COMPRESS UV 600s / Mutoh RJ 900 X head problem

[ivofotev]

Hi to all ! I recently purchased a used, but overall good condition UV printer that's based on MUTOH RJ900X. I came with 2 clogged DX5 heads, so I had to order a new one. I purchased a DX5 with a golden plat, as I 've heard they last longer than normal solvent DX5 with the dark bottom plate. The head came, was installed, but now it seems like the black channel doesn't fire properly. On the nozzle check all is OK, but on the HEAD SLANT 2 You can see the print is not as it should be. I changed cables for the head, realigned in the carriage (as it doesn't have any screws to secure !!! ).Did a lot of adjustment to the slant lever, head height levers...but not a satisfactory result was achieved. I thought that the head is not compatible so I put in one of the old ones the printer came with, and there was the same overspray in the HEAD SLANT 2 print. The problem is that even when I print UNIdirectional the alignment of the head is bad. I see the ENCODER strip is worn out....so I will change it too soon. Whay You guys think : is it a mechanical issue or electrical ? Any suggestions are welcome ! Thanks in advance !

 

[ivofotev]

Here are the photos

 

[BigDogPrinterMan]

Hi to all ! I recently purchased a used, but overall good condition UV printer that's based on MUTOH RJ900X. I came with 2 clogged DX5 heads, so I had to order a new one. I purchased a DX5 with a golden plat, as I 've heard they last longer than normal solvent DX5 with the dark bottom plate. The head came, was installed, but now it seems like the black channel doesn't fire properly. On the nozzle check all is OK, but on the HEAD SLANT 2 You can see the print is not as it should be. I changed cables for the head, realigned in the carriage (as it doesn't have any screws to secure !!! ).Did a lot of adjustment to the slant lever, head height levers...but not a satisfactory result was achieved. I thought that the head is not compatible so I put in one of the old ones the printer came with, and there was the same overspray in the HEAD SLANT 2 print. The problem is that even when I print UNIdirectional the alignment of the head is bad. I see the ENCODER strip is worn out....so I will change it too soon. Whay You guys think : is it a mechanical issue or electrical ? Any suggestions are welcome ! Thanks in advance !

If the encoder is worn out that’s definitely a place to start

 

[Santimus]

Another victim of those compress UV printers. ouch. I feel for you, we had the 1200. It was down and inop 75% of the year we had it.

It's been a few years but I seem to remember having similar problems and changing out the dampers to fix it. I also remember certain 3rd party inks not working even though they claimed to. Something about the size of the droplets not actually fitting through the nozzles. Check your ink lines health too. Clean the encoder strip. Cover your bases with this machine.

 

[psljuan]

Thats weird that the nozzle check is fine, but just to be clear, on normal operation you cannot get it to print in black? Another thing, is the head aligned even with the ramps? I have 3 of those compress 600 machines

 

[ivofotev]

Another victim of those compress UV printers. ouch. I feel for you, we had the 1200. It was down and inop 75% of the year we had it.

It's been a few years but I seem to remember having similar problems and changing out the dampers to fix it. I also remember certain 3rd party inks not working even though they claimed to. Something about the size of the droplets not actually fitting through the nozzles. Check your ink lines health too. Clean the encoder strip. Cover your bases with this machine.

I read about the problems after I bought it. As I have kind a experience with Mutoh I thought it a better choice than the xp600 head Chinese machine. The printer is actually well built, but I stumbled upon this problem from the first day . I will change the black damper and look the ink line. The ink Input in was actually the Compress sell for the printer. I can try later with another ink though. As I can't manage to align the head....is skews even in Unidirectional mode,I think changing the encoder is a must. Funny days ahead. So the Chinese printers may seem not so bad of choice after all

 

[ivofotev]

Thats weird that the nozzle check is fine, but just to be clear, on normal operation you cannot get it to print in black? Another thing, is the head aligned even with the ramps? I have 3 of those compress 600 machines

Head is aligned, as good as can be for a printer that doesnt secures the head with screws. I tried a lot of tweeks, but the result shown in the pictures is the best I can get. Pure nozzle deflection....so the black little text is fuzzy even in Unidirectional. I even cant align in service.mode. The right side of the service print is aligned, the left side is off 1mm. So maybe encoder strip has to be changed also.....Can somebody post a photo of a Head Slant 2 print, so I know what I have to look for. THANKS IN ADVANCE

 

[Santimus]

I read about the problems after I bought it. As I have kind a experience with Mutoh I thought it a better choice than the xp600 head Chinese machine. The printer is actually well built, but I stumbled upon this problem from the first day . I will change the black damper and look the ink line. The ink Input in was actually the Compress sell for the printer. I can try later with another ink though. As I can't manage to align the head....is skews even in Unidirectional mode,I think changing the encoder is a must. Funny days ahead. So the Chinese printers may seem not so bad of choice after all

another printing issue I remember fixing was the data cable to the printhead. Check for ink/damage to it. I had to swap mine out.

 

[marunr]

I hope you have better luck than I had. We had the machine for almost 2 years and I spent twice as much time working on it as I did printing, and that's not an exaggeration. I replaced the heads numerous times as I simply couldn't keep them from clogging. Every Monday morning was an adventure. In 2 years we spent as much on repairs as we paid for the machine. Again, that's not an exaggeration. I'm sorry to say that I'm not convinced you can get the result you want, and even if you do it may only last a few days. I can't offer any advice other than to consider cutting your losses sooner rather than later. Fortunately the company I work for could absorb that hit. When I was a one man shop that machine would have bankrupted me.

 

[psljuan]

SO you should make sure that the head is level with the ramps, you can see here in the picture, how the head face comes all the way down and is even with ramps. I ahve the same problem where the head is just floating in there, there is no real way to secure it, so I put one of these swabs on top of the dampers to help hold it down. (Hey! If anyone has a better way, let me know!) It works for me, I have been running it like this for years.

What I dont understand, is how you can get a good nozzle check, but cant print black on a print.

s

 

[Santimus]

I found my old thread about yellow not printing. New data cable fixed it. I hope your issue is easier/less expensive

Compress iUV-1200s flatbed printer problem

Does anybody have experience with this machine? I did a manual printhead flush with flushing solution to clear some nozzles. Afterward yellow refused to print. I though I might have gotten some air in the line so I flushed the line too and refilled with ink. Still nothing. I changed the...

www.signs101.com

 

[ivofotev]

I hope you have better luck than I had. We had the machine for almost 2 years and I spent twice as much time working on it as I did printing, and that's not an exaggeration. I replaced the heads numerous times as I simply couldn't keep them from clogging. Every Monday morning was an adventure. In 2 years we spent as much on repairs as we paid for the machine. Again, that's not an exaggeration. I'm sorry to say that I'm not convinced you can get the result you want, and even if you do it may only last a few days. I can't offer any advice other than to consider cutting your losses sooner rather than later. Fortunately the company I work for could absorb that hit. When I was a one man shop that machine would have bankrupted

That sounds terrible ... I heard the dx5 doesn't like the UV inks, that's why I bought the golden plate one, so it can last longer. Even now I not quite convinced that this printer is way worse than a Chinese one that uses xp600 heads. I bought it for a quarter of a penny compared to it's listing price, so not big of a trouble if I dump it later on. Now when You say, what type of ink did You use to get those regular clogs ? I have another head scratching issue...It uses Kothari Rip, and I'm not familiar with it at all....Do You have experience with printing on the back side of acrylic and put white on top of color. How to set the environment for this type of print ???

 

[ivofotev]

I found my old thread about yellow not printing. New data cable fixed it. I hope your issue is easier/less expensive

Compress iUV-1200s flatbed printer problem

Does anybody have experience with this machine? I did a manual printhead flush with flushing solution to clear some nozzles. Afterward yellow refused to print. I though I might have gotten some air in the line so I flushed the line too and refilled with ink. Still nothing. I changed the...

www.signs101.com

Already have changed is....same

 

[ivofotev]

Ti

SO you should make sure that the head is level with the ramps, you can see here in the picture, how the head face comes all the way down and is even with ramps. I ahve the same problem where the head is just floating in there, there is no real way to secure it, so I put one of these swabs on top of the dampers to help hold it down. (Hey! If anyone has a better way, let me know!) It works for me, I have been running it like this for years.

What I dont understand, is how you can get a good nozzle check, but cant print black on a print.

s View attachment 169936 View attachment 169935

The head is actually leveled as it can be..But You know what..the soft rubber clamp that hold down the dampers is worn out, so putting something to push them is a clever idea. I have ordered a new encoder, because I have experience with a bad encoders that causes banding. The problem with this Compress is the nozzle is OK, but maybe at some resolution the black doesn't fire as it should. Also when I try to align the bidirectional I can't get the same alignment on the left and right side. If I alignt the left side, the right is off by 1mm. I will try to get it to work next week and post results...

 

[marunr]

That sounds terrible ... I heard the dx5 doesn't like the UV inks, that's why I bought the golden plate one, so it can last longer. Even now I not quite convinced that this printer is way worse than a Chinese one that uses xp600 heads. I bought it for a quarter of a penny compared to it's listing price, so not big of a trouble if I dump it later on. Now when You say, what type of ink did You use to get those regular clogs ? I have another head scratching issue...It uses Kothari Rip, and I'm not familiar with it at all....Do You have experience with printing on the back side of acrylic and put white on top of color. How to set the environment for this type of print ???

Sorry, I never saw a notice that you replied. I don't remember the ink I started with, but i switched to what Coldesi recommended because we brought one of their technicians out to help get the machine running. I also switched to the RIP they wrote for the machine, which was better than the one Kothari RIP it came with. Nothing worked for more than a few days. We print on the back side of acrylic constantly as we are a plastic fabrication shop. I have no problem at all using Onyx and the Vanguard printer. Cut your losses! I must also say that Coldesi was more than helpful. They did not sell us the machine but they helped me in every way they could. That machine is just no good.

 

[ivofotev]

I just saw Your reply. Actually I figured it out with the Kothari Rip and it's pretty simple to use, but not as versatile as ONYX. As for the losses actually I only changed the head ( 1300 usd) and a couple of days ago changed the encoder strip for 20 usd from AliExpress. The problem I described in the post is now GONE!!! The head was OK, the strip was the problem. i used the machine for some orders and it did a decent job. Also as for the morning cleanings I am surprised that after a short one the head is 100% clog free. It's been pretty early, but after not more than 10-15 orders and it will be 100% ROI, so I'm not concerned at all. As I have some experience with Mutoh, I think I will handle it well. Another thing I noticed that the lamps go out for a couple of passes then back on...so I have to search for a problem somewhere, but up to now I'm more than happy with this brick. I just wondering how much the engineers charge You guys over there and what they have changed that would cost as much as the printer itself ??

 

[marunr]

I just saw Your reply. Actually I figured it out with the Kothari Rip and it's pretty simple to use, but not as versatile as ONYX. As for the losses actually I only changed the head ( 1300 usd) and a couple of days ago changed the encoder strip for 20 usd from AliExpress. The problem I described in the post is now GONE!!! The head was OK, the strip was the problem. i used the machine for some orders and it did a decent job. Also as for the morning cleanings I am surprised that after a short one the head is 100% clog free. It's been pretty early, but after not more than 10-15 orders and it will be 100% ROI, so I'm not concerned at all. As I have some experience with Mutoh, I think I will handle it well. Another thing I noticed that the lamps go out for a couple of passes then back on...so I have to search for a problem somewhere, but up to now I'm more than happy with this brick. I just wondering how much the engineers charge You guys over there and what they have changed that would cost as much as the printer itself ??

Well we had to have them out several times because the initial setup was incorrect, and the company we purchased it from went belly up leaving us with no choice but to call in someone else. So, we had to pay for several service calls (technicians came from several states away). But mainly I encountered a clogged white head almost every Monday morning and spent hours unclogging it, and had to replace it several times. I can't remember exactly how much we paid for the printer but I know we spent at least $20,000 on repairs. I do agree that the Kothari Rip was easier to use than ONYX when it came to printing white, but that's the only thing I liked about the machine. I've had a Vanguard for 5 years now and it's been terrific.

 

[ivofotev]

Hey guys, another issue ! have You got the lamps TURN OFF for 2-3 passes then back ON. Happens randomly on long prints ? Any thoughts ?