Océ Arizona 2XX, 3XX, 4XX, 550, 6XX - Revised Printhead Maintenance Procedure

[DravidDavid]

Hey guys,

Did anyone else receive this "Application Bulletin" around October 13/14?

Long story short it says:

- isopropyl alcohol (99%) is fine and even works better than flush when attempting nozzle recovery.
- Do not purge before swabbing as documented in the user guide.
- Do not do regular vacuum maintenance directly after a purge and to wait for the ink drips to slow down instead.
- For people using IJC258 ink, Océ recommends daily swabbing rather than weekly now.
- vacuum heads before and after swabbing (which I always did anyway as a safety thing)

The rumors were true!

But it says nothing about tap position in the explanation of the revised maintenance schedule, something I'm trying to clarify with our service provider now. Apparently a new video will be available later on once everything is updated. Some of this is literally polar opposite to their recommendations previously. Only a month ago, isopropyl caused irreversible damage to the print heads and was a big no no. Now we are allowed to swab them with it directly and without ink flow to prevent it getting in to the heads as previously mentioned in the manual.

If I am to have the taps off while swabbing to prevent flush or ISO getting in to the head, do I then vacuum the ISO/flush off before opening the tap again for a purge? If I have the tap off am I damaging the print head by not allowing the flush to be sucked in to the print head by the head's ink vacuum and thus not cleaning it properly ultimately causing problems? I guess I'll find out soon.

 

[DougWestwood]

Iso swabs ....

Hi There,

Yeah, I was told this week that the flush liquid will damage the heads if used too much.
Great news, as I've been using the flush as recommended all along.

Will try straight Isopropyl alcohol, now that this is approved.
- Doug Vancouver

 

[SignMeUpGraphics]

We've been using 99.9% iso since our printer arrived. Works better than flush, zero issues so far and our service engineer has no issues with it.
The bulletin came as a surprise, as it basically documented how we have been performing maintenance the entire time, as the "old" method wasn't working so well with White inks.

 

[DravidDavid]

We've been using 99.9% iso since our printer arrived. Works better than flush, zero issues so far and our service engineer has no issues with it.
The bulletin came as a surprise, as it basically documented how we have been performing maintenance the entire time, as the "old" method wasn't working so well with White inks.

Wasn't sure about the white ink situation. I find it funny, because once upon a time I had my head practically ripped off by a tech for using iso to clean the ink off the vacuum piece after vacuuming a head to prevent ink contamination. Now it's confirmed I was probably doing the right thing all along.

Iso also works 1000x better at removing residual ink from edges and the underside platten also. There were rumors there were trials in Australia and they were planning on moving everyone over. This confirms everything. Now I don't have to pay $400.00 per bottle of flush.

 

[noisegeek]

Does anyone know if these updated procedures apply to the Fuji Acuitys as well?

 

[DougWestwood]

Does anyone know if these updated procedures apply to the Fuji Acuitys as well?

Yes! I have two FUJI Acuity flatbeds. The isopropyl alcohol works much better than the flush.
It's not completely successful in getting every nozzle clean, but it doesn't seem to be melting
the print head seals, which our techs have shown to be a side effect of using flush as a cleaner.

Good LUck!
- Doug
Vancouver

 

[SignMeUpGraphics]

https://dgs.oce.com/PrinterSupport/...ents/App53A_Arizona_Printhead_Maintenance.pdf

 

[DravidDavid]

Since I posted this, I've been switching between ISO and flush (and sometimes using flush/ISO at the same time) and can report the ISO seems to recover heads a little bit better. I'm going to start using it exclusively to see if I have any problems.

Still havn't confirmed the tap position thing yet! I've been swabbing the heads with the taps in the OFF possition and then turning them ON to vacuum after swabbing once the purge has completed.

Wiping the head with dripping ink, which was previously documented as the thing to do seems to still be the way to recover stubborn heads. I only do it occasionally, on heads I can't seem to fix with a second swab.

 

[BigPrintn]

Just tried recovering some nozzles on my Oce 318GL using the 99% ISO. Was hoping that I would get better results as we're on the fence about replacing heads. Print quality only slightly noticeable on solid colors (banding/nozzle clog).

I cannot get the one black nozzle to come clean. The white however did clean up pretty well(minus the one nozzle that has always been absent), we usually clean the hell out out white before any white print goes through anyways. I will continue using the ISO esp. on white nozzle clean up.

First I went by the new procedure on swabbing and cleaning, didn't get much for a better result.

Second I "soaked" the heads in ISO (we usually would do this with Oce flush to the white head before white job) and did all 5 heads this way. (pictures below).

I did leave the "taps" turned to off position for the swabbing, turn taps back to on position, purge, then vacuum.

Hopefully continuing to use ISO I can eventually get black back 100% and delay head changing further.

 

[DSC]

We had a tech here a few weeks ago and he updated our procedure as well .. It works great. Flush is just ink with no color, so ya .

I have not been able to recover a few nozzles with the soaking as shown in the last post..

I am goin to try using an ultrasonic cleaner with the alcohol in it and see how that works..

From what I hear it could maybe work great.. We shall see..