Wicked nozzle deflection!

[AUTO-FX]

(OutdoorJR)
I do my nozzle checks fairly regular, and first thing this morning it was pretty good. This afternoon I was having a little problem achieving a good black print, so I did a cleaning and a nozzle check, and noticed some major deflection action. I did a power clean and some regular cleans and this is where I am (see photos). I searched the forum and read some threads, and from what I found, It seems my head may be on it's way out. What I'm not sure is, if the nozzles are firing, but just deflecting, wouldnt that indicate a clogged condition not failure?

 

[thmooch]

yeah me too...I've started doing this: Take my syringe, fill with cleaning solution, move head to center of printer, remove damper, place paper towel under head, hook syringe tube to head where damper connects, slowly inject cleaning fluid into head to flush dried ink. Then I inject a small amount of cleaning solution into the capping station and park the head over night, run cleaning cycles next day. I have recovered several nozzles by doing this. Been replacing heads to frequently lately, so started doing this.

I do not recommend this procedure(in case something bad happens), just something I tried.

 

[CheapVehicleWrap]

Chris I know it's un orthodox, but until I saw a tech I could trust do it I didn't believe it myself. The head on my 1614 can be gentle "rubbed" with a WET foam pad. I've done it many times. Think about it, the wiper is touching the nozzles. What you're showing looks REALLY severe and I don't think wear would show that dramatically that quickly. You'll get it back. Thanks for not asking for the heads you sent me back.

 

[tbaker]

if it was a mimaki I would recommend a nozzle wash, which is nothing more then filling the cap station with cleaning solution, and letting it sit for a while. I worked on a mutoh not that long ago, that the test print looked 100x worse then this, and yet still printed fine.

It's an odd machine to say the least.

Try gently manually cleaning your printhead with a clean lint free cloth ( or a foam swab, never cotton) with cleaning solution on it working from back to front, not side to side.

hope it helps.

 

[Compilla]

Your mechanical alignment on the black is OFF

 

[AUTO-FX]

Thanks, yeah, i tried to adjust it but was unsuccessful- there seems to be little allowance for side to side movement. It was off the other direction too which I was able to correct easily. I am doing a head soak right now, so later I'll attempt to address that again.

 

[Compilla]

You will need some luck and patience.

The 2 heads are not lined up exactly,loosen the adjustment screw for the left printhead and slighty it move front or back until both are lined up.

 

[Bradster941]

Hope this is useful.

http://signs101.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=58728&d=1292362646

 

[AUTO-FX]

Your mechanical alignment on the black is OFF

Printer is good now. I replaced the maintenance station and made another attempt at aligning the head and it is printing satisfactorily. The head alignment seems to have something to do with the appearance of nozzle deflection since it was slightly askew. Quite a bit of said deflection "went away" with better alignment, the rest with a head flush and several heavy cleanings.
I am thinking that my 3rd party ink pump was preventing proper cleaning from taking place. Does anyone agree with this?