Need Help Please help me evaluate the damages of this accident

[Lady Who]

Hi there!
My printhead was not good, only 4 lines working but it was going on, until I have this huge accident today: the yellow hose came out the damper during printing process and spilled ink all over the machine... I left the room for only 5 minutes and this disaster happened. I disconnected the dampers and that area on top of printhead (black plastic cover) was soaked with ink. I cleaned everything as fast as I could, did a nozzle wash, ran a few cleanings and finally did a fill up ink, but none of this made the nozzles come back. Apparently, there's no physical damage to the head and no signs of malfunction in the electric part.

Do you think the damage is only to the printhead or more parts? Please see the photos.

I'm so annoyed that I don't want to call the tech and spend more in this machine, it's taking too much money from me already that I'm about to give it up

 

[MikePatterson]

That is a mess!! Is it printing at all now?
I cant see how it didnt get ink into the electronics on the head, all the dampers have yellow ink on them. My guess would be new head, head cable, dampers, capping station, wipers. sponge, etc.
You stated only 4 lines working? is it an 8 color machine? I realize its an 8 color head.

 

[Lady Who]

That is a mess!! Is it printing at all now?
I cant see how it didnt get ink into the electronics on the head, all the dampers have yellow ink on them. My guess would be new head, head cable, dampers, capping station, wipers. sponge, etc.
You stated only 4 lines working? is it an 8 color machine? I realize its an 8 color head.

Yes MikePatterson it's an 8 color head, but since 2 lines were missing, I did something to obstruct 2 other lines and work with only 4. It's not printing at all, there were a few black nozzles right after the accident, but after the fill up ink, there's nothing, zero!

I had a problem with the head already but now I'm not sure if just replacing the head would do it. Do you think if it was something else, the machine would still detect media and do all the other functions but print?

I'm so upset, it's a sequence of things going wrong since last year. I started losing a block of nozzles in the magenta 8th line, then my nobreak blew up, a few months later I lost the whole 8th magenta, then cyan, then I managed to keep going with 4 lines and now this.

 

[Lady Who]

In the morning machine was recognizing media and doing test print. Now I tried another test print, it recognized the media, then when it was supposed to print the test print, I got a long beep and Error 187 HDC SLEW RATE... It's an electrical problem, right? Any chance of recovering the machine or it's total loss already?

 

[2B]

we have a Roland that an ink container ruptured in it.
Another machine got ink spilled all in the electronics side.
total mess for both situations!!!

Long story short, replaced virtually EVERYTHING internal
*Board
*Cables
*Heads
*Lines
*ETC.....

They still work, so there is hope. Take your time and be careful whatever you do.
Now we are EXTRA careful whenever the cover is open.

 

[Lady Who]

Well, right after the Error 187 HDC SLEW RATE, I got System Hault error. Guess it's the end for me. I didn't have the money to replace the printhead, let alone other parts... it will be the price of a brand new machine.

Thank you all. Now, please, can someone give advice on how to get rid of this machine without even much loss?

 

[netsol]

ladywho
ink conducts electricity
power machine off and thoroughly and carefully clean everythng with 91% alcohol
DO NOT PLUG MACHINE BACK IN, until this is done & has had a chance to thoroughly dry.
lets minimze the damage, as much as you can
i am. reasonably sure you can not afford to replace the machine

lets start by carefully clening up all that ink, as i said with 91% alcohol, swabs, a tooth brush & some paper towels. BE GENTLE!

i know it is expensive, but the likelyhood of a happy ending improves if we get your tech involved.

 

[Lady Who]

netsol I already cleaned all that I could, see the photo. Should I remove the head to clean better between the metal parts? Can I make things worse?
It's turned off now... I don't know how I was so stupid to leave the machine power on after this, I've been making the worst decisions lately Had no idea the ink could pass through the plastic cover in the damper slot and reach the electric parts of the head... Can't believe it, I guess it's not difficult for a damper to leak, that structure was supposed to be sealed and solvent proof. Although, some ink also ran through the outside of the head.

I called the tech, he was not available, he was able to phone me only in the late afternoon, it was too late, already got the System Hault error and stuff. He said I would probably have to replace printhead plus slider board. But who knows, I'm only having bad luck with this machine. Seriously... Magenta 8th line started with some missing blocks with only 18 months old; then in november my nobreak blew up and tech told me not to turn on the machine, so, it was idle for about 3 weeks, turning on a couple of times every day for cleaning, but no printing; in december that whole magenta line disappeared and in february, it was cyan. And now that I managed to keep going with only 4 lines, this accident. I'm losing money, my peace, my time. Never thought it could be so complicated. Sorry for the lament.

Thank you all for replying and new answers will still be welcome at any time. Machine will be sitting idle for a long time I guess, I'm not seeing things clearly to make any decisions for now, I'm devastated.

 

[MikePatterson]

What brand printer is it?

 

[signage]

What brand printer is it?

Looking at which Forum its in I would say Mimaki

 

[Tipgypsy]

netsol I already cleaned all that I could, see the photo. Should I remove the head to clean better between the metal parts? Can I make things worse?
It's turned off now... I don't know how I was so stupid to leave the machine power on after this, I've been making the worst decisions lately Had no idea the ink could pass through the plastic cover in the damper slot and reach the electric parts of the head... Can't believe it, I guess it's not difficult for a damper to leak, that structure was supposed to be sealed and solvent proof. Although, some ink also ran through the outside of the head.

I called the tech, he was not available, he was able to phone me only in the late afternoon, it was too late, already got the System Hault error and stuff. He said I would probably have to replace printhead plus slider board. But who knows, I'm only having bad luck with this machine. Seriously... Magenta 8th line started with some missing blocks with only 18 months old; then in november my nobreak blew up and tech told me not to turn on the machine, so, it was idle for about 3 weeks, turning on a couple of times every day for cleaning, but no printing; in december that whole magenta line disappeared and in february, it was cyan. And now that I managed to keep going with only 4 lines, this accident. I'm losing money, my peace, my time. Never thought it could be so complicated. Sorry for the lament.

Thank you all for replying and new answers will still be welcome at any time. Machine will be sitting idle for a long time I guess, I'm not seeing things clearly to make any decisions for now, I'm devastated.

netsol is spot on - the ink has gotten down into the connectors and across the contacts on the board to the left and the head connector and anywhere else it went - You should disconnect the connectors and clean them and the board surface with a fine brush and denatured alcohol - clean it really well and let it dry - the ink will short across electrical contacts even when dry - You have to get the residue off . The other thing to look for is ribbon cable contacts. The ink will cause the contacts to seperate from the cable so you don't want to let them sit if there is ink on them .

 

[netsol]

netsol I already cleaned all that I could, see the photo. Should I remove the head to clean better between the metal parts? Can I make things worse?
It's turned off now... I don't know how I was so stupid to leave the machine power on after this, I've been making the worst decisions lately Had no idea the ink could pass through the plastic cover in the damper slot and reach the electric parts of the head... Can't believe it, I guess it's not difficult for a damper to leak, that structure was supposed to be sealed and solvent proof. Although, some ink also ran through the outside of the head.

I called the tech, he was not available, he was able to phone me only in the late afternoon, it was too late, already got the System Hault error and stuff. He said I would probably have to replace printhead plus slider board. But who knows, I'm only having bad luck with this machine. Seriously... Magenta 8th line started with some missing blocks with only 18 months old; then in november my nobreak blew up and tech told me not to turn on the machine, so, it was idle for about 3 weeks, turning on a couple of times every day for cleaning, but no printing; in december that whole magenta line disappeared and in february, it was cyan. And now that I managed to keep going with only 4 lines, this accident. I'm losing money, my peace, my time. Never thought it could be so complicated. Sorry for the lament.

Thank you all for replying and new answers will still be welcome at any time. Machine will be sitting idle for a long time I guess, I'm not seeing things clearly to make any decisions for now, I'm devastated.

you have to be incredibly careful, not to do any damage

ink on the ribbon cables or circuit boards can be very destructive, it all needs to be cleaned, but, depending on your skill level, it's possible to do more harm than good

at this point, it might be best to leave for the tech. IMPORTANT, though, if all the ink has not been removed from ribbon cables and boards, DO NOT turn the machine back on. no good will come of it, and you might do damage that will cost thousands to make good again. once the ink has penetrated the insulation on the ribbons, it only takes 1/60 of a second to do incredible damage. I have seen people say, I only turned it on for a few seconds & do a terrible amount of damage

 

[Lady Who]

Thank you Tipgypsy and netsol ...things are going so wrong that I decided not to touch it anymore, so, I didn't remove the head to clean. It's been more than 24h since the accident, the damage was done already, even when I thought it couldn't get worse, it just got because I left the machine on. Anyways. Mimaki techs here don't seem to be willing to do much to help, they just said probably will need a new printhead and board. Then after crying, wanting to die and sleeping 10 hours straight to avoid existence, I decided to try harder. Called another tech, he knows Mimaki machines, but he's not an official Mimaki distributor tech. He'll come here to see what can be done. Hope it's not another mistake of mine to have a non official Mimaki person to work on the machine... What do you think?

 

[netsol]

lady who
i had to google your hdc slew error 187 ( we have all rolands, i find the mimaki errors confusing, sometimes)

it is a head board error. we need some very careful cleaning with 91% alcohol

i think you do not necessarily need a mimki authorized tech, just someone to be extremely careful removing any ink residue. it might make sense to try to get 99% alcohol, the less water inthe chemical, the less impurities when cleaning is done

i would start with a gallon of alcohol, discarding and starting with fresh quite often
we have to be patient & work slowly

a tooth brush, some swabs and a hair dryer COOL AIR ONLY, have a delicate touch

 

[MikePatterson]

Looking at which Forum its in I would say Mimaki

View attachment 148666

I use the "New Unread Posts" tab so I didnt look at what foum it was in.

 

[Lady Who]

Hello there netsol Tipgypsy 2B MikePatterson
Update on this case:

The non official Mimaki tech came here, he removed the printhead and said it can't be recovered, as expected. Then we turned the machine on (system hault error was gone) and got [head room 12b] error, which is normal according to him, since the printhead was removed, then he tested the boards, slider board was ok, but when he tested the, diodes I guess, (those pairs of silver metal drops behind the board) in the main board, 2 pairs of them was returning zero in the multimeter, so, he put a possibility that no Mimaki techs did before: to fix the main PCB instead of buying a new one. The PCB was sent to the tech and he confirmed it's possible to fix it and it'll cost about 120% the price of a damper. There was no visible damage to the board.

The tech partne's has a used printhead, but he's not sure if it's working. He would try it in my machine at no cost, but first I'll have to fix the main PCB and get new dampers.

So, what do you think? If those boards can be fixed, why official Mimaki techs here don't even consider this possibility, they always say "buy a new one" to whatever the parts? Is it just to sell more parts or it's because, for example, a fixed PCB will put the machine at risk or something?

 

[netsol]

lady who,
we repair our own boards all the time, in fact, most of our machinery was purchased not working, then repaired

it is not always simple, but it can be don

one of the members on signs101 macmedia, repairs boards and lists repair service on ebay

none of the manufacturers allow their techs to repair a circuit board, while representing the company, factory service you always purchase a new board

i would think you still have a good possibility of coming out of this ok, as long as your tech is competent and deals fairly with you

a used head is always a gamble, but, in this case probably worth the risk.

i imagine he will charge you a small fee to install the head,and test it and, then a larger amount if it seems to work ok?

my only suggestion is that you get some sort of written warranty if you pay for the head, (which i understand is difficult for a tech) but, at least an agreement that he will make a good faith effort to resolve problems if the head fails should be expected. perhaps some partial refund in the event of failure or a possibility to make a few time payments

good luck, we are all hoping this works out ok for you

 

[Lady Who]

Hey netsol thank you so much for your advice. I'm still thinking things through and will make a decision next week.

none of the manufacturers allow their techs to repair a circuit board, while representing the company, factory service you always purchase a new board

Yes, you're right, but I mean they don't even tell us about the repair possibility. I wouldn't expect the mimaki guy to fix the board, but at least they could have told me I had more options

I'm a bit optimistic with this tech and the possibilities, but it's better to lower my expectations. We'll see...

 

[hazartilirot]

We had the same issue, moreover it happened with yellow channel alike. In our case one damper was torn in the middle of cleaning process. We didn't notice the leakage and left the printer for about 15 minutes.

You need to buy a new print head, head cables and dampers.

I hope your fuses are ok

 

[Lady Who]

We had the same issue, moreover it happened with yellow channel alike. In our case one damper was torn in the middle of cleaning process. We didn't notice the leakage and left the printer for about 15 minutes.

You need to buy a new print head, head cables and dampers.

I hope your fuses are ok

Wow, and just out of curiosity, was that damper original? How old was it when that happened? In my case, I caused the problem because of something I did, anyways, that printhead manifold should be sealed somehow, we're just a damper rupture away of burning the head and the main PCB.
And yes, tech said fuses were ok, and the cables too. I'll keep posting updates and photos until I get this solved, so everyone can learn from me what NOT TO DO lol