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Major Head Strike Versacamm VS-540
Hi All,
Yesterday left the room for about 30 minutes to return to the printer with the print carriage half way across with ripped vinyl… Must have been a hard head strike as the cutting carriage and print carriage had separated. The only thing I can tell from the vinyl is it looks like the vinyl bunched near the media clamp to the point of ripping.
Since this we have done multiple cleans, manual head clean, overnight head soak and I have attached the images of both the nozzle check and some magenta and black test prints. As you can see looks like we have a lot of the magenta nozzles out and some of the black.
I have attached the images of the head strike vinyl, the nozzle check today after all cleaning and also the banding on the test print.
I just need some advice really? Are these nozzles completely out or could this be blockage from the vinyl adhesive?
Is there anything else I could try or is this just a matter of a new head?
Also if it is a new head, we are not on the Roland Service plan so any advice who best to contact and roughly how long / how much we are looking at… We have a back log of orders from online marketplaces as we print wall art, so my main worry is how long it will take for somebody to come out and replace the head.
Seems the DX6 Heads are roughly between £1300 and £1500 online so I know this isn’t going to be a cheap affair.
Kind Regards,
Matt.
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8 Replies
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Ok, first thing to do is take a picture of the surface of the printhead to see if there are any signs of physical damage. My guess is not as it’s on one channel that’s affected.
In terms of getting a head replaced, there are always ways to avoid labour charges such as converting to alternative inks or taking out a contract on it. But let’s see if we can sort it free on here first.
Stafford.
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Trying to get a good photo of the head seems a bit difficult so i’ve attached a few.
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Yeah, it is tricky. It doesn’t look too bad to be honest. I’ve certainly seen worse. Have you manually cleaned the surface with a swab and cleaning solution? Also, I’m pretty sure you can do a choke clean on the VS, have you tried that?
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Agree with Stafford. Been here before. Soak the head with a cleaning swab then powerful clean, then another one again. It can take time. In our case we ended up with 2 yellow nozzles being out.
If you get to the point of no return and do give up try some IPA on the head. I’ve heard of others doing that.
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Thanks for the replies guys. Doesn’t seem like anything is working but we have got Andrew Malcolm coming out tomorrow morning to have a look over it as we have some urgent printing to do. I’ve sent him the pics and he cant see any major issues with the head just thinks there maybe one scratch but doesn’t think it lines up with the Magenta that is out on the nozzle check. Just praying that it doesn’t need the new head but we will see.
Since we bought it (2nd User) it has always had a couple of deflections on the black (maybe the scratch) but with this the nozzles just aren’t spraying so im hoping there blocked with some vinyl adhesive maybe.
Is it safe to swab gently with ipa? As I imagine this may clear the nozzles if it is adhesive?
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I don’t think any engineer would tell you to do it but I have known others to do it with mixed success.
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As others have said been there
Looking at the last picture the head surface needs cleaning and I don’t think the cap is seating correctly and probably not cleaning it’s self due to poor seal.
What I have learned with the vs is the cap seal must be perfect and must be checked regularly.
Don’t normally recommend power cleans or chock as puts a very heavy use on the pump and ink use. In my experience no gain. If the system seals pipes etc all good a medium is the most required -
Personally, I wouldn’t use IPA. I don’t think it’s aggressive enough. I would use whichever head cleaning solution that corresponds to your inks and good quality swabs.
As for the choke clean, I guess you need to make your own decision on it. I rate it as it closes the cartridge valves off and uses the pump to build up pressure before releasing the valves and wallops a load of ink through. It does use more ink than a clean but compared to the price of a head, it’s minimal. Entirely up to you. Chris has much more day to day experience with the VS than me as he lives with one every day, I just repair them when they go wrong. Which isn’t that often you’ll be pleased to hear.
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