can anyone advise on JV3160SP print heads please?

[Phill Fenton]

It’s probably all that sunshine, sand from the beaches, and salty sea air that’s knackering your printer….move to Scotland and you won’t have any more problems with your printer (but you can be miserable like the rest of us) 🙁

[Peter Normington]

Hi David,
as Mimaki give a 2 year warranty with their machines from new, I would expect the heads to last at least that long on average. Is the machine set to do its routine cleaning?, at least once a day is needed, and are you leaving the power on when its not in use?

Other than that without more info, then all I can say is it may be down to the bulk inks you are using. and assuming you are using genuine replacement heads…

Peter

[David Rowland]

hi, can you define deteriorate? does that include nozzle deflection or fuzzy prints?

The triangle system is big over in the USA so find it hard to blame that system.

our jv3 is around 3-4 years old, the heads have been replaced 5-6 times over that period.

[Bill McMurtry]

Going through 5 heads in a little over a year doesn’t sound right. When you manually clean around the heads are you touching the head surface? Another possible explanation might be grit or abrasive dust somehow getting onto the wiper which will scratch the heads every cleaning cycle. What’s the sleep clean cycle set to? When you say "ratty" do you mean blocked nozzles or deflected nozzles?

[Hawaiian Sign Dude]

Thank you for your responses!
To answer some of your questions;

The test prints that look ratty- whereas a good test print is made up of a uniform grid of rectangles some of my colors print rectangles of (very)distorted shapes and sizes. Surprisingly, many of my prints look spectacular but if you look at fine text close up you can see the splatter of colors around the black giving a blurred, non-sharp look.

My system of maintenance involves nozzle washes and head washes(soft) and manually cleaning around the heads with a cleaning bud dipped in solution. I do this at the beginning of a nozzle wash, after the prompt to clean the wiper but before filling the liquid. I push the print heads away from the capping station and swab around the sides of the heads. I haven’t figured out how to clean the backside of the heads. I avoid the surface, but once the test prints look real bad, I will wipe the surface as well out of desperation. It makes no difference. Sometimes I will push the print heads all the way to the far left part of the platten, remove the cover there, remove a damper, connect a syringe/tube to the nipple and force solution through the head. Again, no difference. I am of the opinion that once you get a deteriorated test print there is nothing you can do to turn it around. I would be thrilled if someone proved me wrong.

The system is set to clean itself (sleep clean). Of course to do this I turn the power off (front power button) when not in use.

The area is admittedly somewhat dusty, but not enough to be a big factor, unless these machines are extremely sensitive.

One thing I just can’t figure out is why for each of the 3 print heads the left side color deteriorates but the right side color remains almost perfect.
Doesn’t make any sense to me. Do any other users experience this?

Thanks, David

[David Rowland]

ok thanks david.. that helps…
sounds more like a suction issue, do you get any nozzle out and if so is it quite common to loose a line on the test print?

The most common thing to go wrong on a jv3 is the pumps, this is what sucks the ink through, normally does this under some pressure and keeps the ink moving. The other item that I know that causes fuzzy or weak print is dampers, they sometimes will not enough ink flo go thru.

Without knowing too much about your bulk ink system, is it level or above the print heads? (gravity feed)

Cold weather is another issue, got the heaters on?

Cold platten on that material?

Also I have only put (mimaki head wash) solution through the heads when it is needed (when all else fails) it is not something to be done often.

[Bill McMurtry]

Hi David, it’s curious that the left side of each head deteriorates first. The wiper is obviously a common element applied equally to each head and I wonder if it might be set too high or on a slant and is somehow applying excess or uneven pressure against the head surface? Have you cleaned the inside roof of the wiper parking bay recently?

Also, if you’re going to do a manual head flush, by gently forcing cleaning fluid through with a syringe, then you should always use a damper connected to the head in order to filter the flushing fluid. As you might know, too much pressure (more than 1cc per 30 seconds) can damage the heads, and can also blow the side of the flushing fluid damper.