Mimaki CJV150 - Is my head goosed?

[gazfocus]

I bought a Mimaki CJV150 used a few months back, and through my own stupidity, didn’t ask the seller to show me the white ink printing. He sent me a video of the printer printing a colour logo, but not white. Turns out the white is blocked.

I have tried multiple head cleans and even left the head in soak overnight, but cannot unclog the white l. I’ve also got some missing black and cyan nozzles that I can’t seem to shift as pictured.

Now, as the printer does multiple passes, and thanks to the nozzle recovery feature, I can still get perfect full colour prints without and streaks, but obviously not ideal, so I’m just wondering if there’s anything else I can try to clear the remaining nozzles?

Also, regarding the white ink, a local supplier has recommended I replace the white cartridges with cleaning cartridges and use white chips to fool the printer into thinking they are white ink. Would doing this stop the head from becoming even more damaged so I can continue using the printer? I’m just worried that if I don’t do something about the white nozzles being clogged, I could burn out the printhead.

 

[Smoke_Jaguar]

Check your lines and dampers for blockages, white ink requires constant mixing because the titanium dioxide loves to settle out of solution and make nasty blockages. Cleaning cartridges can be a huge help, but won't do anything if there is no ink flow.

 

[gazfocus]

Check your lines and dampers for blockages, white ink requires constant mixing because the titanium dioxide loves to settle out of solution and make nasty blockages. Cleaning cartridges can be a huge help, but won't do anything if there is no ink flow.

Thanks, I will check the lines and dampers. I was thinking of changing the dampers anyway but not sure this would solve the issue with the missing nozzles on the light cyan.

My thinking was that if I get the cleaning cartridges to replace the white, and try and print 'white' on a scrap roll of vinyl that I was given with the printer, it would force the cleaning solution through the lines and hopefully unblock anything that's in its way. Could be completely wrong of course.

 

[Smoke_Jaguar]

Mimaki printers let you just print bulk ink in large swaths in the test mode as well. Nice since you don't have to RIP anything or even have a PC hooked up. I think it's under head test. As for clearing individual nozzles, not sure if the dampers will help. Still, not bad maintenance to do.