roland sc500 fill ink not working

[Red/Black86]

hi guys yet another problem. ive changed the heads on my sc500 as per the service manual but when i go to fill ink it doesnt work. im wonering are my pipes from the cartridge to the printhead blocked in if so is it possible to clean them manually with a syringe and cleaning solution??

or any other things that i may have missed out on. it was sitting for a long time before i bought and and it was sitting for another long while as i was trying to organise the new parts for it.

hope someone can help me.

Ken

 

[lodcomm]

Hey Ken,

You can try hooking a syringe on the end of the ink lines, right where they connect to the dampers. and try sucking the ink from the tank all the way up to the damper. Reconnect the lines to the dampers and then try an Ink fill, or a few powerful cleans.


-t

 

[Red/Black86]

Hey Ken,

You can try hooking a syringe on the end of the ink lines, right where they connect to the dampers. and try sucking the ink from the tank all the way up to the damper. Reconnect the lines to the dampers and then try an Ink fill, or a few powerful cleans.


-t

hi thank you for the idea, i sucked the ink up through the lines and into the damper and did the fill ink as you suggested but for some reason it wont print for me. all the lines are full of ink and there is ink in the dampers. can you tell me if im doing something wrong?? or any other suggestions would be great.

cheers

Ken

 

[Red/Black86]

ive tried test printing a good few times now but still no ink coming from the heads. any ideas what the problem could be??

 

[Solventinkjet]

The two main issues that cause new print heads on SC500s to not print is a bad maintenance station or blown fuses. Since both are not working I would start with the capping station and pump. Does ink come out into the waste tank when you run an ink fill or cleaning cycle? If not, the pump is clogged/broken and/or the cap tops are worn out. Once you can confirm ink is actually flowing through the heads into the waste tank, the heads should fire. If they don't you most likely blew both fuses on the main board during/after the install. It's not a huge deal but can be time consuming to fix.

 

[Red/Black86]

The two main issues that cause new print heads on SC500s to not print is a bad maintenance station or blown fuses. Since both are not working I would start with the capping station and pump. Does ink come out into the waste tank when you run an ink fill or cleaning cycle? If not, the pump is clogged/broken and/or the cap tops are worn out. Once you can confirm ink is actually flowing through the heads into the waste tank, the heads should fire. If they don't you most likely blew both fuses on the main board during/after the install. It's not a huge deal but can be time consuming to fix.

I ordered a new pump and capping station. So I'm going to fit it tomorrow. Would someone have a photo of which pipe goes to to capping station and which goes to the drain bottle. There was someone at the printer before I got it and I want to make sure everything is in the right place and hopefully I will have ink coming through the heads then.

hopefully someone will be able to help me out with the photo of the pipes from the pump to the capping station.

Cheers

Ken

 

[lodcomm]

I ordered a new pump and capping station. So I'm going to fit it tomorrow. Would someone have a photo of which pipe goes to to capping station and which goes to the drain bottle. There was someone at the printer before I got it and I want to make sure everything is in the right place and hopefully I will have ink coming through the heads then.

hopefully someone will be able to help me out with the photo of the pipes from the pump to the capping station.

Cheers

Ken

Hello Ken,

Here are some shots of how my capping station in my SC500 is "Hosed". You can see the actual drain lines routed back to the actual "Thin" tubes that go into the drain Bottle.

the "thin" tubes can very easily become clogged so before you slip the new hose over them , put your syringe & hose over each and maybe pump a bit of flush through them to make sure they are not clogged. I have seen some setups on SC500's where the person simply relocated the drain bottle to the front and mounted it directly under the pump, and just ran the larger hoses directly into the front mounted drain bottle and skipped the thin hoses all together.

When you swap out your capping station, make sure you follow the procedure(s) in the service manual.. Especially the capping, limit & flush position (starting on page 91 in the service manual)

Also, when you are doing any kind of flush, ink load & cleaning - Make sure you have the print heads set to their lowest position- this way they are making the best possible seal with the the o-ring/Gasket surface on the caps themselves.




cheers!

-t

 

[Red/Black86]

Hello Ken,

Here are some shots of how my capping station in my SC500 is "Hosed". You can see the actual drain lines routed back to the actual "Thin" tubes that go into the drain Bottle.

the "thin" tubes can very easily become clogged so before you slip the new hose over them , put your syringe & hose over each and maybe pump a bit of flush through them to make sure they are not clogged. I have seen some setups on SC500's where the person simply relocated the drain bottle to the front and mounted it directly under the pump, and just ran the larger hoses directly into the front mounted drain bottle and skipped the thin hoses all together.

When you swap out your capping station, make sure you follow the procedure(s) in the service manual.. Especially the capping, limit & flush position (starting on page 91 in the service manual)

Also, when you are doing any kind of flush, ink load & cleaning - Make sure you have the print heads set to their lowest position- this way they are making the best possible seal with the the o-ring/Gasket surface on the caps themselves.


View attachment 97556 View attachment 97555 View attachment 97557 View attachment 97558

cheers!

-t

thank you for the photos. they really helped me setup the pipes on the new pump but surprise suprise im coming up with another problem. grainy printing.

im using colour choice as the rip software, corel draw x4 and the media is ritrama ri-jet 100 (came with the machine when i bought it).

i printed bi-directionally and uni-directionally but no difference in the grainy print.

below are some photos of the grainy prints.

 

[lodcomm]

thank you for the photos. they really helped me setup the pipes on the new pump but surprise suprise im coming up with another problem. grainy printing.

im using colour choice as the rip software, corel draw x4 and the media is ritrama ri-jet 100 (came with the machine when i bought it).

i printed bi-directionally and uni-directionally but no difference in the grainy print.

below are some photos of the grainy prints.

Hi Ken,

I replied to your other post about the grainy prints.. What Kind of ink are you using?, and more importantly what temp(s) do you have your heaters set to?.. Those prints look almost identical to my "grainy" looking prints that were in reality "pooling".. due to too low of heater temps. I run my front & back heaters at 110-115 Degrees for all printing on my sc500 (I am currently using Jetbest Inks now, and using a Couple different Roland Eco-Sol based ICC's)

Check the other thread about sc500 & Grainy prints. I have some links to the posts I outlined my experiences in getting my SC500 printing well.

-t

 

[Red/Black86]

hi todd thank you for the reply. i had a quick look through your posts and adjusted my temp accordingly. i was using 35 degrees celcius but bumped it upto 50 degrees c but saw no difference in my prints to be honest. to answer your other question i too am using jetbest bulk ink. would the profiles you are using work for that jetbest ink through colour choice??

my heater is a roland heater and was fitted by a roland tech but would it be worth my while to open up the front of the printer and have a look to see what way the heater is worked to see can i do a better job on it myself?? also what do you mean by front and rear heaters?? has my sc500 got front and rear heaters also??

below are a few more photos i took today of a fill patternt i did. not at all happy with the black or cyan. tell me what you think.

cheers

Ken

 

[lodcomm]

hi todd thank you for the reply. i had a quick look through your posts and adjusted my temp accordingly. i was using 35 degrees celcius but bumped it upto 50 degrees c but saw no difference in my prints to be honest. to answer your other question i too am using jetbest bulk ink. would the profiles you are using work for that jetbest ink through colour choice??

my heater is a roland heater and was fitted by a roland tech but would it be worth my while to open up the front of the printer and have a look to see what way the heater is worked to see can i do a better job on it myself?? also what do you mean by front and rear heaters?? has my sc500 got front and rear heaters also??

below are a few more photos i took today of a fill patternt i did. not at all happy with the black or cyan. tell me what you think.

cheers

Ken

Hi Ken,

If the heaters were done by Roland, I can not imagine It was done incorrectly. On My particular machine, the heating strips were done half-baked and were not even heating in the print area(s). I do not know for sure what kind of setup your machine has. Mine has a pre-heating strip in the back side, and a print area heating strip that is located directly on the aluminum suction surface and the heat is applied evenly to the printing area.

PM me your e-mail address, and I'll zip up all of the different profiles I have, and you can experiment with them.

What do your test prints look like? (simply a test-print from the button on the cj500 itself.)

Also - have you done any of the head calibrations or test prints as outlined in the service manal?

-t

 

[Red/Black86]

Hi Ken,

If the heaters were done by Roland, I can not imagine It was done incorrectly. On My particular machine, the heating strips were done half-baked and were not even heating in the print area(s). I do not know for sure what kind of setup your machine has. Mine has a pre-heating strip in the back side, and a print area heating strip that is located directly on the aluminum suction surface and the heat is applied evenly to the printing area.

PM me your e-mail address, and I'll zip up all of the different profiles I have, and you can experiment with them.

What do your test prints look like? (simply a test-print from the button on the cj500 itself.)

Also - have you done any of the head calibrations or test prints as outlined in the service manal?

-t

hi todd, i did all the head calibrations as per the service manual, i might do them again to be sure. i also did the capping station adjustmetns except the one that needs the special roland tool with the syringe and two pipes. il send you a pm now and tomorrow il do a few test prints and il attach pics of them for you to see. how do you find the jetbest ink?? what do you think could be the problem with the fill pattern pictures i attached earlier?? also should it also have printed yellow??

thanks again for all your help.

ken

 

[lodcomm]

hi todd, i did all the head calibrations as per the service manual, i might do them again to be sure. i also did the capping station adjustmetns except the one that needs the special roland tool with the syringe and two pipes. il send you a pm now and tomorrow il do a few test prints and il attach pics of them for you to see. how do you find the jetbest ink?? what do you think could be the problem with the fill pattern pictures i attached earlier?? also should it also have printed yellow??

thanks again for all your help.

ken

Hi Ken,

I sent off the ICC profiles I have been using with the jetbest ink.. the Oracal one is the profile I use for most projects, and just modify the ink limits & contrasts, etc.. with the different media(s).

If you load a sheet of paper in your sc500, and simply hit the "Test Print" Button on the printer itself.. What do the jet/print patterns look like?

-t