HELP! I have ink everywhere!

[calliegraphics]

I have a Roland SP-300V. I've had this for around 3 years, and it's been great. Besides cleaning, I've never done any maintance to it.

Over the last two days, my print quality has become very poor. There are streaks of orange on the yellow, my black is blue, etc. etc. (none of my colors are right) I did a cleaning through the programming, and it resulted in a puddle of red ink on my floor! I then did a manual cleaning, and no change in the results. I tried a few more cleanings with the machine, and now it sounds different ( a high pitched whine) when it cleans. It's never sounded like this before.

Does anyone have any ideas?? Although I've used this machine for years, I really don't know much about it since it's performed so well in the past.

 

[chopper]

usually when the ink puddles on the floor your pump has gone to hell....
there is a new updated pump to prevent this, this was a common problem with some of the earlier 300's and 540's, the only other thing it could be is a plugged line to the pump or the drain line from the pump, this will also cause the ink to back up in the print head and cause the ink to mix across the head.
//chopper

 

[calliegraphics]

Thanks for the advise. Do you know how I can test to see if the lines are clogged?

 

[OADesign]

You have blown your pumps. Too many powerful cleanings in succession don't give the pumps time to de-pressurize (for lack of a better word). A Roland rep once told me that the pump on the earlier machines were originally designed for aqueous inks. Pressure and wear from the solvents cause the pumps to fail prematurely. I figure your out of warranty but ask around. There was a time when Roland was replacing the pumps for free. You only had to cover labor. And if you local tech was cool, they would take care of you on the labor.

 

[chopper]

yes.
with the heads resting on the capping stations disconnect one of the capping station lines from the pump (two lines going into a Y connector before the pump) use a syringe with out the needle and put the capping station line on the end of the syringe and gently pull the stringer back it should pull ink into the syringe, if not it is plugged, most of the time this is all it takes to clean that line, do both of them.
you can also do a cleaning and expose the capping stations and put some cleaner into them and pull the cleaning solution through them. then remove the lower line from the pump. and pull the other end from the drain tank, then I usually put alcohol in a paper cup or glass put the syringe on the end of it and pull the alcohol through it and push it out back and forth, until it is clean (no chunks or ink coming out)
you may need to change the alcohol a few times, this should clean the lines..
//chopper

 

[calliegraphics]

This is all great information! My first fear was that I'd have to buy new heads. Even if I have to pay for parts and labor on the pump, it won't be too expensive! I'm definatly out of the warranty period!

 

[chopper]

when I read your post I don't know how but I missed the part where you said that it makes a different sound now than before, I would think it is your pump
but you should clean the lines anyway, when you get a new pump make sure that you get the updated one,
//chopper

 

[calliegraphics]

Thanks Guys! I just talked to my local dealer and he said he'd be out Monday with the updated pump. I'll be sure he cleans out the lines when he's here just in case.

 

[GTSTech_1]

Rolands' retro-fit program for the "old" style pumps expired over a year ago.

To check for clogged lines...squeeze them, if you feel something hard, then you have a clog. Or you can fill your cap top with cleaning solution, if the solution doesn't travel...you have a clog.