Question kyocera heads in Vanguard develops groves over time. Not head strikes. Why?

[Tom Dalton]

The heads start out flat, then over time they always develop 4 lines of dimpled-in groves over the nozzles. The 4 lines are always spaced perfectly the same (same gaps, same quantities). The yellow line shows what a head strike should look like as it goes the direction of the printing and has a corresponding scratch in the plate. What is this other deal? Vanguard called it a head strikes. There is no way (in my book) that the vertical stripes are head strikes. There wouldn't always be 4 and the distance between the gaps wouldn't always be consistent on all heads. If you have an older printer with kyocera heads.. do you have these in your heads?

 

[jfiscus]

Looks to me like the thin face of the head is collapsing inwards. I can't really tell from that photo where your nozzles are in relation to those lines but I'm betting there is something like the damper or ink pressure that flexes that part of the head and weakens it over time.

 

[jfiscus]

Whoever said it was headstrikes, you need to talk to their boss. Look at the right one it has a "recessed square" in the top area. The middle one has little "holes" in the bottom center. Yeah, definitely caused by heads trikes.

 

[parrott]

What do you use to treat/clean the heads? You use any kind of head cleaner/flush?

 

[johnnysigns]

Yeah, it looks like your heads are failing. Are the nozzle tests showing deflection from the plate distortions?

 

[johnnysigns]

Any verdict on this?

 

[Tom Dalton]

Thanks for the input. We're on our second Vanguard. No verdict. The manufacturer kind of just skips over the topic or calls it "head damage" without specifics as to what causes grooves in the opposite direction to groves that a head strike would cause. I wanted to see if anyone else with kyocera heads had similar groves. We do run this thing 12 to 15 hours per day.

 

[Tom Dalton]

Looks to me like the thin face of the head is collapsing inwards. I can't really tell from that photo where your nozzles are in relation to those lines but I'm betting there is something like the damper or ink pressure that flexes that part of the head and weakens it over time.

Our nozzles are pretty much where those lines are.

 

[Jay Grooms]

How hard are you wiping the heads?!?!?!

We have a vanguard and our heads look NOTHING like that.

 

[Tom Dalton]

How hard are you wiping the heads?!?!?!

We have a vanguard and our heads look NOTHING like that.

No too hard, but the heads are almost 2 years old and get printed on 12 to 15 hours per day M-Fri. Do your heads have that much use?

 

[Jay Grooms]

No too hard, but the heads are almost 2 years old and get printed on 12 to 15 hours per day M-Fri. Do your heads have that much use?

Yeah and they are still flat. Ours are about three years old. Sorry, but if I were vanguard I'd call that impact damage too. (I know it's not)

 

[snowman]

I had a 5x10 CET that had Kyrocera printheads that ran 24/7 for 8 years and never have I seen what has happened to your print heads. The groves look to be in the exact location of the nozzles. It almost looks like the thin coating on the print head has weakened overtime and from the negative pressure drawn that coating back up into the print head (just a guess). I am going to follow this thread to see if anyone has seen anything like it. Good Luck

 

[snowman]

My shops elevation was 430ft. I do not think elevation is a factor. Now Humidity is a very big factor from a standpoint of static and how static can affect how a print head performs. I still hesitate to say that static would be involved in what your picture is showing. I do not think that it is a head strike either.

 

[snowman]

I am going to just take a wild guess please this is a wild guess and put together a scenario. There is a thin lining on the face of the Kyrocera print head. My wild guess would be that the solvent/ ink combination overtime has weakened or changed the integrity of that lining (for whatever reason, degradation?) and now in a weakened state the lining is slowly being sucked up into the print heads from constantly being under pressure from the negative pressure pump. To me this would explain why it is so random and affecting all of the print heads. Kyrocera is the best print head out there and this is a very unusual case I am sure. I will keep my ears on

 

[MelloImagingTechnologies]

Which ink do you run?
Is it Vanguard?

 

[Tom Dalton]

Well, the inward dimple lines are NOT directly on the nozzles. The heads still print OK with this defect that only appeared a year after we got the machine.
It's like this....
III III III III
So, one head would be like above where the grey lines are the rows of nozzles. The black lines are the inward dimple lines and are located in the space between each grouping of nozzles.
So strange.

 

[GC Decor]

Well, the inward dimple lines are NOT directly on the nozzles. The heads still print OK with this defect that only appeared a year after we got the machine.
It's like this....
III III III III
So, one head would be like above where the grey lines are the rows of nozzles. The black lines are the inward dimple lines and are located in the space between each grouping of nozzles.
So strange.

What are you using to clean your print heads?? What chemical ??

 

[Tom Dalton]

We use the head cleaner provided by and sold by Vanguard. Oh well, I can determine what I wanted to... it isn't a common issue. I mostly wondered if I'd get someone right away that reported the same marks on their heads. I didn't. Because it was uncommon, I can blame it on something we did.