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Need Help Diagnosing Printing Issues VJ1204
- Thread starter David40
- Start date
Can you post a picture of the output from your printer. That will give people an idea of whats going on.
I was going to but I lost the USB cable to my camera. I'll post a picture once the new cable arrives.
OK, I got my replacement camera cable, here are a couple of photos. In one you can clearly see how the blues are streaking out of the letters, but reds seem to be fine. In the other you can see the wide bands of blue shading. It's hardly noticeable but there should not be anything there except white.
FYI, the black lettering with the shading issue was printed vertically, so the printing was being done perpendicular to the wording.
FYI, the black lettering with the shading issue was printed vertically, so the printing was being done perpendicular to the wording.
Solventinkjet
DIY Printer Fixing Guide
Unfortunately that is a pretty clear sign the head is fried. You could try replacing the head cables and cleaning the cable terminals and that might fix the issue but it's rare. How old is the head?
I purchased the printer in 2012, but I am just a hobby printer. I've done very little printing with it and what little I've done barely paid for the materials I used up in the process. I've probably used more ink doing the weekly cleaning needed to keep the print head from clogging up than I've used on printing projects. My weekly cleaning is due tomorrow so I'll try locating and cleaning those cable terminals. If the head is shot I'm going to have a big worthless paperweight on my hand cause I'm not putting thousands into a new head for something In rarely use anymore.
Thanks for the diagnosis.
Solventinkjet
DIY Printer Fixing Guide
Yeah 8 years is above average for a head actually. If you don't want to put a bunch of money into it you can always sell it on Craigslist or something. People always looking. Good luck!
It may be a blessing in disguise. I have been a slave to this printer for years having to schedule my life around being here once a week to run the cleaning. I would have never bought the thing if they had told me I could not let it sit idle for any length of time without ruining the print head. At least with my vinyl cutter it can sit for any length of time and no harm done.
Is a shame though. This particular printer was designed to print directly onto pre-grometed banner media, plus I had a machine shop fabricate sheet aluminum to cover all the ferrous metal surfaces so I can print directly onto 20 and 30 mil magnetic media. I'm going to miss it.
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I may end up replacing the head on this printer. I found a company by the name of DutaPrint in Japan that supposedly sells the DX5 DF-49684 head for the VJ-1204 for $205 dollars plus $25 bucks for tax, shipping and insurance. I checked with them to see if the price was a typo but they said it's the real deal. I am very suspicious about such a low price for a part others are selling for as much as $2,600 dollars, but they do accept Paypal for payment. I contacted Paypal and they could not verify if the company/deal was a scam, but they did tell me I was 100% covered under their buyer protection plan, so if it's turns out to be a scam of some kind I would get all my money back including the shipping. I am inclined to give it a shot.
Has anyone had any dealings with this company?
Has anyone had any dealings with this company?
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I learned something today. I contacted Mutoh and sent a copy of my printer output. They normally don't respond to end users but I got a reply.
"If it’s only one color (which it is) I would think the alignments got knocked out of place somehow, or maybe the ink is expired."
I was under the impression that eco-solvent ink would last indefinitely, but apparently it does have an expiration date. I checked one of the cartridges and it does have an expiration date right on there. I never notice it before. The Cyan is the problem color, almost empty, and well past it's expiration date so I ordered a new one. I am hoping the fresh ink will solve the issue.
"If it’s only one color (which it is) I would think the alignments got knocked out of place somehow, or maybe the ink is expired."
I was under the impression that eco-solvent ink would last indefinitely, but apparently it does have an expiration date. I checked one of the cartridges and it does have an expiration date right on there. I never notice it before. The Cyan is the problem color, almost empty, and well past it's expiration date so I ordered a new one. I am hoping the fresh ink will solve the issue.
Jim Hancock
Old School Technician
DutaPrint is definitely a scam. A customer of mine used them and lost their money. The customer did a wire transfer and then DutaPrint went silent. Fortunately you are using PayPal. If you have placed an order, I would suggest you cancel the order IMMEDIATELY and go with a reputable company. Any company in Indonesia is very suspect. DutaPrint is not in Japan, but is located in Indonesia.
Hopefully it is just expired ink. You will need to do several cleanings to pull it all out.
Hopefully it is just expired ink. You will need to do several cleanings to pull it all out.
I never did place an order. I wanted to exhaust all other possibilities first. And if I was going to order I would want to verify the Japan address and actually speak with a rep at that location before ordering, even if it is guaranteed by PayPal. I have seen other sellers in the $500 to $600 dollar range which seems more reasonable. These heads are probably manufactured in China for pennies on the dollar and most of the re-sellers are making an obscene profit on them.
There are so many conflicting opinions it's hard to know what to do. The company I purchased the printer from suggested the head was "De-laminating" but that doesn't make much sense because it's only one color and that color is in the middle of the head. I would think if that was happening it would start from the edge and not the middle. Besides that I saw a guy take one of those heads apart and he could hardly get it separated with a razor knife. It's glued together with some strong stuff. The best advice they could give me was to buy as new printer because the head, dampers, and maintenance station was going to cost me 4 Grand with no warranty.
I'll let everyone know what happens.
Jim Hancock
Old School Technician
That sounds like a typical dealer response. The $4000 estimate is incredibly high. Printhead, maintenance station and free dampers from solventinkonline.com will cost you right at $2000. Printhead w/free dampers - $1500, maintenance station - $500. If the maintenance station is the original, it should be replaced. For the printhead, anything significantly lower then the $1500 is suspect, and significantly higher is price gouging. Go with a Mutoh OEM maintenance station. After market ones tend to fail early.
Delamination is something that does happen to printheads.
Where are you located? Perhaps someone on here can suggest a good dealer or independent technician in your area. I would guess 2 hours max for repair time, plus travel. So $4000 is ridiculous...
Delamination is something that does happen to printheads.
Where are you located? Perhaps someone on here can suggest a good dealer or independent technician in your area. I would guess 2 hours max for repair time, plus travel. So $4000 is ridiculous...
I am in St Pete Florida, but labor is no problem. I am very mechanically inclined and do all my own vehicle and computer repairs. I was also able to obtain a copy of the factory service manual for this printer some time ago. I've already removed and reinstalled the existing printhead without issue, I am sure I could handle the maintenance station as well. I use the thing half taken apart anyway. All those covers and safety switches just get in my way.
-)Jim Hancock
Old School Technician
It sounds like you have everything under control! So it looks like a $2000 repair, much better. If you do need a tech, I have worked on a number of different Mutoh models and I'm across the state from you in Delray Beach. Post if you need any more help...
In spite of the risk it pays to shop around. Last year all my rollers started to dissolve, the rubber was disintegrating from age. I shopped for new rollers and all I found was ridiculous prices wanting as much a 22 dollars per roller. I think there is what, 64 of them? After searching and searching I found someone selling then for 3.50 each and they were making a profit on them at that price. So I saved a bundle.
Jim Hancock
Old School Technician
Agree absolutely! I do the same in looking for parts. There are quality aftermarket parts, but you have to weed them out. Then there are parts that experience has deemed that OEM is the only choice.
UPDATE: Well, it's been quite a journey. I found a company in China that sells Mutoh parts. I purchased new printhead, dampers, and a capping station. All for $1,300. I was surprised to receive everything in a week. Here is how I made out:
The DX5 printheads are all manufactured by Epson but I believe they must sell some of them as "seconds" meaning they are not 100% functional. The new head has several black nozzles that will not fire even after repeated cleanings and a manual flush. Fortunately it does not seem to effect the quality of my output. I am OK with that since it only cost me $1,000. Even local companies selling this head for 2K or more have a policy of no return or refund on these heads so I figured it was better to gamble only 1K instead of 2K. I removed and reinstalled the head so many times I ended up damaging the end of one of the head cables. No big deal as I found a local source that sells generic cables for $8 bucks. The capping station was a disaster. It was supposed to be compatible with my 1204 but would cause a CR error every time. It had extra gears and only two tubes off the cap top so I had a feeling it wasn't going to work. I found the correct capping station from an outfit in Miami for only $150 bucks, and it works perfectly. They even tossed in a new wiper for free. So now I am going to see if the Chinese company will give me a refund for the bad capping station. I'll let you know what happens with that. Bottom line is I am back up and running which pleases me greatly.
The DX5 printheads are all manufactured by Epson but I believe they must sell some of them as "seconds" meaning they are not 100% functional. The new head has several black nozzles that will not fire even after repeated cleanings and a manual flush. Fortunately it does not seem to effect the quality of my output. I am OK with that since it only cost me $1,000. Even local companies selling this head for 2K or more have a policy of no return or refund on these heads so I figured it was better to gamble only 1K instead of 2K. I removed and reinstalled the head so many times I ended up damaging the end of one of the head cables. No big deal as I found a local source that sells generic cables for $8 bucks. The capping station was a disaster. It was supposed to be compatible with my 1204 but would cause a CR error every time. It had extra gears and only two tubes off the cap top so I had a feeling it wasn't going to work. I found the correct capping station from an outfit in Miami for only $150 bucks, and it works perfectly. They even tossed in a new wiper for free. So now I am going to see if the Chinese company will give me a refund for the bad capping station. I'll let you know what happens with that. Bottom line is I am back up and running which pleases me greatly.