HELP! JV3-160SP clogged nozzles!!!!

[theeventsource]

Okay, quick synopsis: Last used the printer about 2 weeks ago. It worked fine. It doesn't get much use this time of year.

Started to print a job and had nothing printing. Have done two 10 minute nozzle washes and gotten some of them back. I have most of my black, most of yellow, some of the magenta and almost no cyan (like 3 little bars).

What can I do??? I guess the hourly priming didn't keep them clear. I'm doing a 45min nozzle wash now. What else can I do??? My boss is going to FLIP!!!!

 

[eforer]

I would say you might be pretty hosed. Even if not in use the printer needs to be cleaned regularly, including long nozzle washes. In fact, at the end of each day we print we clean around the 4 sides of each head, clean the capping and wiper station and run a 99 minute nozzle wash.

Nozzle washes, strong cleans and ink fill ups are the obvious things to try, but in this situation using a syringe and drawing slowly from below the capping station (ie the hoses that come out of the capping station) might be able to blow the heads out a little. Definitely do a disway wash first though to make sure that the cap and hoses aren't at all blocked up.

You can also remove the heads and try an ultrasonic cleaner, you can buy cheap ones at harborfreight.com.

 

[thewood]

First off, the best preventative maintenance for your printer is to keep it busy. You'll find that you have less clogged nozzle issues when the printer is constantly firing ink through the heads.

Now, for your situation I would clean all around the heads, capping station, wiper and wiper assembly with foam swabs saturated in cleaning solution. You should be doing this daily--even if you don't print anything that day. This will prevent dried ink from building up around the heads and capping station. This build up can prevent the heads from creating a proper seal with the rubber caps. Next, do a 99 minute nozzle wash. Do a test print, and let us know what that looks like.

Edit: eforer beat me to it!

 

[premiercolour]

fyi. The Ultrasonic Print Head Cleaner will clean the clogged print head. This is not a commercial post. It is just for your reference that it might help.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=200225603242&ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT

 

[theeventsource]

Soaking heads?

I read one post somewhere (it's not under Mimaki) about someone putting a coffee filter soaked in cleaning solution over the capping station and letting the heads sit on that for 30 mins. Anyone try that?

The 45minute nozzle wash did bring back some more of the head, so I'll try a 99 and see what I get.

Funny thing is, this printer has sat before with no use for a week or two and been fine. Now, suddenly, it's a problem.

I'll let you know how the 99 minute wash goes.

 

[eforer]

Just a quick fyi on the ultrasonic. When you take your heads out, unless you are a ninja with head changes you will have to do a full calibration of the machine (the #prn adjust menu). The maintenance manual will walk you through it. It requires the use of 40 linear ft of glossy material and takes a minimum of 4 hours. You also should get one of those $10.00 radio shack "microscopes" for this process. The Mimaki loupe is horrifically expensive and this works just as well.

After screwing with it awhile, make sure to keep in mind how much your time is worth. To have a good tech come and replace all the heads and tune up the machine is $3k-$4k. If your going to lose a lot of work over this, that can be money well spent. Also, some of them will teach you how to do it for some extra $$ so the next time all you are responsible for is parts (which are still expensive).

 

[ChicagoGraphics]

To avoid this problem your having now, print something with your printer everyday, even if it's just a few boxes and then clean as stated above. 15 minutes a day of cleaning will save you thousands of dollars on new heads.

 

[theeventsource]

harbor freight

You can also remove the heads and try an ultrasonic cleaner, you can buy cheap ones at harborfreight.com.

It looks like most of the cleaners at harbor frieght use... water??? How does that work? I don't think we can submerse these things. Has anyone done this with any of the harbor freight cleaners and, if so, what steps did you take?

 

[eforer]

They used to sell one that uses solvent. That is a last ditch solution. Try everything else first.

 

[AllinSignco]

regular maint. will keep it going

I have a JV3-160SP myself. I have to clean that bad boy a minimum of every other day. Aside from that you possibly could have lost a pump or pumps. At your point though I am not sure that heads can be saved if they are that dry/clogged. In the future keep it clean and run a test pattern daily. that solvent is tricky and very touchy stuff. I hope it is still under warranty for your sake...good luck :

 

[tommythesignguy]

I have ran the Mimaki at a previous job. disway as mentioned might help. I wonder if you can schedule small print jobs aevery day for a week - while you are on vacation?

 

[theeventsource]

It's Alive!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(Tried to post this yesterday at 5:30pm EST, but the site went down and I couldn't post- thankfully I saved the text)

First off, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you to you all.

Repeated nozzle washing brought Black & Yellow Back to 100%
Magenta was only running about 25% and Cyan was... 1%??

I pulled off the back cover and used a syringe and pulled Cyan and Magenta through.

Cyan is now 100% and Magenta is at about 85%

I either had/have some clogged capping station drain lines or one maybe a hole/split in the drain lines.

I will start cleaning it regularly or will have to train someone to do it (since my office if 1/2 mile away and I'm the HR Manager & IT Manager & Graphic Designer & Photographer & Print Shop Everything & Person in charge of vehicle maintenance).

I'm going to give the heads another 99 min wash and see if that brings back the remaining 15% of the magenta. If not, I'll do another pull through with the syringe on it. Seeing at the cyan came back from 0% to 100%, I think I can save the magenta.

You are all awesome. Thank you. :signs101:

Since last night, I've gotten the magenta back to 90-95%. However, I can see that the cyan cap is not draining all the way. I'm going to have to clean it out, I guess.

The pumps are only 2 months old, so if the cyan is still not draining right after a cleaning, I may have to call the Mimaki service provider who put the pumps in.

Again, thank you all.

 

[Rip and print guy]

Hey, if you have not done this yet, nows the time to save you any more issues.
Put your head height on thin, do a ink fill, and you should be back in business again. As long as all other items are in working and or proper alignment.

 

[Tovis]

Doesn't sound fun, we had to replace 2 heads on our printer a week or so ago.

 

[gabagoo]

I just had a major issue last week. I did nozzle wash after nozzle wash and after about 7 hours of nozzle washes, she'sback in biz. My nozzle washes were minimum 1 hour each with a few 99 minute ones thrown in. I think I ran about 6 before all the heads were back firing as usual

Good luck

 

[thewood]

Gagaboo, did you ever try the overnight nozzle wash?