Versacamm (always black) head deflecting

[Techy Ant]

I am having to replace black/blue head over and over, almost yearly on my Versacamm SP-300v. I don't print a huge amount on this printer. Maybe a few hours a week. After replacing this head, printer soon develops exactly the same problem which gets worse over time. Absolutely no head-strikes (as you can see blue head is just fine), never letting it dry out. The machine is always plugged in and gets ink circulated by powering up automatically all the time. Why is it that black is always doing this? Could it be something else that is causing it? This is the third or fourth time I have replaced this printhead developing this problem for no apparent reason. I did try soaking the printhead for a couple of hours and can try overnight as well, but this didn't help in the past. I cleaned everything, including wipe blades (which are new), and last time everything that could affect these heads were also replaced: damper, wiper heads, cap tops. The printer always uses OEM inks. What could be causing it?

 

[Jim Hancock]

This is not uncommon with the older Roland printers using OEM ink and DX4 heads. The black ink uses carbon black as a pigment, which is rougher on the printheads than the other pigments. The best thing is to print something every day. If you know how to get into service mode, you might want to print the fill test every day or every other day. It's a waste of vinyl, but significantly cheaper than a new head. You may also consider soaking the head on the weekends, or overnight once a week. I can't tell you if 3rd party ink will fare better, but they can bring their own issues.

 

[Techy Ant]

This is not uncommon with the older Roland printers using OEM ink and DX4 heads. The black ink uses carbon black as a pigment, which is rougher on the printheads than the other pigments. The best thing is to print something every day. If you know how to get into service mode, you might want to print the fill test every day or every other day. It's a waste of vinyl, but significantly cheaper than a new head. You may also consider soaking the head on the weekends, or overnight once a week. I can't tell you if 3rd party ink will fare better, but they can bring their own issues.

Thanks, Jim. So you think if I soak it repeatedly now, the nozzles may recover or is it too late for this head?

 

[Jim Hancock]

Likely too late, unfortunately. But what will it hurt to try!

 

[hybriddesign]

Same problem here on 3 vp540s and an xc540. It never caused a lot of issues but it was always tough to print really small black text. Our nozzles would always deflect within just a month or so of a new head.

I am having to replace black/blue head over and over, almost yearly on my Versacamm SP-300v. I don't print a huge amount on this printer. Maybe a few hours a week. After replacing this head, printer soon develops exactly the same problem which gets worse over time. Absolutely no head-strikes (as you can see blue head is just fine), never letting it dry out. The machine is always plugged in and gets ink circulated by powering up automatically all the time. Why is it that black is always doing this? Could it be something else that is causing it? This is the third or fourth time I have replaced this printhead developing this problem for no apparent reason. I did try soaking the printhead for a couple of hours and can try overnight as well, but this didn't help in the past. I cleaned everything, including wipe blades (which are new), and last time everything that could affect these heads were also replaced: damper, wiper heads, cap tops. The printer always uses OEM inks. What could be causing it?