Has anyone flushed a printhead on an Arizona 460?

[PrintD]

Hello everyone,

This is my first post and I look forward to sharing my experiences and also getting help with my issues. We have a 3 year old Oce Arizona 460GT. The yellow printhead has a 1/16" band onone of the two sides of the printhead that I cannot get to go away. It may be a bad printhead, but I'd like to try flushing it out. I've done all the usual cleaning methods including long purges, cleaning with ISO etc. There are four hoses running from the ink resevoir in the carriage to the printhead. I would like to know if anyone has flushed out a printhead and how they accomplished it. I thought first of doing a long purge to empty the resevoir then putting the flush into the resevoir and purging again, but thought this was probably not the right way to go about it. Should I disconnect each of the hoses one at a time and use the syringe to flush the printhead?

Any insight would be greatly appreciated. I have already changed the ink filter and the degas filter. Thank you in advance.

Derek

 

[WalkerP]

Did you recently have a head strike/crash? Can you see any damage to the face plate? It's possible they're clogged from usage, but many times when there is a band of nozzles out in a line like that it is physical damage.
If you're comfortable removing and reinstalling heads, I recommend taking the head out and flushing it and/or soaking it in a good cleaning solution. You can push solution through the head and see if all of the nozzles are firing. If it doesn't work, you've already got the old head out for the replacement anyway.

 

[PrintD]

Thank you for the quick response. I'm not the only one using this printer, so I don't know if we had a headstrike or not. There doesn't look to be any damage in the area of the missing nozzles. I worry about realignment of the head if I remove it to flush it out. Am I being paranoid?

 

[WalkerP]

No. You're not being paranoid. That's part of the replacement process, so it certainly could be out of alignment if you take it out and put it back in. You'll have the same concern if you install a new head too.

You can flush it in the printer. I just get paranoid about getting fluid on electrical parts and I like being able to see and grasp the head better when it's out. It just depends on your level of technical confidence/knowledge.

 

[PrintD]

I've replaced an ink pump that had to be partially disassembled to fit the original part of the head that had the barbs on it, so I can do it. I'll have to look closer at what removing the head entails to make that decision. Anyone have any experience with this?

 

[DougWestwood]

send pics?

Hi There,

I have operated other models of OCE flatbeds.
I'd be very interested to see pics of this process on your 460.

Thanks!
- Doug

 

[SignMeUpGraphics]

Try this procedure... there might be an air bubble in the head:

- 2 long purges
- Close the drawer and let the reservoir fill up
- Repeat above steps 3 times (6 purges total)
- Perform a cleaning