I Received my Wit-Color Ultra 9000 dual dx5 printer

[jhanson]

As far as the DX5 dampers with the valves, the only reason that the manufacturers (Epson, Mimaki and then Mutoh) moved to them was to prevent pressure-related dripping from the heads. If you use the old style dampers, you have to keep the system in equilibrium, in other words, the level of ink in the cartridges must be even with the bottom of the nozzle plate. Some variation is acceptable, but too much ink and the heads start to drip, too little ink and the heads can possibly deprime.

With the valve dampers, the manufacturers suddenly gained the ability to install the cartridges wherever they wanted. Epson moved the cartridges down below the head, and then added an air pressure pump to pressurize the entire system. Mimaki simply stuck the cartridges above to give the system gravity-fed pressure, and Mutoh did the same.

On a system that's already in equilibrium, adding the valve dampers probably won't do anything, but it shouldn't hurt.

On the big machines like the ValueJet 2606, Mutoh actually released a TIB describing how to convert the machine to valve dampers because its length caused so much pressure fluctuation in the ink lines while running that dripping on prints was a common issue for those machines.

 

[artbot]

 

[paulbaguio]

hope there are more updates. excited to see prints and the review of the print quality.

 

[chris190]

Greetings and my apology for draggin' with this .... my life is hectic at the moment and I'm trying to move as fast as I can.....

Ok so I got it to print just fine with one head..... only thing left is experiment and setup color profiles and whatnot.... below is a link to a video I did printing at 8 passes ... the color is not exactly correct but I'm happy that I know it prints ...... as far as color the red doesn't seem quite vivid red..... it seems like cyan dominates a little bit.... I played with color density setting and lowered the cyan but then the overall color on the print becomes pretty warm looking....

other than that thecolors look fine.....so not sure if it's because of the type of ink (durafos) or because of needing to setup color profile corectly....most likey because of the profiles I'd think which I still have to do.


http://www.sendspace.com/pro/nciby5

Regarding the head that's not working....just want to mention that Winni @ support @ wit-color is very helpfull and responding to my e-mails within 24 business hours ..... so A+ for that... I'm sure they will help me get this taken care of....

I have to switch the driver modules from head 1 to 2 and see if that corrects the problem if not the print head board might not work properly for the second head in which case looks like they will take care....

hopefully this week I get to find out exactly.... willl let you all know...

thanks to everyone that's helping me and for your patience

Regards,

Chris

 

[chris190]

As far as the DX5 dampers with the valves, the only reason that the manufacturers (Epson, Mimaki and then Mutoh) moved to them was to prevent pressure-related dripping from the heads. If you use the old style dampers, you have to keep the system in equilibrium, in other words, the level of ink in the cartridges must be even with the bottom of the nozzle plate. Some variation is acceptable, but too much ink and the heads start to drip, too little ink and the heads can possibly deprime.

With the valve dampers, the manufacturers suddenly gained the ability to install the cartridges wherever they wanted. Epson moved the cartridges down below the head, and then added an air pressure pump to pressurize the entire system. Mimaki simply stuck the cartridges above to give the system gravity-fed pressure, and Mutoh did the same.

On a system that's already in equilibrium, adding the valve dampers probably won't do anything, but it shouldn't hurt.

On the big machines like the ValueJet 2606, Mutoh actually released a TIB describing how to convert the machine to valve dampers because its length caused so much pressure fluctuation in the ink lines while running that dripping on prints was a common issue for those machines.

Thanks for this info ..... it seems like the inks on the back are pretty much at the same level with the head which in that case based on your explanation the dampers that are on there now should be ok ..... either way since the DX5 style dampers ith valves won't hurt sounds like a good ideea to have those instead.... didn't order them yet but I will once I get more stuff figures out...

 

[artbot]

drama will definitely slow down a working guy. been hectic over here too. difficult to finish any day.

you are left with the slider board pretty much right? you transplanted the heads and isolated away from the head. (?)

as for the printer in one head mode. that thing is TIGHT. looks to be a really confident machine.

hope you get that new board on this thing. thanks for the update and the movie!

 

[chris190]

Also,

I know this has been asked and want to clarify.

There are 7 cartiges in the back. 1 black and 2 for each other color.

the black ink splits into 2 and goes to both heads....the color cartiges go each to one head....

that's why there are 7 .... there is no cartige for the cleaning solution...just a syringe

Regards,

Chris

 

[chris190]

drama will definitely slow down a working guy. been hectic over here too. difficult to finish any day.

you are left with the slider board pretty much right? you transplanted the heads and isolated away from the head. (?)

as for the printer in one head mode. that thing is TIGHT. looks to be a really confident machine.

hope you get that new board on this thing. thanks for the update and the movie!

"you are left with the slider board pretty much right? you transplanted the heads and isolated away from the head. (?)" you lost me here a little bit ..lol... so correct me if you need to

The slider board you mean the printhead board? .. if yes then that's what it seems like might be wrong with it.....below the printhead board there are 2 other little boards (modules) that connect directly into the printhead board.... that are supposely called driver modules ..one under each ribbon connection where the printhead ribbons connect to...... this is what wit-color is telliing me to do...take off the printhead board and switch those modules around and observe if same issue.... if same issue then it's the print head board...if issue switched then it's the right driver module board ... which of course makes sense.

I did switch the heads around ... both of them are still connected tho .... only thing in the software you have the option to select which head you want to print with left or right or both ... so for now I select left head as that's the one that works.

also want to mention:

I printed some stuff on canvas and it prints pretty darn good I'd say... I don't have any pics on that as my sister stole my test samples as she really liked them (nice b&w Chicago skyline pics) ... but I will print again this week and post.

Also on matte 10 or 9 oz smooth vinyl stuff printed pretty nice as far as resolution ..... but again the color seems it needed adjustment...

 

[rjssigns]

Looks pretty quick with a single head working. It should fly with both. I hate to see you having issues with the equipment. In a way though it will prove the speed and reliability of tech support getting you answers or parts.

 

[chris190]

Looks pretty quick with a single head working. It should fly with both. I hate to see you having issues with the equipment. In a way though it will prove the speed and reliability of tech support getting you answers or parts.

I hate that too but on a positive side I guess get to learn more about this machine by having these issues ... yea it should deff fly when both heads print.

 

[Circleville Signs]

That. Looks. Sick.

 

[chris190]

Hi,

I got to test stuff out last night according to what wit-color asked me to do and looks like it's the printhead board. I will let you know how it goes about them replacing it..

meanwhile here are some more samples and 1080p videos I did last night ....

The download page link is: http://www.sendspace.com/pro/381h81

this link will be available for a few days.

 

[artbot]

just checked back to the youtube set up videos. they had part 2 and 3 uploaded for a long time. now they have part 1 and part 4-6.

http://youtu.be/agGoNkd5Gfs

 

[negrozx]

I will tell you me experience. We receive last week our WitColor Utra 9000 3.2 mts width. In general the printer prints good, it came with a solid relay damage, but I replace and works. The big big problem we are having is with colours. We use our inks and the printer comes with Maintop Rip. This Rip can´t edit or add our icc profiles, for this we have to buy a new licence who cost USD 1500. I don´t like to pay and less for maintop which is nothing stable. Anybody have the MTCOLOR soft? we need this to make my icc profiles. Thanks

 

[jhanson]

Wasatch supports the Ultra9000: http://wasatch.com/largeformatlist.html#w

However, it doesn't include a profiling package. Do you have a spectrophotometer? The easiest way is to get an i1Basic i1Match bundle (not i1Basic 2) which includes basic CMYK profiling, if you can still get one. The reason I say i1Basic Pro 2 won't work is because from X-Rite's specifications page, they only say it can profile RGB printers... stupid, but what did anyone expect by letting X-Rite become a color monopoly?

http://www.graphicsone.com/x-rite-i1basic-bundle.html

I think Maintop supports standard ICC profiles, so if you create a profile using i1Match you *should* be able to import it in.

 

[negrozx]

Wasatch supports the Ultra9000: http://wasatch.com/largeformatlist.html#w

However, it doesn't include a profiling package. Do you have a spectrophotometer? The easiest way is to get an i1Basic i1Match bundle (not i1Basic 2) which includes basic CMYK profiling, if you can still get one. The reason I say i1Basic Pro 2 won't work is because from X-Rite's specifications page, they only say it can profile RGB printers... stupid, but what did anyone expect by letting X-Rite become a color monopoly?

http://www.graphicsone.com/x-rite-i1basic-bundle.html

I think Maintop supports standard ICC profiles, so if you create a profile using i1Match you *should* be able to import it in.

Not. This is the problem, I have the profile in a icc file, but maintop doesn´t import. Don´t have this feature.

 

[jhanson]

Well, if you already have the spectrophotometer and ICC profiling software, then instead of buying a $1500 Maintop ICC license, why not just get Wasatch for $3000? It's generally going to be much easier to run and get support for than Maintop, which is pretty much just a Chinese imitation of Wasatch...

 

[paulbaguio]

saw this "latest" printer updated in their 'news' website dated: 7-23-2012:

http://www.wit-color.cn/en/newshows.asp?id=582

is this the same machine specs you are setting up?

UPDATED just mins after posting above: oops sorry i think this is the 3.3meters long, but just trying to ask if this has the same specs with that of chris' machine aside from the width difference. thanks! - paul

 

[artbot]

holy mother....four cheap dx5's at 1290 sfph 3 pass and 968 sfph 4 pass!

and china is planning a trip to the moon.

 

[rjssigns]

That thing is a BEAST! So fast you would only have to work an hour or two a day.

They should send me one for BETA testing.

Wonder where the price point is? If it is twice the width of chris190's is it twice the cost? (just wishing)