Electrical issue with printer head CJV150

[Darraghw25]

Hi all, new to the forum. Delighted to be apart of the Forum,



I would really appreciate some help and looking for some advice, I am new to the sign and printing industry, I am looking at purchasing a Mimaki CJV150 wide format printer. The buyer has been very open and honest with me about the printer. Which has been very refreshing coming into a new industry. The test print as seen below is very good and it prints good quality images I've read through both the operating and maintenance manuals and have asked the manufacture what to check when looking at purchasing a second hand machine. There is a very small overspray of magenta, hardly noticeable until up very close to the print (see below). The seller said that the printer head has a small electrical fault that is causing the overspray of magenta and a new head will need to be purchased to resolve the problem. The overspray is so small and hardly noticeable, I am wondering if there is a hidden fault or something else as purchasing the printer and a new head is a massive investment and debating weather to go with a different printer or manufacture. I want to offer wide format printing options to local businesses in my area. The overspray is concerning me as I want to offer a quality service and product from the off. My question is has anyone had a similar issue with there printer. Thanks in advance for your help. I believe the head is a DX7

 

[damonCA21]

That overspray is actually quite bad. If its only happening on one colour, normally it will be down to a head fault. The test print often won't show problems that happen when you are actually printing things.
It could be something physical like a hair or bit of fluff on the surface of the printhead so I would check that first, but assuming the seller has already ruled out the simple things, then it most likely does need the head replacing

 

[Neil]

Sometimes it's just the batch of ink - or it may be old or has thickened up a bit.
Are you using OEM? In carts or bulk?

One way to verify if it's the ink or the head is to unplug the 2 magenta dampers from the head and swap them with say the cyan head channels.

Then do a clean to pull the ink into the head. Send a test print with cyan and magenta (these will be swapped at the head).
See if: A) If the magenta still oversprays through the cyan head channel, then it's the ink
B) If the cyan now oversprays through the magenta head channel, then it's the head