Need Help Tech Question - Roland VS-640

[Kemik]

Tech question about the VS640, could any other components blow the F1/F2 fuses on the Main Board besides the following?

Print Head
Head Cables
Carriage Board
Long Cables (From Ink Supply to Carriage Board)

Thanks,
Kevin

 

[UserTK-421]

Are you getting any service errors?

Have you confirmed the fuses are blown with a multimeter at all yet?

 

[Zoogee World]

Yes, we would need more detailed information to advise solutions. What has lead you to this point, etc.

 

[Kemik]

Are you getting any service errors?

Have you confirmed the fuses are blown with a multimeter at all yet?

No Service Errors.
Yes they are blown, and blew other parts of the Main board.
The printer stopped firing ink completely, not a drop, but everything operates normally, the head goes through the motions but no ink comes out.
We've replaced several parts at the recommendation of Roland Techs.

Replaced F1/F2.
Replaced Main Board.
We tried several different used printheads because our head was perfect before this happened and didn't want to dish out the cost for a new one.
Replaced Carriage Board.
Changed head cables.
Changed long cables.
The End result was blowing the brand new main board.

My tech now wants to try repeating all these steps again, but there must be something else that he is missing.

 

[Zoogee World]

Thanks for the detailed information, my guess is there was ink leakage onto the head, that is usually the culprit, especially with those models, those heads weren't designed well, typically it happens when you remove the dampers improperly.

 

[Kemik]

Thanks for the detailed information, my guess is there was ink leakage onto the head, that is usually the culprit, especially with those models, those heads weren't designed well, typically it happens when you remove the dampers improperly.

We tried 3 different print heads, and not a drop of ink.
What would be your recommendation as a next step?

My tech thinks he may be able to repair the main board, but we still don't know what is blowing the fuses. If he successfully fixes the board, I think it will just blow again. He wants to try replacing the carriage board again, been there done that. I just want to be sure there is not something else that he is missing before I dump more $ into it.

 

[Zoogee World]

Were they new heads and dampers? As the problem, at least from what I've experienced and heard of, is that when you remove the dampers, if they are still full, the ink leaks out into the inside of the head and fries it. The only way I've successfully re-used a head, is by emptying out the lines so that there is barely anything left in the dampers, flipping it upside down and removing the dampers and installing new ones. My recommendation would be to inspect the heads you are trying to see if there is any ink that leaked, and if so, then it is pretty much guaranteed that head is no good.

 

[Kemik]

Were they new heads and dampers? As the problem, at least from what I've experienced and heard of, is that when you remove the dampers, if they are still full, the ink leaks out into the inside of the head and fries it. The only way I've successfully re-used a head, is by emptying out the lines so that there is barely anything left in the dampers, flipping it upside down and removing the dampers and installing new ones. My recommendation would be to inspect the heads you are trying to see if there is any ink that leaked, and if so, then it is pretty much guaranteed that head is no good.

The dampers were replaced at the same time as all the cables.
One of the printheads we tested came straight from another VS machine that had just had a head replacement due to some clogged nozzles, we also tried 2 heads from the technician that he uses on other printers for testing. None of the heads fired one drop of ink, but ink will flow through them when doing head cleans.

 

[Zoogee World]

That's understandable as the fuses are blown, when the fuses are blown, it won't print. So if your sure no ink leaked onto the heads, and the cables have been changed and are properly seated, I wouldn't have any other suggestions.

 

[Kemik]

That's understandable as the fuses are blown, when the fuses are blown, it won't print. So if your sure no ink leaked onto the heads, and the cables have been changed and are properly seated, I wouldn't have any other suggestions.

The fuses didn't blow immediately, they worked for several days as we replaced different parts trying to get the ink to fire. The tech was in again testing different parts with the multimeter on the main board, power board, and anything he could think of, when he began the fuses were fine, before he left, I asked him to check the fuses again and they were blown. I'm not sure it's worth my time or money to give him another go at fixing it, I was hoping someone may have some fresh ideas that he didn't already think of.

 

[Zoogee World]

The fuses didn't blow immediately, they worked for several days as we replaced different parts trying to get the ink to fire. The tech was in again testing different parts with the multimeter on the main board, power board, and anything he could think of, when he began the fuses were fine, before he left, I asked him to check the fuses again and they were blown. I'm not sure it's worth my time or money to give him another go at fixing it, I was hoping someone may have some fresh ideas that he didn't already think of.

Okay, so if I understand correctly, it wasn't printing anything before you started messing around with cables, heads, boards and so on? But was running ink through when cleaning?

 

[rjssigns]

Sounds like a swirling money pit of despair with the parts cannon aimed at it.

Send it down the road or throw it in the pickers and get a new printer.

 

[Kemik]

Okay, so if I understand correctly, it wasn't printing anything before you started messing around with cables, heads, boards and so on? But was running ink through when cleaning?

Correct.
It was in the middle of printing a job when the scan motor went.
After the scan motor was replaced, the ink would not fire, but every other normal printer function worked fine, no error messages.
At this point we started replacing things piece by piece, after replacing the F1/F2 it was determined that the whole board need replacing, nothing seemed to fix the print issue, so we tried different heads as well to rule out the print head.
At some point the fuses and board blew again, so I am reluctant to go through this whole process again with out some new input.

 

[Kemik]

Sounds like a swirling money pit of despair with the parts cannon aimed at it.

Send it down the road or throw it in the pickers and get a new printer.

Actually we did give up and ordered a Mimaki UCJV300-160, but it wont be delivered until 1st or 2nd week of December..
In the meantime, if I can get the VS printing again, I can at least use it until the new printer comes.
I looked at buying another Roland, but for UV everyone I talked to said Mimaki was the way to go.

 

[rjssigns]

Actually we did give up and ordered a Mimaki UCJV300-160, but it wont be delivered until 1st or 2nd week of December..
In the meantime, if I can get the VS printing again, I can at least use it until the new printer comes.
I looked at buying another Roland, but for UV everyone I talked to said Mimaki was the way to go.

Nice. Let me know how the Mimaki UV works out. Very curious especially for wraps.

 

[UserTK-421]

Have worked on one recently with very similar issues, ended up with an entire replacement printer unfortunately.

 

[Kemik]

Have worked on one recently with very similar issues, ended up with an entire replacement printer unfortunately.

Anyone looking for used VS640 Parts?

 

[IsItFasst]

This isn't going to help but I went through the same problems with a VS-640 too. Got it Ordway Sign Supply refurbished; it made one print then quit printing. Spent several months and about $5000 on parts before I finally just threw it away. The issue was I would replace a main part (head, cable, etc.) and it would print like one or two times then stop printing again. So I'd replace something else and that may fix it or it may not. But it would never print more than a yard or two before it quite working. Everything pointed to an electronic glitch. Maybe these machines are just cursed. Currently have a VSi that works pretty good but nothing as well as my trusty old SP-300V. Word of advise: get rid of it or put it out of site ASAP. Mine was in my office for months so every week or so I'd start throwing money at it because I could see it.

 

[Kemik]

This isn't going to help but I went through the same problems with a VS-640 too. Got it Ordway Sign Supply refurbished; it made one print then quit printing. Spent several months and about $5000 on parts before I finally just threw it away. The issue was I would replace a main part (head, cable, etc.) and it would print like one or two times then stop printing again. So I'd replace something else and that may fix it or it may not. But it would never print more than a yard or two before it quite working. Everything pointed to an electronic glitch. Maybe these machines are just cursed. Currently have a VSi that works pretty good but nothing as well as my trusty old SP-300V. Word of advise: get rid of it or put it out of site ASAP. Mine was in my office for months so every week or so I'd start throwing money at it because I could see it.

Thanks for the input, we are probably at $3000 to $4000 now, so I guess it's time to call it quits!