Calling all Mutoh Masters... Valuejet problem

[Flame]

Curious if any of you could help me diagnose what's going on here? I have a Valuejet 1204 and been getting some weird horizontal banding, and a lil wash of colors into others. Most noticable when I'm printing GREEN. Any ideas what's happening here? My good juju is fading I'm afraid.

 

[P Wagner]

Assuming that you nozzle test print looks good (a big assumption), PF Adjustments would be my next thought.

 

[Flame]

Eh, there's some breaks in there when I run a nozzle check.

 

[Solventinkjet]

Looks like your maintenance station is failing. When was the last time you replaced the cap top and/or whole maintenance station?

 

[Flame]

---

Never replaced the maintenance station and probably long overdue for cap, now that I think of it

 

[FatCat]

---

Never replaced the maintenance station and probably long overdue for cap, now that I think of it

That is most likely the culprit. You're probably losing seal at the head and as such your head isn't getting enough suction to clear those plugs and keep up with the ink flow. I would also suggest if you've never replaced dampers it might be a good time to do that as well...

However, other things to consider would be the PF adjustment and also for kicks, try a different profile and see if the same problem persists.

 

[Flame]

I'd say contamination issues for some reason, but PF might be part of it. So for parts, anyone got a good suggestion on sources? CMYKparts only has a complete station, no tops? Ebay came up as a no go as well. No local dealer that I'm aware of.

 

[Flame]

Alright... 1 day in. Still flabbergasted. I've cleaned and cleaned, and it would appear I have got all the contamination out. but this banding is out of control. I can print a patch of C M Y K and they're "ok". Not great but honestly sellable. But green? Holy crap greens are just horrible. Hopefully these pics show what I'm talking about...

I tried the PF adjustment. Set at 500mm, took a ruler to it. Tested and no better. So I did test prints 1 through 6mm one way, and then 1 through 6mm the other way. None fixed it.

I'm currently scratching my head...

 

[heyskull]

I can say for certain that even with 2-3 nozzles down in a specific area you will get prints like this.
Replace your maintenance station straight away.
I would not mess about with pf adjustment until the station is replaced, you can now see your pf is way out.
How old is the head, is the machine used a lot? These are all factors in issues like these.
If the nozzles have been blocked a while, no matter what you do it will not recover them.

SC

 

[Compilla]

I would suggest replacing the MSA ASAP before the nozzles are beyond recovery. Start saving for a new head too.

 

[Solventinkjet]

If you have never changed the maintenance station, I would recommend replacing the whole thing. It's too important of a part to let go bad. I have both just the cap top and whole maintenance station on my site: Solventinkjet.com