Head dried up

[HandLaminator]

While cleaning and checking out the wiper I forgot to put the head back into the home position. I left it alone for 2 days and when I went to print I got nothing. I have let it set in the home position with extra cleaning fluid applied to the pads in the cleaning station. Every few hours I try a Nozzle check and do a head cleaning. I've got about half the jets firing after an overnite soak and 3 cleanings spaced 2-3 hours apart. Is there a faster way of getting the head firing full throttle again?

I trid to print a block of one color that had only one jet firing and got nowhere. Seems to me that this would be hard on the ink pump too.

[Barry]

Originally Posted by HandLaminator

While cleaning and checking out the wiper I forgot to put the head back into the home position. I left it alone for 2 days and when I went to print I got nothing. I have let it set in the home position with extra cleaning fluid applied to the pads in the cleaning station. Every few hours I try a Nozzle check and do a head cleaning. I've got about half the jets firing after an overnite soak and 3 cleanings spaced 2-3 hours apart. Is there a faster way of getting the head firing full throttle again?

I trid to print a block of one color that had only one jet firing and got nowhere. Seems to me that this would be hard on the ink pump too.

You need to make sure that your capping stations are making a really good seal on your heads or your pump will not be able to make enough suction to free up the clogged nozzles.

2 days un-capped is an extremely long amount of time and you may not even be able to free all the jets.

[HandLaminator]

I get a message that says I need to check the waste ink bottle too. This don't bother printing but it drive me crazy with all that beeping. The bottle is empty. Don't know why it is doing that. It was not a problem until the heads got dried up.

[Barry]

Originally Posted by HandLaminator

I get a message that says I need to check the waste ink bottle too. This don't bother printing but it drive me crazy with all that beeping. The bottle is empty. Don't know why it is doing that. It was not a problem until the heads got dried up.

Youve got me on that one... Only thing I can think of is maybe your pump is clogged as well..

[HandLaminator]

The Heads and capping station was changed about 3 months ago. Guess I'm doing all that can be done. Saturating the capping station with solvent and letting the heads soak in it.

The black worked well enough that I was able to print a 2' X 5' banner. It was yellow with black lettering.

[Barry]

If your caps are only 3 months old they should be fine, just make sure they are clean so the best seal possible can be made.

You might try letting the heads soak overnight again, if that doesnt fix them some more drastic measures will probably need to be taken.

[mleg1972]

Originally Posted by HandLaminator

I get a message that says I need to check the waste ink bottle too. This don't bother printing but it drive me crazy with all that beeping. The bottle is empty. Don't know why it is doing that. It was not a problem until the heads got dried up.

The mesage to check ink bottle is due to the head cleaning, it's just a reminder so you don't overflow. The machine has no way of knowing the level in your bottle. As for your print head, I believe that you may be out $575.00, as I've never been able to fully recover a dried out head before.

[HandLaminator]

Originally Posted by mleg1972

The mesage to check ink bottle is due to the head cleaning, it's just a reminder so you don't overflow. The machine has no way of knowing the level in your bottle. As for your print head, I believe that you may be out $575.00, as I've never been able to fully recover a dried out head before.

I hope it don't come to replacing it. I have recovered fully from a partially dried out head before. I have gotten about half of it back this time. Yes, Barry that is exactly what I'm doing. Cleaned it up, added a little solvent and left it to soak for another night. I aint given up hope on it yet.

May resort to cleaning with solvent before I go to the trouble of changing the head. Got it all apart so I can get to everything now. Not sure what all that stuff does in there. Where is that pump? Can I unclog it?

[Barry]

Originally Posted by HandLaminator

I hope it don't come to replacing it. I have recovered fully from a partially dried out head before. I have gotten about half of it back this time. Yes, Barry that is exactly what I'm doing. Cleaned it up, added a little solvent and left it to soak for another night. I aint given up hope on it yet.

May resort to cleaning with solvent before I go to the trouble of changing the head. Got it all apart so I can get to everything now. Not sure what all that stuff does in there. Where is that pump? Can I unclog it?

Im not really fimiliar with the Mutoh printers, but you should be able to follow the tubes from the capping stations and it will lead to the pump and then to the drain bottle.

If your putting fluid in the capping stations and its draining out once you turn the machine back on your Pump is probably not clogged. If you cant get this worked out tomorrow give me a call and I will walk you through a few last resort things that I would rather not post here.

[HandLaminator]

I think I have a pump problem. Pulled a vacuum on the waste color tube through an entire cleaning cycle and didn't lose any vacuum. I used a 10 ml shot syringe. The black ink is flowing fine. Are there 2 pumps? It's not printing any color now. Just black.