SP 300i : doesn't do self cleaning properly...

[manlyon]

Hi,

I have a roland SP-300i from 2009 and I notice that the pump doesn’t run during the auto cleaning cycle (the one when when sub power is off). Actually, every 8 hours the machine wakes up, the heads move a little away from the cap top but nothing more : no ink ejection, no pump activation… I tracked all the wake up in a 24 hours cycle but no pump activation in 24H... It’s problematic because the head and the tube can get clogged more quickly.

Therefore the pump works well. When I launch a cleaning, the pump runs. When I turn on the machine it runs a cleaning cycle as it should.

I don’t know when this problem started but It noticed it few weeks ago.

I have updated the firmware from 2.7 to 2.8 (the last one) but it doesn’t fix the problem.

I have been running marabu DI-LSX inks since 2020. Is there a link with that (something in the firmware that detects it’s aftermarket inks and ruin the printer by not pumping the ink) ?

Any suggestion would be appreciate because I have to launch a cleaning every day to avoid clogging…

 

[Zoogee World]

Not a fix to your issue, but I always do a regular cleaning every morning and then a manual cleaning once a week, even if my printer hasn't had much use that week. When one of my printers isn't used at all one day I typically try to do another regular cleaning mid day. Even if the periodic cleaning isn't working properly, this should keep everything in decent shape.

 

[manlyon]

Thank you for your help. This is what I do too to keep in shape but that means we can't left the printer for few days... It's not possible...
I found a another post from 2021 with the exact same problem but no answer...

 

[Zoogee World]

With these printers, you cannot really leave them for a few days without use, these printers want to run, they don't do well with prolong no use. If you're just talking about over the weekend, you should be okay. I've noticed over the years that it doesn't appear my SP-300V's do much when they do their periodic cleanings either, most of the time they power on for a few seconds then shut off. Now, I can't speak of overnight when they aren't touched for 12+ hours, as I'm not here, but so far they continue to run properly. I know the periodic cleaning isn't like the newer models where they power on and do a full on cleaning, like my VS-300i & SG-300 do, my guess is that it does a quick shot, making sure ink flows through.

 

[manlyon]

I dont know about the SP300V but my SP300i used to do good auto cleaning when iddle. I could go for holidays for 2 or 3 weeks without problem.
I own it since 2009... and I were in holidays every year since then.

 

[manlyon]

Even with brand new Roland ESL3 cartdriges, the pump is not activate during auto cleaning... Does anyone have a suggestion ? Why the pump doen't work during autocleaning (it's works well when I launch a cleaning) ?

 

[damonCA21]

I have a feeling your mainboard is failing so it is not sending the auto clean routine. One thing you can try is replacing the battery on the mainboard. This stores the time and date data, so it's a possibility if the printer is losing this when it is turned off it doesn't think it needs to do an autoclean when it comes on at night.

 

[manlyon]

Thanks for your help. The battery was good (more than 3V) but I changed it yesterday just in case. Unfortunatly still no pump during auto cleaning. The mainboard, the servo board and the carriage board have been remplaced with news ones less than 2 years ago (in preventive ) so I don't think they are involved.
On the peck report I can see that there is a "self flushing" every 8 hours. I have compared the report and parameters from 2014 to 2024 and I don't see any difference that explain why the pump doesn't run during autocleaning...

 

[damonCA21]

A board can fail at any time, so it is still possible that is the problem

 

[manlyon]

Yes but the mainboard has been replaced in december 2022 and I'm almost sure that the pump didn't run during autocleaning with the previous mainboard since the problems with captop clogged or head goign bad quickly started in 2021 maybe 2020...

 

[damonCA21]

It is very strange, where did you get the mainboard from?

 

[manlyon]

From digiprint. OEM Roland and new for sure.

I'm trying to redo most of the parameters (I will do a complete parameters initialization to see if It fix the problem in last resort) and I have always been a little confuse about the "flushing position" : is right that the good flushing position is when the carriage cap guide and cap case guide are in slight contact on the green arrow aera fo this picture ?

 

[manlyon]

Hi,
To keep update : I did a initiliziation off all the parameters in service mode and downgraded to the 2.60 firmware. The pump works during some self cleaning now I try to record the sound of the self cleaning every 8 hours and I noticed that the pump seems to activated a least one time on the 3 selfs cleaning during 24H. The heads and captop don't seem to get clogged that way...

If people with SP300i or SP540i could say how often their pump is activated during self cleaning that would be a great informations as Roland in Japan don't want to help because of the age of the printer.

 

[damonCA21]

The pump should always activate during a self clean as that is part of the process. Sometimes though the printer will come on and just move the head off the captop and back but not actually do a clean.
Without reading back, did you change the pump and pump motor as it could be one of them is sticking, although normally this would give an error code.

 

[manlyon]

Thank you.
I did change the pump but not the motor as it works well when I launch a normal cleaning.

By"self clean" I mean the operation that the printer does every 8 hours while it is off. During those "self cleans", most of the time the head move off the captop and come back without pump. The pump seems to be activated only once per 24H (so only one time on the 3 "self clean").

It's easy to record as the first "self clean" happens 8 hours after the machine has been turned off.
In the report with copeck, it's also written "self cleaning" even if the pump is running during a self clean. I check a report from 2014 and it also always indicated "self cleaning" every 8 hours. So that seems to be normal...

 

[damonCA21]

You really don't need to be self cleaning every 8 hours, once every 24 hours is fine. It will clean when in use anyway if you are printing all day with it