Help : over spray on left hand side of black print

[Stephen Morriss]

I think this has been found to be static almost every time, depends on humidity and temp so you may not see it for ages then it’ll appear one day.

I’ve had it once when printing some banners on a Roland SP540, I ended up holding onto a metal part of the printer frame for the rest of the print and it came out fine, I could feel the hairs on my arms lifting when I went near the printer.

Try adding a wire from the printer frame to an earthing point close to the printer, I don’t recommend putting it into a wall socket though, you need some pipework or a radiator or something like that.

Steve

[Praveen Jayawardene]

Thanks Steve for the valuable advice.

Its weird that it only happens on the black though ?
Will try this and see how i go.

Appreciate your feedback.

Cheers,
PJ

[Colin Hibbitt]

ours does this if print head is high onto vinyl if any help

[Gabriel Cristian]

…or you might have a broken print-head 🙂

[David Rowland]

broken print head or broken rubber seal inside the print head

could be head id’s but unlikely as u not taken it out

[Praveen Jayawardene]

Hello ,

i had this black printed changed very late in 2009. Now the gerber tech said i was lucky to get a year and half use , most heads go well before that they said.

Tried the earth wire option with no success.I can see a $2000 head replacement coming down line….

Not sure how long black heads are suppose to last ? i guess this depends on usage and maintenance .

[Stafford Cox]

quote Praveen Jayawardene:

Hello ,

i had this black printed changed very late in 2009. Now the gerber tech said i was lucky to get a year and half use , most heads go well before that they said.

Tried the earth wire option with no success.I can see a $2000 head replacement coming down line….

Not sure how long black heads are suppose to last ? i guess this depends on usage and maintenance .

You’re quite right on many counts there. It does sound like a print head fault and the life expectancy of any colour print head, on any of the piezo printers is dependant on maintenance and usage. Strangely enough, the more you use them, the less chance they stand of failing as the constant throughput of solvent prevents blockages.

I would be very surprised if you had to pay a $2000 bill for a printhead, unless of course you are paying distributor prices?? The average price here in the UK is around £650 through the freelance channels, I’m sure you can find someone to do a repair for less than $2000. Where in the world are you?

Stafford

[Praveen Jayawardene]

Hello,

Yes it was done by a Mimaki tech .I am from Melbourne Australia.
The land down under.
Its not easy to get experienced techs here in Melb.

[Stafford Cox]

quote Praveen Jayawardene:

Hello,

Yes it was done by a Mimaki tech .I am from Melbourne Australia.
The land down under.
Its not easy to get experienced techs here in Melb.

Hey, if you pay for the flights and accommodation I’ll do the print head for you 🙂

It could also be the head cable though, maybe try switching them with another colour to see if the fault moves, but make sure the power cable is REMOVED and switch the power on and off a few times with it out before trying anything like this. And obviously, you do so at your own risk as these things can get very expensive if you do it wrong!!

[Praveen Jayawardene]

Thanks for the advice.

Have never tampered with this mimaki , can see the ribbon cable and may give it ago.This machine is probably 5yrs old now ,never in the time i have had replaced any of the cables. Only 2 x black heads and the sensor that reads the clear strip/band.

Do you know of any good programs that tell if your alignments and calibration on your head ?

[Stafford Cox]

The cables aren’t parts that need replacing periodically, but it could be that it got damaged while having a head replace as the contacts can fold away from the cable slightly. The calibrations are all detailed in the JV3 service notes which shouldn’t be too hard to find. A word of warning though, the calibrations on this printer are not for the faint hearted and moving cables around on the printer can cause severe damage if not done correctly!!

Make sure you understand the service notes before jumping in there with a screw driver