Help! Versacamm is not printing properly

[Stafford Cox]

Looks to me like the magenta is dropping out for some reason. I’d check that the cartridge isn’t empty and maybe replace the damper?

Stafford

[David Rowland]

can we see your nozzle test?

[Dan Osterbery]

can we see a print test, i think it could be a damper issue had something similar recently and that’s how it started.

cheers

Dan

[Phillip Patterson]

Hi Guys I have attached the images below. There are black lines on the nozzle test on the yellow strips. is this normal?? The service engineer came and changed the sponge so thinking it is due to that. if its the case can that be detrimental to the head and create blocked nozzles??

the first image is the 2 read squares the one is heavely banded the next day, same media and profile setting works perfectly (the other red square).

the second image is the nozzel test

third image is an example of how its printing, it should flow a consistant red but instead its putting a yellow down then mixing red with it and creating a horrible colour which isnt red at all.

fourth image is the sponge which I think is a little higher then it should be or am i being paranoid??

Thanx for all your help.

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Attachments:

[Chris Wool]

yellow and magenta make red but the magenta is printing poorly may be the damper as you say it prints ok one day not the next,
it all looks rather dirty and needs a good seeing to as far as the sponge is concerned it must not be touching the head.
i also think that the pump is not sucking the waist away properly if you don’t feel happy about doing it get it serviced properly it will cost but the machine should then be earning money.

[Dan Osterbery]

From what i understand, mixing of colours can be a problem in one or a combination of the following:
Dampers, capping stations, sponge or pump issues. Check the ink lines for contamination of colours. although your print test does not look contaminated.

[Phillip Patterson]

Thanx for your replies,

for some reason when the red square is being sent to print its the yellow which is perfectly being applied first then the red after when it should only be red.That is what I meant by the mixing.

I do have a sp540v service manual so think i might try and do this myself but doesnt appear to mention anything about dampers? I am assuming the sp300v and the sp540v are the same machine here so little baffled about no mention of the dampers.

is it difficult to remove the sponge?? I didn’t really trust the service engineer who came in the last time and think from the nozzle test the yellow shouldn’t have black lines on it. so just a little concerned. is that what happened to yours Dan??

[Dan Osterbery]

i have sp540, ours we noticed that the reds and yellows were off, then when we printed a test we noticed that there was a lot of red in the yellow test strip.
We changed a pump, the sponge, the capping stations (to no avail) then we changed the dampers and that fixed the problem. The damper is the reservoir above the head, (that allows it to have a constant supply of ink). We could physically see the contamination of red in our yellow line, (since changing the damper print now perfect). It started only occasionally initially and we noticed some funny prints and then it became a permanent issue.
We are on a small island and their is no engineer, and we would have to pay for his flights to get here, plus time and parts so we try to sort these things out ourselves if we can. I think you just need to isolate which part has failed to change it, or do what we did and change them all.

Goodluck

Dan
p.s. where did you get the service manual from? would love one of those!!

Not sure why you have black on the yellow line? The heads that are connected are cyan/black and magenta/yellow.
How old is the machine? Do you know if you have the old pump or the new pump? I think chris could be correct, it could be the pump not sucking away properly and that is how the black is getting in your yellow line?

[Chris Wool]

quote :

for some reason when the red square is being sent to print its the yellow which is perfectly being applied first then the red after when it should only be red.That is what I meant by the mixing.

you do not have a red ink to make red it prints yellow and magenta or sorry if i have miss understood you

[Martin Armitage]

Two test prints showing different deflections of nozzles, have you checked the heads to make sure hairs are not stuck across the face, contaminating your prints.

[Phill Fenton]

Your printer is being starved of magenta ink.

The dampers have tiny filters inside which can become partialy blocked over time restricting the ink flow. I would try fitting a new magenta damper in the first instance – these only cost a few pounds each and are very easy to fit yourself.

The other problems you are seing (cross contamination of ink in the yellow test print is probably unrelated and may have come about as a result of "tinkering". The truth is if you don’t really know what you are doing you can end up doing more harm then good which could land you with an expensive bill for a new head. If unsure, I would recomend you call in a reputable technician to look at the problem

[Phillip Patterson]

Hi Guys,

Dan, here you go buddy,

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/11998547/SP540 … manual.pdf

Phill how would I replace the dampers are they just beneath the damper plate?? The silly thing is the service manual makes no mention of dampers and how to replace them.

also the sponge splash I assume is easy to replace but these 2 things aren’t mentioned in the service manual.

anybody know how to do this?? I think the contamination on the yellow is down to the sponge which the service engineer put in and im betting its touching the heads. He literally cut out a piece of sponge with scissors and put it in the sponge splash place. there is a slight raise there.

thanx again guys

[Steve McAdie]

A lot of sponges expand greatly when solvent ink is put on them. Order a few mist sponges from tech8 think they are a quid each they don’t expand.

Steve

[Phill Fenton]

quote Phillip Patterson:

Phill how would I replace the dampers are they just beneath the damper plate?? The silly thing is the service manual makes no mention of dampers and how to replace them.

Section 3.1 of the manual you have posted contains the relevant information about removing and refitting dampers. However, if just replacing the dampers, most of the steps relevant to replacing the head can be omitted. It’s really just a simple case of removing everything that prevents access to them then unplug the old one and plug in the new one.

But I don’t like the sound of your service technician – cutting up bits of sponge and fitting them sounds like a bodge to me. You should buy and fit replacement capping stations which contain new sponges.

If in doubt use a reputable technician otherwise you will end up doing more harm then good.

[Chris Wool]

sorry phill you are talking about the wrong sponge.
the one the engineer replaced is the so called spit sponge which is next to the print bed.
as a by the way my spit sponge has a alloy grid over it so it can’t swell up to rub the head.

[Dan Osterbery]

Hi Phillip,
thanks for the service manual! replacing the dampers is quite simple, you just need to make sure you don’t drip any ink onto the head unit circuit boards. Remove the plastic case,(above the head) and damper plate,and the flexible cable(marking which is above and which is below) then carefully unscrew the copper colour nut to remove the ink line, (we also kinked this to stop the ink draining back down the line) then carefully prize out the damper, swap for new one and reconnect the screw. If the ink does not fill the damper then, make sure the head is above the capping stations, disconnect the tube that leads from the capping station to the pump and connect a syringe, and that way you can suck the ink through to fill the damper, and once its full that removes the air and away you go! We also ran a medium head clean to suck through more ink, test print and hopefully you are good to go!

goodluck

Dan

SORRY FORGOT TO ADD TURN OFF POWER FIRST!!

[Phillip Patterson]

hey thanx for the replies guys i have taken everything on board and will give it a go and see what happens.

thanx again 😀