What next? Mutoh print issue need advice please

[Carolina Girl]

Hello all, having print problem with my Mutoh VJ1204 recently and here's the run down.

1. Stopped printing blue at first.
2. ran head wash, replaced all dampers, inks running through lines fine.
3. did a slight pressure test through the print head and all inks are going through.
4. flushed pump lines, all drain lines are clear.
5. Replaced cap in MS. Am able to pull ink through drain line from print head
6. Ran several heavy cleanings, now nothing is printing.

Thanks much for any advice to resolve this issue.
CG

 

[Carolina Girl]

I've been running cleanings and checking out my dampers, it seems my yellow is turning green; how is that possible? Where could the cross contamination be coming from? I just don't get it. Anyone else run into this issue? My guess is it crossed over when I left a solution soaked cloth under the head overnight, but that much cross over? I'll have to put on new dampers to get all that out.
CG

 

[floater302]

Dont need to replace damper, go into maintnance mode and do a normal ink fill, should fix it for you.

 

[Carolina Girl]

Thanks Floater302, will try that. Got a new cap in from LavaPrint and it doesn't seem to be the right size to cover the print head, run a head cleaning and it doesn't pull any ink at all. Does anyone know if and/or where any fuses would be that would affect the print head? May check those too.
Would appreciate any advice.
-Carolina Girl

 

[father]

I know you said it stopped printing blue. Did it stop entirely? If you do a nozzle check, are both Cyan channels missing? Is the head level?

As for fuses, I think f6 and f7 are for the print head, but that's just an educated guess. However, if I'm right, that's 2 fuses for 8 channels. Again, just guessing, but if I'm right, that would probably mean 1 fuse out would effect more than just 1 color.

 

[heyskull]

Replace the entire capping station. Very rare their will be a damper problem. Your ink is wicking between colours. I bet it is the seal on the cap top. If you replace the entire capping station things should go back to normal. Just do it quickly as heads dry out quickly. SC

 

[Carolina Girl]

Thanks for all the info, I'm cleaning the print head completely and will be putting it back together. Then I'll use the ink fill setting to see if the ink will move at all, cleaned about every part to deduct the problem; hopefully I won't need the whole MS, maybe after this just replacing the cap will work fine. Will complete putting all back together soon and will let you know.
-Carolina Girl

 

[Carolina Girl]

I know you said it stopped printing blue. Did it stop entirely? If you do a nozzle check, are both Cyan channels missing? Is the head level?

As for fuses, I think f6 and f7 are for the print head, but that's just an educated guess. However, if I'm right, that's 2 fuses for 8 channels. Again, just guessing, but if I'm right, that would probably mean 1 fuse out would effect more than just 1 color.

Where did you find the info on the fuses? I have all books on the Mutoh but can't find that section.
-Carolina Girl

 

[Carolina Girl]

Ok, all is back together. Cleaning goes great, ink draining and flowing through lines. Only problem, nothing will print; any ideas from someone who's been there?
If cleaning is going good, I'd expect ink to flow through the print head.
Does the print head itself have a pump that pushes the ink during printing? Anyone have ideas on what to try next?
Thanks much,
Carolina Girl

 

[father]

Where did you find the info on the fuses? I have all books on the Mutoh but can't find that section.
-Carolina Girl

Found it in the Maintenance Manual. You have to go to the back in the Exploded View and look at the Mainboard.

 

[father]

Ok, all is back together. Cleaning goes great, ink draining and flowing through lines. Only problem, nothing will print; any ideas from someone who's been there?
If cleaning is going good, I'd expect ink to flow through the print head.
Does the print head itself have a pump that pushes the ink during printing? Anyone have ideas on what to try next?
Thanks much,
Carolina Girl

If your head moves across the material but doesn't drop ink then the head may not be firing. There's no pump that pushes ink through the head. During cleaning, a pump sits below the head and pulls ink through the capping station. During printing, the ink is gravity fed. Picture putting a straw in a glass of water and then putting your thumb on the top. You lift the straw and to drop the water out of it, you lift your thumb. Gravity fed.

If your head isn't firing, but cleanings/charges move ink, check head cables, fuses and look at your mainboard for capacitors that may be burnt out. I've had a capacitor just pop out of place before, so lookout for that. On that occasion, I just had to put it back in and I was fine.

 

[Carolina Girl]

Thanks so much for your info, I've had the main board out and found the fuses but couldn't tell if they were blown or not; was going to buy a neon screwdriver tester to check them, any other ideas on how to check a fuse would be appreciated. I'm ordering new print head cables and fuses waiting for their arrival. Put it all back in, red indicator lights are glowing and all works except still no printing. Hate to think it may be the print head at a cost of $650, but wanting to check all other means first.

 

[HIGHSPEEDGRAPHIX]

you want to use a multi meter, check continuity by touching the leads on either side of the fuse. that will tell you if the wire inside is good.

 

[floater302]

Thanks so much for your info, I've had the main board out and found the fuses but couldn't tell if they were blown or not; was going to buy a neon screwdriver tester to check them, any other ideas on how to check a fuse would be appreciated. I'm ordering new print head cables and fuses waiting for their arrival. Put it all back in, red indicator lights are glowing and all works except still no printing. Hate to think it may be the print head at a cost of $650, but wanting to check all other means first.

Dont need to fork out 650.00 a head, You can buy the board for around 50.00 dollars i think, and that will let you use any dx5 head...im not a expert on this i just know i bought my second valuejet and the guy that i bought it from(he was a mutoh service tech) had it for the printer.... so then all you have to do is find a epson desktop printer that uses a dx5 head and then take it out of it.

 

[Carolina Girl]

That's a good idea Floater, I'm waiting to see if the print cables may change anything. Do you know about the fuses?

 

[Carolina Girl]

you want to use a multi meter, check continuity by touching the leads on either side of the fuse. that will tell you if the wire inside is good.

Thanks HSG, didn't know I could use that. How would I get back behind the heat sink to check it while it's running, do I need to remove other shields; still a small space, suggestions?

 

[floater302]

That's a good idea Floater, I'm waiting to see if the print cables may change anything. Do you know about the fuses?

I dont know much about the fuses, Im becoming a expert on everything else..lol

 

[father]

Dont need to fork out 650.00 a head, You can buy the board for around 50.00 dollars i think, and that will let you use any dx5 head...im not a expert on this i just know i bought my second valuejet and the guy that i bought it from(he was a mutoh service tech) had it for the printer.... so then all you have to do is find a epson desktop printer that uses a dx5 head and then take it out of it.

Don't forget. There are water based and solvent DX5 printheads. Maybe even others. No telling how soon you'll be replacing the your head if you stick a water based head in a solvent machine.

 

[father]

Thanks HSG, didn't know I could use that. How would I get back behind the heat sink to check it while it's running, do I need to remove other shields; still a small space, suggestions?

You didn't mention anything about the capacitors. Did you check them?

As for your fuse, is it removable or "hardwired" onto the board?

 

[floater302]

Don't forget. There are water based and solvent DX5 printheads. Maybe even others. No telling how soon you'll be replacing the your head if you stick a water based head in a solvent machine.

If im correct all dx5 heads are the same the manifold are water or solvent base, which they would have to change over, forgot to mention that.