can anyone tell me how to shutdown for holday period?

[Roy Roffey]

hey nic,

Ive had a few probs when Ive left mine for a while… i now do the following,
do a clean of the machine, then soak the head caps with the solution… then on return do a powerful clean.. when you have done this do a couple of test prints

this system works for me but i guess if you keep your machine in good nick you`ll be OK,

have a great break mate

roffs

[Nicola McIntosh]

thanks roy cant wait to get away 😀

yep my printer is kept tip top….just that i remember the guy putting white clips on the tubes…and he explained this was for long spells of not printing, the manual i have doesnt say anything…..and i only have two flush cartridges here, and wondered if i needed 4? 😕

nik

[Phill Fenton]

How long are you shutting down for Nic. If just a week I would ask someone to come in twice a week and run a head clean. 😀 If two weeks or more I would play safe and flush the ink out with flushing fluid.

[Nicola McIntosh]

i have someone here but do not trust them to be left in charge with my printer…….no way 😮

and im shutting it down for 2 weeks…..do i need 4 flush cartridges then phil? 😀

nik

[David Rowland]

i suggest u teach ur collegues to use the test print functions of the printers.

as long as ink is running quite often thru the heads, no reason for it to fail.

then again a head crash and ur collegues leaving it till u come home would be a worry.. what about that rush job?

[Phill Fenton]

I don’t actually know how many flush cartridges are needed Nic. I assume only two as there are only two heads – but I wouldn’t know where to insert them anyway (Shut up Peter – I know what you are about to suggest :lol1: :lol1: )

[Nicola McIntosh]

quote Phill:

I don’t actually know how many flush cartridges are I assume only two as there are only two heads

yeh
thats what i thought too phil…. 😀

dave thanks for the encouragement………..but nah!! im dreading leaving them alone with a kettle 😮

nik

[Roy Roffey]

hey nic,

i was told if you were leaving for more than a week then have one flush for each colour ( 4 ) and flush the printer thru so the tubes were clear. the only prob with that is when you return you have to re-fill the thing with ink and get it running as before ( if that makes sence !! )

in my view – best to be safe than sorry !!

roffs

[Shane Drew]

yes nik, one flush cartridge per colour. you’ll need to get another two, does your manual discuss preparing for transport? it will be the same thing as closing down. you’ll need to flush all the ink out and leave the lines and heads clean.

rotten job tho.

[Brian Hays]

Shane you can get away with 2 flush cartridges. No need to buy another 2. You can just pull the ink through one head at a time.

Nic the 2 clamps are for the waste pipes to stop the flush flowing away when you put some in the capping station to soak the heads.

[Shane Drew]

quote Brian Hays – Impact:

Shane you can get away with 2 flush cartridges. No need to buy another 2. You can just pull the ink through one head at a time.

Thanks Brian, I didn’t know that.

I was supplied with 4 flush cartridges with my machine. I must have a bigger unit then? 😕 (540ex)

Cheers

[David Rowland]

Here is the B&P Flush Thread

[Brian Hays]

You need 4 to do it in the way it says in the link Dave posted Shane.

But it is just as easy to pull the flush through the lines manually with 2 carts. You just plug the carts in the Baclk & Magenta slots 1st and pull it through, then the Magenta & Yellow. That’s what I did with one we had here over xmas, I didn’t have 4 carts so I couldn’t do it any other way 🙂

[Nicola McIntosh]

thanks dave i forgot about that post….i think i’ll get another two in just to be on the safe side 😀

nik

[Martin Oxenham]

DO NOT leave the clips on and the head soaking on a cadet as it will syphon the wrong colours up into the other tubes.
We get this after only 30 mins. And when we left it overnight the yellow had syphoned all the way back to the magenta cartridge Which was only half a day old. Beware.

[Stephen Morriss]

Nik

Use 4 flush cartridges, you can use 2 by doing one head and putting back the colour cartridges but that’s what I did and the flush fluid destroyed the seal on the cartridges, this then let air in and I ended up with the contents of the cartridges in the waste bottle, half litre ink wasted.
Guess it flushed out the heads though 😮

Steve

[Nicola McIntosh]

just a quick update after shut down…..everything was fine ink loaded ok but now ive got banding running through my prints.. any ideas…just incase ive done something worng 😕

nik

[David Rowland]

really? oh dear… bad news then, best start with nozzle check and then work you way through it.
If all nozzles are firing and then move on to nozzle deflection… then may have to do cadet measures to get it to clean the nozzles…etc.

[Kevin Flowers]

am i glad i have Eco-solve ultra inks

Kev

[Nicola McIntosh]

quote Kevin Flowers:

am i glad i have Eco-solve ultra inks
Kev

didnt really answer my question (?)

[Robert Lambie]

quote Dave Rowland:

really? oh dear… bad news then, best start with nozzle check and then work you way through it.
If all nozzles are firing and then move on to nozzle deflection… then may have to do cadet measures to get it to clean the nozzles…etc.

dave, you would put the fear of death into someone with your replies mate.. :lol1: :lol1: :lol1:
banding can happen at any time, occurs for various reasons. normally simple ones at that.
i dont run our machine day in day out, andrew does that. but when things like banding occurs hes normally got it sorted in a jiffy… 😀

kev, are you suggesting banding doesnt occur with eco-inks mate? 😀
or do you mean your glad of not having the flush scenario?
we have had our grenadier over two years now, never have we done a flush yet. that said, its no big deal, pop in the carts put it through the motions and your done. the machine does the donkey work for you.
go hols, come back, pop in the carts again and go through the motions…

everytime a spray painter uses his gun he must do a full clean etc

everytime a sign writer uses a brush he must clean after use.

everytime a screen printer uses his kit he has a cleaning proceedure…

own a solvent printer and do a clean that last a few minutes once on a friday afternoon before weekend shut down and thtas that… 😀

[Phill Fenton]

Don’t worry Nik – a weeks shutdown shouldn’t be a problem. I’m sure your printer will be fine after running a few head cleans 😀

[Stephen Morriss]

Like Dave said do a nozzle check, load some vinyl and press the test print button, top left, this’ll show you which nozzles are missing.
You should be able to clear them with a medium clean, that’s all mine usually needs when a nozzle blocks.

Your probebly best doing some cmyk blocks to make sure that all the heads get some ink through, although the head clean will have done that.

Steve

[Nicola McIntosh]

thanks guys…..cause i was dead chuffed i got it right with the heads getting soaked…. 😀

nik

[Kevin Flowers]

quote Nicola McIntosh:

quote Kevin Flowers:

am i glad i have Eco-solve ultra inks
Kev

didnt really answer my question (?)

Nic
sorry don’t have them problems, so can’t help thought youhad solved the problem so was just being sarcastic. I’ve left mine for upto 3 weeks with no problems, with the new inks & right media eco inks are now a good match for the full solvents

Kev

[Robert Lambie]

quote Kevin Flowers:

quote Nicola McIntosh:

quote Kevin Flowers:

am i glad i have Eco-solve ultra inks
Kev

didnt really answer my question (?)

Nic
sorry don’t have them problems, so can’t help thought youhad solved the problem so was just being sarcastic. I’ve left mine for upto 3 weeks with no problems, with the new inks & right media eco inks are now a good match for the full solvents

Kev

could you send me a sample of your prints kev, ide be intrested to see how they compare. not being funny, genuinly intrested mate.
if they prooved a good match i would be intrested in doing a proper product tested videoed for the site, using various members using the smae setup against the solvent inks.

[David Rowland]

sounds interesting kev…

nik.. sorry if i sounded harsh.