what sort of maintenance?

[gabagoo]

I have a Mimaki jv3 130 spII and we have had it for 2 years now. I would say we use it everyday to do something but we are not a stand alone print shop so the machine can sit idle most of the day. I have been very good with daily maintenance and follow a routine everyday of the week less the weekends. We perform a nozzle wash every friday and keep the machine clean. I hear about guys changing capping stations and pumps quite bit on the forum and wonder if I am supposed to do any preventitive changes of parts or do you just wait until the parts wear out. I notice on the capping station that the rubber sides of each cap seem to be spreading, although it may have always looked like that, I can't remember.
Need some advice as to what I should be doing.

P.S. I also have never done the cleaning of the lines using cleaning solution in the cartridges. My prints for the most part have been pretty good so I have no idea if I qualify for that type of a cleaning yet.

 

[cinemasign.grafix]

http://digital.signbusinessmag.com/signbusiness/200809/
Wipers 3-6 Mo. Captops @ 6 Mo. Dampers @ 1yr.

 

[ChicagoGraphics]

Thats incorrect info for the JV3, Cinemasign.grafix maybe that how it's done on Rolands

Gabagoo, your printer will tell you when the wipers need to be changed, if you do alot of printing at least once a month or less. as for the capping station and dampers, I wouldn't change em till they go bad. I never herad of Mimaki selling just the captops alone.
The cleaning of the lines I personaly do it once a year.

 

[thewood]

There is no way a wiper is gonna last 3-6 months on a machine running solvent inks. No way. I change my wipers when prompted by the printer or when I notice the wiper deteriorating. I probably change once every two weeks or more.

As far as the capping station. I'm running about 6 years on the original.

 

[GARY CULY]

i put the rubbers only on mine here last month [have to buy the whole capping station .what a croc IMO] they pop off so i didnt change the whole freskin station . i responded cause you said yours were speading out ..thats what mine looked like and i kept getting a lot of ink out on the sides of the head bottom [ i get under there a LOT and keep the slver steel part and up behind clean] bit anal here bout ink on things it not supposed to be .
anyway put on the new rubber parts that were more square .took all that away on the head bottom...guess the new ones shape lines up better with head bottom shape. might take those silver things in the capping station[have the holes in them,lay down in there] put them in a bit of cleaning fluid in a cat food can er something not plastic ...slosh em around get the gunk off em ....keep th fluid going through nice.just somethin my tech man said keep an eye on ....you know he said a LOT of problems he gets with printers is cause of not cleaning up stuff and general poor maintanace ...i can believe that ive seen some pretty nasty printers

 

[ChicagoGraphics]

Everyday you should clean your Mimaki JV3, the heads and caping station on the caping station take the metal screens off and clean the cap itself and top and sides.

 

[thewood]

Everyday you should clean your Mimaki JV3, the heads and caping station on the caping station take the metal screens off and clean the cap itself and top and sides.

That's right, Chi. I clean the heads and rubber seals at least once a day. I attribute this maintenance schedule to my relatively low occurrence of problems and head replacements. Once a week, I completely remove the caps and screens and soak them for a minute or two in a jar with solvent while I clean the sides of the heads and the exposed portions of the capping station.

 

[gabagoo]

Everyday you should clean your Mimaki JV3, the heads and caping station on the caping station take the metal screens off and clean the cap itself and top and sides.

oh this one is new. I do clean the rubber around the caps every day and squirt 5 drops of cleaning fluid onto the metal piece but I have never taken them out. Today is friday and I will perform a full service with nozzle wash and re lub the bars the head runs on. When you take the silver metal pieces out of the cap just what do I do to clean in there, as I have never done that chore?
as for the wipers, I change them when the printer prompts me to and I have to clean the heck out of it each night as the ink really floods around it. Printing in THICK mode really is messy although the prints are so much more scuff resistant.

 

[thewood]

When you take the silver metal pieces out of the cap just what do I do to clean in there, as I have never done that chore?

On Mondays, I remove the rubber caps and screens and clean them thoroughly. Under the seals, are spring-loaded plastic pieces with nipples that correspond with the holes in the rubber seals. I clean these plastic pieces thoroughly, as they become gunked up with dried ink. You can depress them with a cleaning swab and clean all around them. Make sure you replace the seals facing the right direction--holes corresponding with the nipples.

Gagaboo, didn't I send you my printer maintenance doc a while back? Lemme know.

 

[ChicagoGraphics]

Your not suppose to take the rubber seals off the capping station, I'm supprise that they even come off.

Gagaboo, when you remove the metal screens on the capping station there are 2 tiny prongs and 1 drain hole, take a clean swab diped in cleaning solvent and clean the bottom of that.

 

[gabagoo]

well I tried while cleaning tonight to get those screens out but I guess I need a pair of tweezers to do it. I had visions of trying to grab them with a rubber glove on and the things springing out of my hands and hiding somewhere. I have lost 3 of the turn screws on the other side when I clean the heads. It's weird how it happens but when I unscrew the one screw I leave on for easy entry sometimes it slips out of your hand and falls down into the machine, then it is nowhere to be seen. Very strange how they manage to hide in there. I think they are under the ink cartridges.

 

[thewood]

Your not suppose to take the rubber seals off the capping station, I'm supprise that they even come off.

Says who?