Mutoh Valuejet 1304 - Nozzle Check Help!

[Design Guy]

Hi guys! I am new to the forums and glad to be here.
I purchased a 4 yr. old Mutoh Valuejet 1304 about a month ago. It is in great shape.
I finally got RIP software to run it about 3 days ago. Until then, I had it plugged up and left it in sleep mode, waking it up several times a day to a nozzle check.
My first print with my PhotoPrint RIP software looked really good (it is the one attached with X-Men). But the second print I sent was very dark with a lack of yellow.
I did a regular cleaning followed by a hard clean. The next print was the same.
After running another cleaning and cleaning the wiper, I printed another nozzle check: Magenta is solid complete lines, Yellow is very faint and missing lines, Cyan is solid complete lines, and black is not terrible but is missing on a couple of lines.
I just need to know what I should do to fix the yellow and black. Cleaning seemed to help a bit, but I just wanted to get your advice before proceeding.
I attached pics of the nozzle check.

Thanks so much for your help!

 

[GAC05]

hard to see but if that second one is yellow it is bad.
here is one of the many posts on how to soak the head:
http://www.signs101.com/forums/showthread.php?t=89776&highlight=mutoh+head+soak

wayne k
guam usa

 

[Design Guy]

Wayne,

So do you think the nozzle is clogged or is it a print head?

What are my best and worst case scenarios here?

 

[GAC05]

Randya and stealthrider are the Mutoh wizards here on the forum.
I am just a button pushing end user.
Looks like clogged nozzles to me.
Head soak won't hurt(most of the time) so do that and see if it improves at all.
If there is no change then it may be an electrical issue with the head and it may have to be replaced.

wayne k
guam usa

 

[randya]

Looks like clogged nozzles.

Wayne is correct - head soaks.

 

[Design Guy]

Thanks to both you guys for responding.

I am ready to do a head soak, but not sure how to start. I understand how to soak the lint free cloth and soak it. But do I remove the right casing or go into maintenance mode to do this? And also, to uncap it.... is that the orange lever on the left of the print head?

Thanks again!

 

[GAC05]

Did you give it a try?
No need to remove the cover but it does make it easier to see what is going on.
I'd just pull up the CR maintenance option in the menu. Start it.
Flip the orange lever up to raise the head guide it over the capping station with the rag in place and then flip the lever down to press it into the cloth.

wayne k
guam usa

 

[Design Guy]

Hey Wayne. I have not tried it, yet. Will try it soon and let you know the outcome. Thanks again!

 

[Design Guy]

Hey Wayne and Randya,

I tried the head soak today. I did it every 20 mins for about 2 hrs. After this, I ran a normal cleaning.
Now (of course) my yellow is running low. But I just ordered a cartridge.

Before the head cleaning the yellow nozzle check lines were broken and it appeared to have some black mixed in.

After the head cleaning: The yellow nozzle check has solid lines and no black. BUT the yellow lines are VERY faint.

Any feedback will be much appreciated. Thanks!!

Oh and one last thing: The printer is beeping constantly I guess because the yellow is low. Any idea how to stop the beeping until my cartridge comes in?

 

[Design Guy]

heres a pic of the yellow after the cleaning

bb

 

[JTurner]

My Cyan cartridge is low and lead to the beeping. I just ran clear print job only printing registration marks on some cut vinyl and it magically quit beeping.