air in the lines, on a sc500

[ffokazak]

Ok so I took off the cover of the machine, and did a cleaning {just the cleaning button on the control panel.}

As it was cleaning I noticed that the lines coming into the dampers had some air bubbles, that were visible, and went down to the dampers. on a variety of the colours.

Is this normal?

I noticed some of the dampers are about half full as well... Not sure if this is normal. Seems the air is going into the damper, and not any further, and Im pretty sure thats a design of them?

Thoughts on this?

I searched, but nothing came up, so I apologize if this is redundant....

 

[wedosigns]

There should not be any air bubbles before the damper. Try to tighten up the brass nut and o-ring, then syringe (pull) ink through the damper to get the air out of the line. Dampers do not have to be competely full. After you have got rid of the air bubbles, do a head clean to make sure you have suction through the dampers. The clear plastic will be slightly concaved inwards on the right side of the damper.
When you pull a damper off of the head, no ink should be returning towards the cartridges. If it is you probably have a faulty o-ring or damper.

 

[CS-SignSupply]

it is also possible that the captops are not sealing properly which can lead to air getting to the head.

+1 wedosigns.... ink should not flow towards the cartridges from the damper.

 

[ffokazak]

Dampers

Oddly enough I think the bubbles are coming from the Cartridges, which is what I think you are saying.

Tightening up the O rings and brass nuts wont be what I'm looking for... because the air is traveling towards the Brass nuts....

So whats behind door number two!? {Or in this case the other side of that ink hose headed to the cartridge....} Anything that would be leaking and allowing air into the system?

Thanks guys!

 

[ffokazak]

This may also be an oversight... But I removed the carts to move the machine... about 4 days ago. Have printed some stuff, but not a lot.

Must have caused air to enter said system... This seems feasible does it not?

What method is used to completely remove the bubbles?

One thing i noticed is odd times certain colours totally drop out, and then after a light cleaning the ink returns, in full force. This must sound like an air bubble issue no?

Thanks!

 

[sfr table hockey]

Yes, if you get air in the line from the cart to the dampers, it can somehow create a draw and not let the heads recharge with ink so while printing you will get drop out and a cleaning will recharge the head but if the bubble is still there it will happen again.
Another cause of this same symptom is the clear lines under the captop that go to that small rec. box can get plugged and cause the same thing to happen.

If you have removed old carts and let sit for a bit it is possible the valve or oring in the end of the cart is slightly letting air back into the cart. Thus when you put it back in the air is the first thing to enter the line again when you draw ink. As far as I know there must be a weighted tube that connects to that opening in the cart so that ink is drawn from the bottom front of the cart. It might be hard to get rid of the air in the cart but if you draw that bubble through the entire line of the printer to the damper, from then on the cart should be fine as the air in the bag should be the upper portion of the bag and not lower where the ink is drawn from.

Anyway thats my take on things. You could just use refill carts and dump the cart contents into the refill carts. No more air issues till the seal in that cart gets weak.