-
Roland Sp-540V – no M or Y ink printing – Needs Servicing?
Good Morning, I was hoping someone could help me. I have a Roland 540, but I am more a printer than ever a signwriter – and I am having problems. Machine has worked flawlessly for the first year – and now that I havent used it for over a month – it has developed problems. It will not print magenta and yellow. I have done a deep clean via the menu – but that has not helped – there is no ink coming out whatsoever in M and Y. I have been searching for help – and I just cannot find much on the net about servicing these machines. Your site has seemed the most knowledgeable which is why I have registered from New Zealand. I am hoping that someone might be able to help – or point me to a direction. I have seen one page that was quite helpful – but didn’t solve the problem.
(a) What cleaning solvent are you supposed to use. People keep talking about cleaning the heads etc – but with what? I have heard some people talk about busting open flushing cartridges and using that fluid. (for that matter should I be flushing – and how do I view the ink lines to see if this is the problem?)?
(b) I hear a lot of talk about dampers – but what exactly are the dampers?I have heard some talk on the net that the fact that it is magenta and yellow playing up might be indicative of something as they share some similar part. Does anyone have some feedback that might help me isolate the problem? Keeping in mind that the problem may well have occured from too little use over the last few months.
Thanks greatly.
Peter -
4 Replies
-
Was your printer plugged into the power and switch turned on while not in use? I’m pretty sure the versacamm does its own cleaning every 12 hours.
If it wasn’t you probably need to flush the lines out. I remember when I got my versacamm is came with a cleaning/flushing cartridge that was run through before inks were installed. You might need the same thing done.
-
I had the same problem with my Cadet (a converted Versacamm). It turned out to be the dampers that were faulty. These are little plastic devices that feed the heads with ink from tubes coming from the ink cartridges. Apparently these can develop little cracks that allow air to be drawn through instead of the ink.
-
Peter
Point 1.Below is a description of how i would proceed if i had your problem but please be aware that if you are not confident in working on these machines then call in a tech to sort it for you. Point 2 ensure your machine is switched off when ever you carry out any of the procedures listed if you spill ink on to the head circuits or any other board you will do damageYour main cause is probably that the machine hasn’t been used, this causes the head to clogg up & the capping station to dry up. You can split a flush cartridge open & use the fluid, wind down the capping station and apply fluid, then wind the capping station back in place & leave to soak. Quick tip use a small bulldog clip on the tube coming out of the bottom of the capping station to stop the cleaning fluid from draining away, just remember to remove before doing a clean.. Start the machine up & do a clean, followed by a test print if you are lucky you will start to get color through. If not get a syringe with a small nozzle, separate the tube from the capping station to the pump. Fit the syringe to the tube going to the capping station & slowly draw the syringe back, there should be resistance against the plunger,(if there is no resistance then the capping station is not sealing) once you start having ink in the syringe let in run to the syringe for a while & then stop pulling. Disconnect the syringe & reconnect the pump tubes as they were & print a test. The next steps if you are not getting anything are more involved & i would only recommend if you are confident to play with these machines. Other problems that can be associated with the problem of two colors on the same head not working can be 1. Head fault, 2. Head board fault, however the first thing to check is that it is not just clogged up. It sounds like you machine is also due for a service cap stations, dampers etc so may be wise to have a tech look over it.
Kev
-
excellent advice from Kevin also you need to make sue that the pump to that pair of heads is working otherwise it wont clean.
with the head to the left cleaning position put 3 or 4 drops of cleaning fluid on the caps and turn the brass pump drive anticlockwise a couple of turns the fluid should be sucked away.chris
Log in to reply.