valuejet ink problem?

[wesley]

Hi everyone,
Anyone ever have this problem? I am getting very bad banding problem with only 2 colors when printing... weirdly enough it just happens to be the 2 cartridges (cyan,magenta) that have been in the printer the longest.
The 2 cartridges that I recently replaced (black,yellow) are working perfectly.
I have tried taking cartridges out and gently shaking but does not help. And there is still plenty of ink in these cartridges.
Would anyone have any insight as to what else may be causing this?
thanks alot for any advice

 

[wesley]

can anyone offer your advice? thanks

 

[artbot]

before blaming the ink (could be a coincidence), i'd do an ink line/damper swap with other head positions to see if the issue follows the ink supply or stays at the head position.

 

[wesley]

Thanks artbot, I am sorry but I failed to mention that I also am having a problem with perhaps the pump. Because when I do a cleaning cycle there is no ink feeding into the waste tray. Not sure if these 2 problems are related...
Does this info at all change your reply to me?
thanks again

 

[Jeff South Florida]

i would bet it is the maint. station. Do a nozzle check and post it. You will need a light with a blue cover, to see the yellow better. When you say, no ink is draining during the cleaning cycle, it could be alot of things. Pump not working, cap not sealing, lines clogged from cap, or bottom of head very dirty.

 

[graphixtogo]

If you're not getting ink during cleaning cycles, you have one of 3 things that could be causing problems. First, clean the rubber seal around your capping station. Debris on this seal can cause suction leaks during cleaning. Second, your ink drain lines could be clogged. Pour a little denatured alcohol or Mutoh cleaning solution into the flushing box/pad located between the capping station and the platen (not the capping station pad) and see if the solution makes its way down to the waste ink container. If not, the main drain lines could be blocked. If it does drain to the waste container, you might still have a blockage in the smaller drain lines coming off the maintenance pump. It is also possible that the drain lines might be cracked or split, causing loss of suction. Third possibility is that the maintenance pump could be bad.

 

[wesley]

o.k. it appears that the drain tubes are clear. I cleand the cap very well, but hard to know if it is deformed, but it looks straight to me. I am not sure how to see the head. (can you let me know what I have to do to be able to see the print head, as it is aimed straight down) sorry, I know this is probably common knowledge to most of you, but i'm still getting my feet wet with printing. thanks again

 

[heyskull]

If the picture is a CYMK print you are getting cross contamination of the inks.
Are you sure the tubes are pulling ink through if not you have a cap seal problem or blocked tubes.
Check the double connector between the maintenance and the pump as I have just cleaned mine and found it to be completeley blocked it took 2 days to clear all the pipes and get it flushing ink through the waste pipes again.
What does the test print look like? It looks like you have a lot of nozzles blocked.
It maybe needs a head soak and then once you have a good test print I would print a solid CMYK pattern until you get all your colours back.

SC

 

[artbot]

to check on the pump issue (i just fixed a badly clogged drain tube). after tons cleaning, i finally just pulled the capping station, soaked it in solution, yanked the drain tubes and replace. very quick fix. in order to finally diagnose that it was the #3 drain tube, i did a pump line swap.

i felt kind of stupid because i first just blamed the pump. pulled pump #1 rebuilt it. nothing. figured i rebuilt it wrong. rebuilt again. then used a new chinese back up pump. still no flow. then blamed the whole nation of china! then figured... i hadn't really diagnosed anything. just went to throwing parts at the machine. so i sat behind my printer for about 2 hours cussing at a cobweb of tubes (cursing for those not in texas) before i realized that i'd made a rookie mistake. grrrr.

if it is your pump, then of course switching cap lines to a different pump will prove if either ink flows when hooked to a new position or does it continue to not flow from a pump that you know was just previously functioning. ...on that valuejet i'm not sure how the pump is set up. so forgive if it this is not possible on your printer.

 

[FatCat]

If the picture is a CYMK print you are getting cross contamination of the inks.
Are you sure the tubes are pulling ink through if not you have a cap seal problem or blocked tubes.
Check the double connector between the maintenance and the pump as I have just cleaned mine and found it to be completeley blocked it took 2 days to clear all the pipes and get it flushing ink through the waste pipes again.
What does the test print look like? It looks like you have a lot of nozzles blocked.
It maybe needs a head soak and then once you have a good test print I would print a solid CMYK pattern until you get all your colours back.

SC

+1 on the cross contamination and blocked nozzles.
(Also, you didn't say what model ValueJet you have.)

This could be the result of numerous things, but if you have a 1204/1304 I would first take off your side cover and do a thorough cleaning inside. I recently did this to mine and was surprised how much crap builds up near the wiper and drain channels/tubes going down to the waste tray/bottle.

Some things to keep in mind if you're fairly new at this;

1. Eco solvent printers need to print, if you're not using yours often make sure the machine is on and it is doing a routine cleaning cycle every 6-12 hours. Machines sitting idle or turned off for long periods is a recipe for trouble. Also, make sure your head height is always set to low when the machine is idle for long periods.

2. The condition of your pump and capping station is critical. If you have a poor seal between the head and capping station this allows air into the head which will result in plugged nozzles as the ink dries in them. *I have left my machine turned off up to 3-4 days with no problems, but my head is also sealed tightly with the capping station.

3. Make sure you are doing a thorough manual cleaning 1-2X per week using cleaning solution/denatured alcohol and swabs around the head, wiper blade and capping station.



Also, do a test pattern, are any of your nozzles plugged?

 

[Newbie_on]

+1 on the cross contamination and blocked nozzles.
(Also, you didn't say what model ValueJet you have.)

This could be the result of numerous things, but if you have a 1204/1304 I would first take off your side cover and do a thorough cleaning inside. I recently did this to mine and was surprised how much crap builds up near the wiper and drain channels/tubes going down to the waste tray/bottle.

Some things to keep in mind if you're fairly new at this;

1. Eco solvent printers need to print, if you're not using yours often make sure the machine is on and it is doing a routine cleaning cycle every 6-12 hours. Machines sitting idle or turned off for long periods is a recipe for trouble. Also, make sure your head height is always set to low when the machine is idle for long periods.

2. The condition of your pump and capping station is critical. If you have a poor seal between the head and capping station this allows air into the head which will result in plugged nozzles as the ink dries in them. *I have left my machine turned off up to 3-4 days with no problems, but my head is also sealed tightly with the capping station.

3. Make sure you are doing a thorough manual cleaning 1-2X per week using cleaning solution/denatured alcohol and swabs around the head, wiper blade and capping station.



Also, do a test pattern, are any of your nozzles plugged?

Great Advise FatCat!

 

[wesley]

Thanks alot for all advice. I have done a cleaning on most of the maint. station including the cap and drain tubes. My test print does have some nozzles missing on magenta and cyan whick is the colors i am having problems with. I also have tried using a syringe to draw ink from the drain lines that drain into the waste tray, but no ink draws out. Is there an easy way to remove the head so i can get a good look at the nozzles? btw it is a 1204.
thanks again

 

[artbot]

are you absolutely sure that your cap lines are clear? i felt that my cap lines were clear because visually the part that hangs out was clear. but the clog in a cap line sits directly beneath the cap. not further down. pull your capping station off and flip it over. pull off the lines that connect to the cap itself to inspect if coagulated ink is resting right at the top of the line. this stuff will not go away by dripping cleaning solution mek, acetone etc into it. it is too thick. before you make your life miserable double check the hard way to get a visual on the entire cap tube.

 

[wesley]

thanks again guys but still no luck. did a head soak, but all that did was cause a new problem... now my cyan is printing a pink color and when i do a nozzle check, hardly none of the cyan shows up.
I did remove the cap and disconnected tubes and ran fluid thru them and they seem to be perfectly clear.
thanks again