-
why is the ink running out quick on mimaki jv33 please?
I have a 6 month old mimaki jv33 sp 760mm I am generally over the moon with it, but when the ink gets down to 30% left it then goes to ink end and this problem is getting worse
i am now on my 5th set of cartridges. and the yellow cartridge performed well to 50% left, then went down to 39% very quickly and then disappeared to ink empty all within about 3 metres of printing.
the other yellow is showing 37% left but i now it will register empty within the next few days.I had a go at AIT who I bought the machine and Rip off, about it but i have now found after running a Maintenance list direct from the machine that shiraz is 100% perfect in monitoring the ink levels and now I suspect that the cartridges I am buying may not be filled correctly. I intend to weigh my next full set of inks on a friends post office scales to see if they all weigh the same weight.
Is anyone else having this problem as I dont find the Mimaki a very cost effective machine with this problem and May switch over to a versacam in the new year.
(hot)
-
21 Replies
-
I never had the problem you mention, the printer not the rip tells me how much ink is left, 9 down to 1, after 1 near end is signalled, then I weigh the cart on a digital scale, and add 10 20 0r 30 cc to the menu, according to the weight left. Are you using original carts? if not then you may be voiding the warranty anyway.
Peter -
yes i am using original cartridges, what rip do you use
kind regards
simon
-
I use signlab, but as I said the printer tells me when the carts are near empty, not the rip. Dont you get a read out when you press the enter button, telling how much ink is left in each cart?
Peter
-
if you remove a cart and put it back it does the printer think its a new one.
the rolands is not that good at ink levels. except that if the tag on the cart reads empty it normally is.chris
-
no chris if you put it back or swap the 2 same cartridges over it shows o% on both the machine and on shiraz.
thanks for feedback
-
peter seems to have it under control perhaps he may tell you where in the menu, the add ink is.
but on the other hand if he tells you he may have to shoot you. 😉
-
yes i get the readout when i press enter and also if you got into function settings you can print out a maintenance list that gives you a reading all the way down in 1 – 100% increments. but my beef is it all acts normal down to the machine showing 3 left out of the 1 – 9 setting then thats it, the inks are then empty within running 1 – 2 metres!!
i hope i am making sense.
-
after 5 years with a roland in is not much better the only acurate reading is empty.
we have a setting on the printer that stops the printer at 5 % left or carry on till cart says empty.
i think you have a chip on the cart, i have heard of a re setter that put it back to 100%.but as i understand it , the level is the printers best guess of how much ink is used as its printing. and it dont guess very well
chris
-
Simon,
i have just changed from a jv3 to jv33 and find it much better where before the printer used ink from both cartridges of the same colour and both became empty at the same time the new setup only uses one at a time which is better less likely to run out
i am still on the 1st set of inks only changed machines on 17th dec.
so i will report if i have same problembecause the ink is held in the cartridge as a free liquid rather than in a sponge if you were unsure if the cartridge was empty just give it a shake
and you no i don’t see any advantage in weighing them when they are empty they are empty!i would not run out and buy another system because of this problem there will be an answer, the mimaki is a 1st class machine my jv3 was two and a half years old and never missed a beat
-
thanks for getting back to me john.
my Machine cleans every 8 hrs but another member suggests self clean every 24 hrs to save the ink what do yo think what was your set up. did your
machine start to behave erratically when it got down to the last 30% or did go 9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1, end evenly spaced as the last 30% of my cartridges goes in 1 – 2 metres of printing?thanks for response and happy new year
simon
-
Simon,
still on the first set of inks, i will keep an eye on it and let you know what happens but you do have the advantage over the old system In that the printer only uses one cartridge at a time the old one used both and they both ran out together.
I would leave the timing as it was set from the factory i don’t think it uses that much ink , keeping the machine clean and using a little ink is better than than saving on ink and maybe damaging and having to replace the print head
another thing to say my new system comes with raster link rip but the engineer had problems installing it with vista and is coming back soon for another go, anyway i am running the printer from signlab and although i select bi-directional in the printer options and it works turn the computer of and back on and it reverts to the original setting printing in one direction only which halves the speed so if you are running from signlab check it
you have bought yourself a good system if you got the matching cutter from mimaki they are very good.I am on my 3rd cutter from mimaki i changed them just to upgrade not because of problems they are excellent
-
according to the Mimaki engineer who came to me a while ago, you get much better quality running in UNi directional, Bi – Directional is less of a quality or is this something they have changed on the JV33
Simon
-
Simon,
don’t really no the answer to that one, to me the only dif. i can see is that it lays down ink in both directions which doubles the speed i can’t see how this would affect the quality but maybe someone out there with a bit more knowledge could tell us if there is a dif. is it the 33 you have i thought it was just recently released?
if you trade in your system for a new one and yours is only six months old you are going to lose a fortune
John
-
Simon,
don’t really no the answer to that one, to me the only dif. i can see is that it lays down ink in both directions which doubles the speed i can’t see how this would affect the quality but maybe someone out there with a bit more knowledge could tell us if there is a dif. is it the 33 you have i thought it was just recently released?
if you trade in your system for a new one and yours is only six months old you are going to lose a fortune
John
-
There is a difference with bi direction, not in the quality as such, but it does sometimes leave a sort of a very faint "knapp" in the print, like you would get on a snooker table or on a lawn that has been rolled in 2 directions.
Going back to the ink problem. I dont know your Rip, but is it possible to turn off the ink levels in it and leave the printer to warn you when it is "near end"?
the Printer is not using anymore ink. just that the warnings aren’t accurate.
you should not get a different reading when removing and replacing a cart.
I do weigh them when the printer gives the warning, and they can vary by up to 20grammes, enough to print quite a few metres, depending on the coverage. again this is only a guide, and when the ink is down to the minimum weight, then the cartridge must be changed.Peter
-
quote John Imrie:Simon,don’t really no the answer to that one, to me the only dif. i can see is that it lays down ink in both directions which doubles the speed i can’t see how this would affect the quality but maybe someone out there with a bit more knowledge could tell us if there is a dif. is it the 33 you have i thought it was just recently released?
if you trade in your system for a new one and yours is only six months old you are going to lose a fortune
John
Would depend on your definition on a fortune?
If Simon got a good deal with his JV3 & has looked after it he should get a decent p/ex price.
-
Brian,
Maybe fortune is the wrong word but i reckon he will lose 50% of purchase price a lot to lose in six months
-
If he loses 50% then he is going to the wrong supplier!
His old machine should be very easy for them to move on. There are always people on the look out for a small 2nd user machine.
-
you can’t have it both ways if you haggle the dealer for a good price on a new machine he is not going to give you top dollar for your old one they are in the business of making money the same as the rest of us, probably do better selling old system privately
anyway it’s a shame simon has to change his system after such a short time and whatever way you do the sums he is going to lose money!
-
Simon,
We’ve discussed ink readings before, and a search might bring you more information.
My opinion, for what it’s worth, is that the ink readings are only a gauge and it is not intended to be a precision measuring instrument.
My car fuel gauge exhibits the exact same behavoir as you describe for your printer. Stays at full for ages, then drops rapidly. That doesn’t mean it is using any more diesel though, and is certainly no reason to change my car.
My advice would be to learn it’s foibles and work within them. 😀
-
i was under the impression on the JV3 and not the 33, the chip reaches 1 and then waits for the light sensor to trip to write a code on the chip to lock the cartridge as empty. The carts I think around 560g is empty as this is the way I measure carts now, by weight and not by any other means. If I have to siphon ink with a syringe through the JV3 this gets ignored by the ink meter as the ink meter is doing maths to work out how empty it is.
When you take the cart out, is the light sensor tab solid (cannot press it) then this empty.
The JV3 does make money, we can prove that after 3 years.
Another trick, spirt level the machine up, if on a slant then tab may come out further. Not sure about fine tuning the ink levels but peter suggestion with the early stop was added to stop the machine from running out of ink, once it does it can be a pain to get going again.
Log in to reply.