JV3 160sp (So many problems)

[SignDeeJay]

Hello, my names DeeJay, I just made this account.
To clarify things. I'm a Graphic designer, and have taught myself most of what I know for production.
I work for Signarama, and well, I have a Mimaki JV3 160sp. that my boss took over when he bought this building.
I have used this site for diagnosing and maintenance my printer.

Let me start by listing everything I've replaced
All the O rings. all dampers. all data cables. the yellow, blue and black caps, along with the new ink lines they come with. And I believe my boss replaced the head for black ink.

Now I'll list all the things I've tried and/or done.
wiped static off of media, tried different brands of media, different brands of inks, bleed ink with a syringe from the pump station. pulled ink from the dampers. tried onyx rip software, adjusted print hieght, along with adjusting the head spray. (the line test thing where you tell it where the straight line was printed. lastly tried all different kinds of icc profiles.

Finally, list of everything thats wrong....
There's banding in every color, yellow is only using 50% - 60% of nozzles. there is air in the lines when i pull ink from the back. even though caps, dampers, and o rings have been replaced. there's an line of color around different things. Example: black print-- C=20 M=20 Y=20 K=100 there seems to be a magenta outline, I reduce magenta then theres a cyan outline, reduce cyan than theres a yellow out line, and theres so much banding in the black when its at 0,0,0,100 that I can't sell it. Last.. a black over spray where ever black meets white.

 

[jfiscus]

Post a photo of the test print & we'll go from there.
There has to be a leak in the air line somewhere to get bubbles in it, so you'll have to figure out where that is coming from first.
After that, you're probably looking at replacing the magenta head and possibly others. woohoo!

 

[MikePro]

+1 pics or it never happened.

constantly getting bubbles in the ink lines may be result of a broken manifold, which is likely result of haste while replacing/fiddling with the dampers.

 

[SignDeeJay]

Pics Uploaded

Here are the pics of the recent test print. i tried to get as close as possible.

 

[MikePro]

you have alignment issues. most likely as result of black printhead being replaced recently.
you're most likely getting ghosting around the black because your bidirectional print alignment is off. try printing in uni-directional to confirm.

alignment procedures start with aligning the black printhead, and then you basically align each color to it. you also have to run alignment procedures for all print modes, single/bi-directional high/low speed, etc. your typical maintenance manual doesn't cover this.

however, it will be difficult to align your yellow printhead while it is only firing 50%. need to fix that first.
start with data cable swap to confirm issue is non-electrical (cables/encoder related)
if issue follows the swapped cables, then you know it is electrical.
if issue stays with the printhead, then you know to work through diagnosing up through your ink pump/cappingstation/dampers/manifold/inksupply/printhead.

 

[SignDeeJay]

UPDATE* we got almost everything fixed. Except a few spots on each head wasnt spraying properly and the alignment was still off. Ended up replacing the pumps. however, now my boss went to take the heads off to soak them (a technician said to do this) well when he put it back together we started getting a head error. than shortly after the printer began to turn on for normal cleaning cycles but the on button wasnt on, the led display wasn't showing, and the heaters won't come on. our tech guy from grafx networks says its the mother board. but my boss wants to buy one off line and install it himself. is it possible to do that? and on someone professional opinion. would it be best to invest into a newer (used) printer?