JV5 faulty NCU

[Printhead]

Hi peeps. I can't reach my technician right now because he's probably drinking beer with his friends. My JV5 displays an error message which read "NCU". Yes... quite detailed. I know NCU stands for "nozzle compensation unit", and it's basically a laser and a mirror. I tried cleaning it but it didn't work. I can still print but I experience hardcore color-shifting. Now I have a few jobs to print before christmas.
Any suggestions?

And thanks!

 

[Craig Perry]

go in to the menu and turn off the NCU, and it will stop beeping at you.. then get a tec out to fix it at a later date..

why the colour shifting?. is that because the jv5 is stopping and causing illregular (SP?) drying?.. or have you many nozzles out?.

 

[Printhead]

I thought this NCU was meant to counterbalance the clogged nozzles. After speaking to a tech it seems it doesn't. So the color shifting must have occurred because of waves on the media. Anyhow thanks for you help. My tech told me I can disassemble the NCU quite easily and just clean it.

 

[Craig Perry]

ncu just tells you how many nozzles are out, thats it really, the wave in the media may be a heat issue.. what inks re you running ES3, HS, SS21?.. sounds like the heat may be too high..

 

[ScotJ]

Yea, the Mimaki "Techs" at the trade shows did a wonderful job of selling this machine as having a compensation type unit that would make-up for lost nozzles; when infact al lit does is tell you how many nozzles are clogged - and most of the time its quite inaccurate. I only find it useful when an entire bank goes down on long prints.

 

[Printhead]

I'm using HS inks. The heat is 35 Celsius on pre and in-heater, I don't use the post heater. I guess it's okay for my media (2mil avery/3m) because it normally stay flat. I didn't even clean the NCU so far and had no problems. The machine rarely clog, and as Scot said this apparatus is quite inaccurate thus useless. Thanks to both of you for the advice.