VS-540i Head Issue

[Blakesawyer]

Hello, I have always had a local rep come out and service my machines but the rep is out of town so I am seeing if I can tackle this on my own. I am having an issue with one of the black channels on my print head. I have done normal, medium and powerful clean several times and cannot clear this up. Would this be a captop issue? We got this machine earlier this year to replace our VP-540 so having a single print head is new to me vs one for each color. I would assume this would clear up with individual heads but I am not sure with the singular head

The head was replaced earlier this year and has very few hours of run time on it. Maybe 2-3 hours total as most of my prints are less than 10 minutes

Thank you in advance

 

[Zoogee World]

You could try a 48 hour head soak. As you mentioned the head only has a few hours on it, does this mean you don't use it very often? If so, I'd recommend at least doing a normal cleaning daily and a manual one weekly to keep it tip top. As it's only 1 color in the middle of the head, I doubt it's the cap top. You could also try pulling ink with a syringe from one of the lines after the cap top and pinching off the other and see if you can get an improvement that way.

 

[Blakesawyer]

You could try a 48 hour head soak. As you mentioned the head only has a few hours on it, does this mean you don't use it very often? If so, I'd recommend at least doing a normal cleaning daily and a manual one weekly to keep it tip top. As it's only 1 color in the middle of the head, I doubt it's the cap top. You could also try pulling ink with a syringe from one of the lines after the cap top and pinching off the other and see if you can get an improvement that way.

Thank you very much for the reply. Correct, it doesn't get used very often. I read somewhere that a "light choke clean" might help? I am only around the printer 1 day per week so I will try pulling some ink next week

 

[moonrakercat]

Your head is fine - no deflections - just missing nozzles.

First I would check the bottom of the head - ensure no hairs or other debris is on it that would cause the cap not to seal.

Then I would check the cap top - again - for debris - use a swab wetted with cleaning fluid to clean around edges of captop & also clean the wiper with the same swab.

Do a manual head cleaning.

Check the captop is sealing correctly on the head - not skewed to one side or the other - you should be able to see this if you look closely when the head is parked.

Then try medium & strong cleaning - see if you get your nozzles back.

If nothing or very few comes back - I would suggest a new cap top - this has happened to me many times - 90% of the time it usually fixes it right up. I have a vs 540 same head.

This usually happens when the captop is not sealing -- captops need to be changed every 6-12 months in my experience on this type of head

I would only suggest a head soak as a last resort. Although it may bring your nozzles back - your head is brand new - this may do more damage than it's worth.

 

[Blakesawyer]

Your head is fine - no deflections - just missing nozzles.

First I would check the bottom of the head - ensure no hairs or other debris is on it that would cause the cap not to seal.

Then I would check the cap top - again - for debris - use a swab wetted with cleaning fluid to clean around edges of captop & also clean the wiper with the same swab.

Do a manual head cleaning.

Check the captop is sealing correctly on the head - not skewed to one side or the other - you should be able to see this if you look closely when the head is parked.

Then try medium & strong cleaning - see if you get your nozzles back.

If nothing or very few comes back - I would suggest a new cap top - this has happened to me many times - 90% of the time it usually fixes it right up. I have a vs 540 same head.

This usually happens when the captop is not sealing -- captops need to be changed every 6-12 months in my experience on this type of head

I would only suggest a head soak as a last resort. Although it may bring your nozzles back - your head is brand new - this may do more damage than it's worth.

Thank you very much. I will give all of this a try next week and report back. Since you have the same head - what is your cleaning schedule like? And do print daily or does it ever sit?

 

[moonrakercat]

I do a manual head clean whenever I'm getting missing or deflected nozzles.

My machine sits idle quite alot - it has an automated cleaning that usually cleans the machine twice a day when I'm not printing - I believe all of the similar machines do.

I don't let missing nozzles like yours sit for any amount of time as the clogged nozzles can dry shut.

Best of luck.

 

[Zoogee World]

Although I don't have the VS-540i, I do have the VS-300i, which has the same head, I do a daily normal cleaning every morning and a manual cleaning once a week, even if I use it a lot, it's just the best practice to keep that from happening. Although there is a slight chance it could be the cap top, I don't really see it being that, as there should be more then just the 1 color not firing if it's not sealing right. As mentioned by moorakercat, check the bottom of the head, as well to confirm there is no damage to it. I know you mentioned only being near the printer once a week, is there someone else that could possibly do a cleaning or just run a few test prints a couple times a week? As these machines are meant to be ran, not just sitting idle for long periods of time. Also, just to confirm, you keep the machine on when you're not there, correct?

 

[Jim Hancock]

Definitely do a head soak. My concern is I don't see any change in which nozzles are present, and which are missing. Issues with dampers and caps usually result in the test pattern changing between cleaning cycles. As you indicated, you don't print often, so I would conclude you may have some dried nozzles. As Zoogee suggested, regular daily cleanings and weekly maintenance, as well as printing a sample file weekly to "exercise" the head. I've attached a file that works well for this, as well as being useful for evaluating color profiles. Reduce it 50% and print regularly.