Hello, I have a problem with the black/cyan head. The printer sat for about 4 days after printing about 60 feet of vinyl with no problems. I went to print the next job and noticed the color changing on the print leading me to beleive there was an ink supply problem. I did a test print then did a medium head clean and after doing a second test print there is not black and cyan. I did several overnight head soaks and still nothing. I replaced the captop with a new one and tried pulling ink through the captop with a ceringe and nothing is coming out. the print heads were replaced not long ago. Does anyone have any idea of what the problem coyuld be?
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Roland SP540V Clogged K/C printhead
- Thread starter DEXRON12
- Start date
Zoogee World
Domed Promotional Product Supplier
Could be the dampers or you might have an air leak in the lines, do you have any photos?
Zoogee World
Domed Promotional Product Supplier
When you pull from the line after the cap top, are you getting air, or just resistance? If you're getting air, there are 2 possibilities that come to mind, the first being that the cap top isn't sealing properly to the head or the second is that the seal between the damper and the head has failed, I've had both scenarios over the years, hopefully it's as simple as that. If you're getting resistance and nothing is coming, either the head is severely clogged (Which I doubt if you've done some 48 hour head soaks) or the cap top could be clogged.
I've gone through everything and it's definitely the printhead. I just can't figure out how it could possibly be 100% blocked after sitting for only 4 days and before that I printed 60 feet of vinyl with no problems with the print. I'm trying to figure out why this has happened and what caused it. The printheads were replaced less than a year ago. I'm stumped.
Zoogee World
Domed Promotional Product Supplier
That is very strange, I haven't heard of that either, unless it was sitting not on the cap top for 4 days. I'd recommend doing another 48 hour head soak, make sure you clamp the line after the cap top and refill with cleaning liquid after 24 hours, then run a couple powerful cleaning and see if anything starts to come back.
Solventinkjet
DIY Printer Fixing Guide
In my experience these heads don't clog within days. They are almost always recoverable after sitting for even weeks. Are you sure the cap top isn't just clogged? Especially if it's an after market one, they can clog very fast. A head that sits without cleaning for 4 days should be recoverable.
Yes the captop is fine, I replaced it anyway. I can draw ink through the damper and with heads off of captops I can pull air through captop line but when the printhead is parked I can't draw any ink at all. The captop has a good seal as well. I'm baffled by this. Is there any other scenario which the printhead will not allow ink through?
Zoogee World
Domed Promotional Product Supplier
Maybe if the manifold is clogged, that's the piece between the damper and head.
Solventinkjet
DIY Printer Fixing Guide
The only thing that will prevent ink from flowing through the head is a clog. Nozzles don't open an close like a lot of people think. They are always open and use pressure to keep ink in and shoot dots out. So it must be clogged. Have you tried doing head soaks yet?
Great suggestion, Thanks for pointing that out, that would make sense. Any idea on how to get cleaner in to the manifold?
Solventinkjet
DIY Printer Fixing Guide
You can try flushing the head with a syringe and cleaning solutions but that can cause damage to the internal membrane. You can also take the manifold off and flush just that which can withstand much more pressure. The two screws on the bottom of the head hold the manifold on. Just be sure when you reattach it that you don't tighten the screws too much. The manifold shouldn't bend.
Thanks so much for the great advice. I'll try that and post the result.