists that we do.
the display prompts us daily

i am looking into adding circulating pumps to the white ink (i will have an opinion on this in a month or two)

i have other thoughts on this, but, i need to read the service manual for your machine first
 
C

cornholio

New Member
Hi
Since the VS is a old printer, I'd take a look at the pumps.
I'm assuming the cap top closes air tight...

I had cases where the cleaning pump was sucking ink, when I observed a cleaning cycle. But it was not enough, to keep the white going.

After I replaced the pump, everything was ok.

When you look at the history of the pumps, change them around 200'000 cycles. in case of trouble even before. Last week I replaced a pump on a RE with 75'000 cycles.(RE is the print only version of the VS)

If your circulation pumps are over 200'000, change them as well and take care to refill the system properly without leaving air inside. (official way is to do a pump-up before replacement, then the printer asks for a ink fill the next start)

Generally, it's a good idea to shake the white and metallic cartridges at least twice a week and print 1-2 sqft white/metallic.

When the head was replaced, did you replace the dampers as well? With original white Roland dampers? (The black ones will give you troubles)
 
S

SteveHem

New Member
Thanks for your replys. I dont believe the pump has been changed, does the white line have its own dedicated pump?

When i pull the white pipe off above the head it does drip white ink steadily, perhaps theres a blockage from here to the head below?

Is changing the pump a job i can do? Im very confident as far as getting stuck in is considered.

Thanks Steve
 
N

netsol

Active Member
i am not sure about your machine
the current generation of machines that print white have a recirculation system, to compensate for the settling
i have been warned that i would regret converting one of my older machines, to print white.
 
N

netsol

Active Member
the white for my mutoh is twice the price of the other inks, but, still, printing enough to keep the lines from clogging is a strategy i would consider.

FOR SURE, developing the routine of pulling the white cartridge & inverting it 3-4 times SLOWLY (not enough to make it foam)
would be to your advantage & have no cost
 
petepaz

petepaz

New Member
white ink is definitely high maintenance.
you need to shake the inks daily and actually use them or they are doomed to fail. i actually set up a white test print file that i would run like every other day just to run the ink. nothing fancy just a box approx 3" x the width of your material.
with that said you shouldn't be having an issue everyday. you might want to check your cap tops, dampers and pump. roland has automatic circulation set ups. make sure the machine is running the auto cleaning/circulation process
 
S

SteveHem

New Member
Yeah i do gently shake the white every day and have setup a white test print file ready aswell just cant get it to the nozzles. I only just put the white in 4 days ago for the first time.

The ink is actually getting through the lines and to the top of the print head but not to the actual vinyl, was thinking it may be blocked just below? Ill add a pic below.

Maybe i could squirt some cleaning fluid in the hole to clear it?

white ink.jpeg
 
petepaz

petepaz

New Member
stupid question, you're not printing on white material are you...haha
what's your test print look like, the white head is completely empty/clogged or do you get some channels to print?
 
S

SteveHem

New Member
petepaz said:
stupid question, you're not printing on white material are you...haha
what's your test print look like, the white head is completely empty/clogged or do you get some channels to print?
Click to expand...
No not using white material haha. I want to print white base coats on transparent before going back over with colour (fancy stickers). I had it working perfect the first day.

Test print is great regarding the colours but 0% for white.
 
C

cornholio

New Member
SteveHem said:
Thanks for your replys. I dont believe the pump has been changed, does the white line have its own dedicated pump?

When i pull the white pipe off above the head it does drip white ink steadily, perhaps theres a blockage from here to the head below?

Is changing the pump a job i can do? Im very confident as far as getting stuck in is considered.

Thanks Steve
Click to expand...
Hi
The cleaning pump is easily replaced. On the cleaning side, there is only one pump for all colors.
The recirculation pumps are a pain to replace and there are two of them sharing one motor. These are located in the box under the cartridges.
 
N

netsol

Active Member
CORNHOLIO
i have not had a chance to verify, this machine HAS recirculating pumps?
i was wondering if they were built up with sediment (settled out pigment) and either not recirculating and all or very poorly
also possible lines are clogged & at best giving poor flow?

possibly time for a cleaning cart (possibly diluted with a bit of acetone) and removing the lines at the (new) dampers and allowing a syringe to pull solution through

it i never bad practice to flush the drain lines off the cleaning pump as well
 
C

cornholio

New Member
netsol said:
CORNHOLIO
i have not had a chance to verify, this machine HAS recirculating pumps?
i was wondering if they were built up with sediment (settled out pigment) and either not recirculating and all or very poorly
also possible lines are clogged & at best giving poor flow?

possibly time for a cleaning cart (possibly diluted with a bit of acetone) and removing the lines at the (new) dampers and allowing a syringe to pull solution through

it i never bad practice to flush the drain lines off the cleaning pump as well
Click to expand...
All the VS and VSi have recirculating pumps on channel 1 and 8.
 
S

SteveHem

New Member
Thanks for all your replies i appreciate it. When the Roland service was carried out just before i acquired the machine afew months ago i can see the head, 2 x dampers, felt wiper and cap top were all replaced. This probably wasnt the white damper as the previous owner didnt run white. No pumps were replaced though. Its only the white that im having issues with typically as all the colours are working great. Whats confused me is the fact the white did work at first for one evening and then as of the next day nothing.

Should i try replacing the damper first before tackling the pumps?

Ive seen a vague YT video explaining the steps of changing a damper it wasnt very good really. Is there a good resource i can checkout with steps to follow?

Im so broke i really cant afford an engineer haha
 
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