Oce Arizona 350gt White Head Dripping

[ADS123]

Hi All,

We are having some issues with out Arizona 350GT where the White heads keep dripping, we have checked the .45 micron filters and they seem to be clear of ink and we have also swapped out the Ink level sensor with no luck.

Has anyone else had a problem like this and how did you resolve it?

Thanks
Dan

 

[Pauly]

Need more information than that.
Vacuum error on the screen?
When is it doing it? On idle or after a purge ?

I believe it'll be a vacuum problem one way or another.

 

[ADS123]

No errors at all on screen and it is when the machine is left idle for around half an hour.

We opened up the panel behind the 5 micron filters and found a small leak in the white ink line going to the heads, so have fixed that are hoping it will solve the issue...

 

[Pauly]

Did you check the dialogue box on the screen? where it tells you print completed ect. That will extend and tell you errors if there is any.
If you did that and there's no vacuum error. Then it'll be something around your print head or the print head itself. Hopefully you solved it by fixing the leaking line.

Normally a leaking head is caused by a vacuum leak. You can check the "meniscus" vacuum level in the settings somewhere, and if that drops quick & the pump turns on quite often, it points to a vacuum leak.

 

[ADS123]

Thought I would give an update on this... Turns out that the 3 way valve (recirculation valve) on the white in was sticking, causing the white ink to leak over night and when the ink heater turned off. So after a lot of maintenance calls and the engineer not being able to find out the cause we got heard through our ink supplier it could be the 3 way valve and after cleaning it we haven't had any issues with it. We are now looking at doing as much maintenance ourselves as we can.

Thanks for your help Pauly.

 

[GaSouthpaw]

Bravo for posting your solution! Always good to see how a problem is actually solved to go along with the suggestions.

 

[tollerdad]

I have replaced pumps, lamps and filters on my machine. Lots you can do yourself.

 

[smholm22]

Thought I would give an update on this... Turns out that the 3 way valve (recirculation valve) on the white in was sticking, causing the white ink to leak over night and when the ink heater turned off. So after a lot of maintenance calls and the engineer not being able to find out the cause we got heard through our ink supplier it could be the 3 way valve and after cleaning it we haven't had any issues with it. We are now looking at doing as much maintenance ourselves as we can.

Thanks for your help Pauly.

almost 5 years later... I'm hoping you could tell me how to locate the 3 way valve, and how you cleaned it? my machine's current symptoms seem to match the ones you described perfectly.

 

[AlsEU]

3-way valve is located near the ink pumps for each W channel. The sequence of the components is: ink bag - 3way valve - ink pump - ink filter and then through the IGUS chain to the carriage. So you have to look inside the ink bay. If you have just one white channel, it should be easy (only W channels have recirculation and therefore 3way valve). But be careful - there are two more 3way valves, but in the air system, so the ink is not flowing through them.