Changing dampers can cause head failure

[RobertLambie]

First off, I do not have a Mutoh or know anything about them.
However, when we had several Roland solvent printers I would keep stock of dampers, wiper blades, manifold etc. which allowed me to be able to do some light maintenance or problem-solving tasks, before getting a technician out.
I am going back years now, but the damper is mounted to the manifold, holding the ink during printing and filtering it to the head. it was snug pushed onto a pin on the manifold and the head was below the manifold. (from memory)
Based on the Rolands we had, I can’t see how that could possibly damage the head as it’s not directly in contact and changing the filter, has to be a good thing?
dampers were not expensive and I would keep a full set in stock.

maybe it is different on the mutoh but I would think the same principles would apply?

[Phill Fenton]

That doesn’t sound right to me? Can you ask your technician to explain how it could damage the heads?

[Martyn Heath]

Thanks guys. yes ive got the same feeling this is a weird answer. This is coming from the salesman not the engineer. I think i need to get hold of the engineer

[Martyn Heath]

So having now spoken to the engineer….this info is correct. 4 yrs ago the dampers were changed as part of the package. Now they no longer do this due to the risks involved but the price stays the same. go figure. Maybe mutohs dampers are far superior and last the lifetime of the head 🤥im doubtful

[David Hammond]

I don’t know about Mutoh’s, but I know on our old Seiko the dampers weren’t changeable and part of the head.

On our old Roland the dampers were changeable however you had to be careful not to damage the manifold/nipple when replacing them.

[Martyn Heath]

ye thats the strange thing david, they are changeable and were changeable but now they have decided they dont want to anymore.

[Paul Hodges]

Well if that is true, they better inform all the engineers I’ve ever had or spoken to!

Changing the dampers on a Roland, or any other similar printer where the dampers are a separate consumable, is one of the first goto things to do when you have an ink problem. I’ve changed them many times on my own, engineers have changed them, never had any head problems resulting from that.

The only reason I can think they may not want to do it, is in case the manifold breaks. On the Roland, the manifolds are just plastic and fairly often they break off when you pull the damper off the spigot, because the ink weakens the plastic and it becomes brittle and snaps, so you end up having to replace the manifold as well as the damper – still not a big job for an engineer, but going from memory, the manifolds can be a bit over priced, so you can imagine an engineer not wanting to replace that at their own cost, but I see no reason why they can’t ask you to cover that should it happen.

If that were true that changing dampers causes damage to the heads, we would have been replacing heads all the time, and we don’t!

[Martyn Heath]

totally agree paul. Well im gonna go with it this time and interrogate the engineer when he is here

[Paul Hodges]

Good idea.. I quite often find that engineers are a lot more honest with answers when they are there on site, particularly as opposed to what sales people will tell you lol

[Martin Cole]

All sounds a bit suspect to me, does the salesman look like this by any chance

[Martyn Heath]

Dont they all martin?

[RobertLambie]

🤣🤣