print issues

[vfarina]

hi to all thanks for the great site thanks to Case for the info on finecut upgrade the other day. Last night I printed a job with no issues, loaded up another and suddenly no ink... I mean NO ink. I know 1 or 2 cartridges are low, so it would not let me do a cleaning. I did 2 nozzle soaks with no results. I tried to print different color blocks but nothing. Heads move, goes threw the motions but no ink. Capping station is sucking cleaner. I haven't done any repairs on this machine myself so I'm willing to dive in a little but don't want to get myself in trouble. Any suggestions before I call a tech? I should say that I keep the machine spotless with daily cleaning and it has performed great for 4 years till now that is

 

[genericname]

Encoder strip could be dirty. You'd be surprised by how little it takes to make the printer go "Where the hell am I?"

There are different schools of thought on cleaning it. Some say water, some say alcohol/water mixture, all say lint free cloth.

In my experience, even just strong passes with a water soaked cloth can wear out the scan lines at the top or bottom of the encoder strip. Whatever you do, do it carefully.

 

[vfarina]

that is the clear fragile strip that runs the lenght of the printer?

 

[housemusikid]

Yes. it is clear.

Have you checked your dampers?

Have you checked the pumps in the back of the machine? It runs from the capping station to the waste tank.

 

[vfarina]

YES. does anyone know where to purchase an encoder strip in the states? Everyone I see online comes from overseas

 

[genericname]

Trust me, when you hear the price, you're going to want to invest plenty of time into cleaning and testing it.

I'm pretty sure Signage Specialists carries it. Last time I checked with them anyhow. Jordan is amazing for his service.

 

[signswi]

Try hitting it with compressed air before you try direct cleaning. A lot of times it's just covered in lint and canvas/paper particles.