Missing Colors on Nozzle Check

[Ghost Prophet]

This is on the Falcon Outdoor 1

Alright I recently had a cross contamination issue due to the new capping station pads swelling up and touching the print heads... Fixed that by removing one pad layer and sucking all the contaminated ink out of the Yellow damper. Finally I had yellow again, which meant I could now print red...

Red was printing great for a while, then turned pink, so I shut it down and did a nozzle check and neither Yellow or Magenta are firing at all... However there is ink in all the dampers... The fuck is going on here?! Bad print head or loose ribbon cable?

I'm about to pull it apart and do some intense checking but meanwhile tips would be appreciated. ^_^

 

[Ghost Prophet]

Alright well I've cleaned every damper, checked every oring and nut, took the print heads out and inspected them a bit, and then put humpty dumpty back together again. Still no yellow on the nozzle check and now every other color has faded as well. But hey Magenta has returned!

I even put her back together using different orings.

Gonna inspect the capping station now... Any suggestions?

 

[SlightlyChilled]

just go over your caps and make shear they are in place. try to pull a little ink from the heads to the capping station. have a pop and come back with fresh eyes you might have bumped a cap or something

 

[ProWraps]

buy a VJ?

 

[SlightlyChilled]

$25 for a HK $50 for a CJ $25,000.00 for a VJ "whats a VJ ?" If you have to ask kid you can't afford it.


Get it its from beer fest

 

[Ghost Prophet]

Replaced maintenance station (capping station and everything around it).

No ink is moving onto the new capping station. Gonna try pulling it through by force tomorrow and fiddling around with the dampers some more...

Could this all be because the heads need a soak?

 

[luggnut]

this happened to me... i had the machine apart long enough that the heads had to be soaked, but the biggest issue was with ink starvation..

i had to use a syringe to pull ink from the metal lines above the dampers to fill the lines, then from below the capping station to fill the dampers... it took several tries and some head soaking but all eventually came back ...

 

[Ghost Prophet]

Cool thanks for the feedback, gonna give that a try today.

 

[Ghost Prophet]

Did an overnight head soak this weekend and no results... New capping station still not able to pull any ink from the heads, and nozzle check still not printing.

 

[randya]

Are you pulling with a syringe?

 

[Ghost Prophet]

Yes.

 

[luggnut]

New capping station still not able to pull any ink from the heads, and nozzle check still not printing.

are you getting a seal to form a vaccum or does it vaccum and nothing comes out?

you need a tight seal ... the syringe should be hard to pull with a good seal?

plus you have to hold the head as far right as it will go when you pull from the capping side.. i have someone help me and hold it there.

 

[Ghost Prophet]

How do you get a 'tight seal' if there isn't one?

And yes I have had someone help me and push the heads to the right while trying to pull with the syringe.

 

[Ghost Prophet]

Bow chika bow wow...

I pulled the heads out and inspected everything for the third time, and really took my time making sure everything was aligned properly and not too tight. SUCCESS. Capping station is pulling ink from the heads and my nozzle check is beautiful. Guess the problem was with the head position or something...

 

[randya]

If there is not a tight seal, you cannot pull a proper vacuum and pull ink properly.

This could indicate a dirty stainless rim around the bottom of the head or a dirty or damaged cap.

Do a head soak for an hour THEN clean the cap and the seal area on the head.
If this does not give you a good seal, then you are probably in for a cap.

If you get a good seal but cannot fill dampers from the front panel, then you are probably in for a maintenance station.

 

[luggnut]

I pulled the heads out and inspected everything for the third time, and really took my time making sure everything was aligned properly and not too tight. SUCCESS. Capping station is pulling ink from the heads and my nozzle check is beautiful. Guess the problem was with the head position or something...

did you reset the home position? and make sure no air is getting in the lines or system. but great to hear you had some success!

the caps have to seal on the heads and there can be no air leaks... so if and when you pull with a syringe if you can't get a vaccum.. check for leaks or the caps and head arn't right...


good luck

 

[Ghost Prophet]

Yeah I have reset the home position every time. I did notice that there was some dry ink around the silver lining of the heads so I cleaned that off. Maybe that was the problem with the capping station not getting a good seal. Dunno.

 

[evie]

I had the same problem, put a rebuilt pump in and it fixed it perfectly. I was told by a local tech, that when the cap station goes, the pump is usually bad too.

 

[Ghost Prophet]

I had the same problem, put a rebuilt pump in and it fixed it perfectly. I was told by a local tech, that when the cap station goes, the pump is usually bad too.

That seems like very silly advice as the capping station is a plastic fixture where the pads are usually the main reason to replace it as they decay or swell up over a long period of time... And the pump is a mechanical and seemingly very durable part that if damaged, can be fixed. If the pump stays clean it should last indefinitely, however the gears may wear over time.

That local tech sounds like a bad car mechanic. Sell you more then you really need.

Realigning/cleaning the print heads to get a proper seal on the capping station fixed my problem.

 

[Newbie_on]

Realigning/cleaning the print heads to get a proper seal on the capping station fixed my problem.

What do you mean by realigning the heads?