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Mutoh Rockhopper 3 Extreme 65"
Hi Guys,
My first posting here however am hoping I can find some constructive advice regarding fixing my printer.
We purchased the machine in May 2007, we had initial problems which with the help of tech sorted them out, how ever it was noticed that if the machine was not used for a couple of days the heads would dry up and become unrecoverable, numerous tech visits have not resolved this and print quality remained poor. Over the past year techs have replaced heads, dampers, and capping station etc numerous times. In september last year our supplier sent us ink which was after install noticed to be over two years out of date, this was immediately removed and machine flushed.
We have requested a replacement printer numerous times over the past year, on the last visit from the tech’s head were replaced yet again on the thursday, prior to the tech leaving media was set in the machine and it’s position signed off to verify the machine was not being used in his absense when he returned on the Tuesday the out put was poor quality and heads were blocked and unrecoverable, yet they had not been used since being installed days earlier.
The tech found this strange and said it could be down to the bad ink their company had supplied the year before. The companies latest offer is to replace the heads, dampers and completely flush the tubes etc through but I am not sure this is the problem.
Over the year the tech have also pointed out that they have had to reposition the maintenance station three times as had moved, but what would cause this? They also said a bracket was bent also attached to the capping station.
Our printer has not been run for more than 5 hours a week since it was purchased and most of the output has not been of sale quality, we have only ever used genuine inks and correct profiles as supplied by the company which we purchased from. We have recently been told that as we live in Kent the sea air will be the reason.
Having had a machine out of action for almost a year and the company refuse to change the printer for one that ‘works’ we are struggling to cope and would like to know what other users suggest or infact if there are any owners of same printer in England.
Thanks in advance,
Look forward to hearing from you.
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26 Replies
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Hi
are you running Ultra inks or Solvent inks. Is the low usage of 5hrs per week down to problems or lack of work for it.Kev
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Hi,
Thanks for your reply, we use Eco Ultra inks.
The low use was originally down to being a new business and getting established. The machine has been sitting in our print shop for past 4 months as we refuse to take any further banner work until I can resolve this problem.
TIA
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Sounds like something Trading Standards would be interested in.
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Thanks for that, but can you explain what you mean?
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i would be inclined to consult a solicitor and get them to send a letter giving a date for the supplier to get the machine fully up & working or that a replacement machine be supplied.
Kev
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We have done that, when we threatened court action we were told it was due to sea air and salt from sea air affecting the machine.
The company involved has said the problem is not with the machine and disputes every claim.
Regards,
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Sinny
what environment & temperature do you keep the machine inKev
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Was that the court judgment or just their reply, I am sure they will have a different view when they have to defend this, after all it sounds like you have quite a file of evidence, plus do not forget the amount of revenue you have lost due to downtime, I would be chasing compensation for this as well.
Jason
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Is this a spoof (hot)
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Spoof?
The machine is kept in a clean, generally dust free environment with temperature maintained between 18 – 21 degrees as specified by supplier data.
We are currently in process of conducting humidity tests,
Regards,
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sorry forgot to answer, it was not the judgement, we are still in process of the claim however they have disputed any problem with the machine.
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quote Sinny:Spoof?
The machine is kept in a clean, generally dust free environment with temperature maintained between 18 – 21 degrees as specified by supplier data.
We are currently in process of conducting humidity tests,
Regards,
Hi
sounds like your only route is court action, a machine running ultra inks kept in an environment has you state should be good for a week minimum without minimal clogging & requiring only a standard cleaning. So to get to the level of clogging requiring head replacement would point more to a head / maintenance station sealing problem. Who is the supplier only there has been previous posts about a smaller Mutoh having similar problems might be worth a search. Best of luck with getting it resolved.Kev
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Thanks Kev,
We are pursuing court action but getting enough information is proving hard, the company who supplied us is Spandex Uk they have also supplied all our ink and media since purchase.
To date we have been unable to find anyone else who uses this machine.
There defence is sea air and the machine was turned off, which it wasn’t but according to user manuals machine can be turned off for long periods without any serious problems.
Thanks for your advice, it does all help.
Regards
Keith
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Kieth
this is the post i was on about same companyhttp://www.uksignboards.com/viewtopic.p … toh#275876
Kev
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I think Art Systems are the distributors?
I would talk to Art Systems and Mutoh about all of this, many moons ago when we had a Mutoh we managed to get a replacement directly from Belgium. When we was in France Mutoh stand at the exhibition was big, with plenty of people looking at their machines, so presume popular in Europe.
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hello
sorry to hear your problem, we have sold a lot of mutoh and you get odd Friday afternoon machine, they are normally very good,
as for the sea air, we have sold a value jet in Hastings which is about 18 months old one the original head and the sea front is the other side of the road, so that’s just a load of rubbish,
sorry i would put a bit more info in but i have a broken arm at the moment so typing seems to take for ever, not that i type that quick with 2 arms,
regard
Alan Flynn -
oh noes alan.. sorry to hear this… something must have cost u an … and a leg?
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Thanks guys,
That link is amazing, our printer used to always drop ink on the end of media when it was first installed, they blamed dampers and changed them constantly.
SPandex sales are brilliant but tech is not.
We paid £23k for our one including cutter, todate we estimate business loss including media at about £30K.
Spandex were kind eough to give us a free 4 month warranty extension free of charge but still didnt get machine working.
I used to live in Hastings, if sea air no problem there then not for us either.
Thanks to you all.
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hello all
Keith is it dropping black yellow magenta or cyan or a combination,
Dave as for my arm, learn from me, when confronted with a man with a iron bar, RUN,
regards
Alan Flynn -
Hi Alan,
It was dropping black ink. And when we had ink contamination it was mainly the yellow affecting the black.
Regards
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hello Keith
have you had many or any media crashes
regards
Alan Flynn -
We did have a few head scuffs in the early days, this was resolved at the time and heads were replaced accordingly.
🙂
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are we allowed to ask what company its just i am just going through court action with a company with similar problems its terrible i cant work
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quote Karen Gianfrancesco:are we allowed to ask what company its just i am just going through court action with a company with similar problems its terrible i cant work
sorry just read page 2 yes its spandex i have got same problem would love to speak to you keith
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Hi,
I did read your thread other day, if you visit my site, sinnyprint.co.uk all my contact details are on there.
Regards & Look forward to hearing from you.
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Well I have been speaking to Mutoh, who have confirmed that the Firmware is out of date, our version is 3.02 and should be 3.06 how do I update the firmware anyway?
However not sure this would contribute to the problems.
Either way, with Spandex, Gerber, and Mutoh we are no closer to being able to supply banners etc.
Still can’t get an explanation as to why the maintenance station would have had to be reset three times by the techs because it moved.
Still don’t know why the heads are unrecoverable after two/three days of printer not being used.
I would like to think someone has a definitive answer, starting to think they must live on Button Moon.
🙂
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