Test Print Problems Mimaki CJV30-130

[Colin Crow]

We often had an issue with the magenta channel on our 6 colour cjv with a portion of the block missing in the way you describe. We suspected a capping problem and hybrid sent us a new capping head which we fitted and this solved the blocking for about a year although I have noticed it starting to creep back. The usual method to clear is, normal clean, deep clean, head swab with cleaner with a test in between each process. I know the instructions say dont touch the heads with the foam swab but the engineer does!

Colin

[Stafford Cox]

The engineers use more expensive swabs to clean the heads with, not the wooden handle cotton bud type ones.

Personally I would say it’s something other than the cap as it’s only happening on one channel. The fact it’s only on one yellow say to me it’s something unique to that line. I would look more towards damper if anything. If you are reasonably handy with a screw driver, and you’re 100% certain that the TWO YEARS warranty has expired, then I would (at your own risk of course) take the front off the head and swap the 2 yellow dampers over (position 3 and 6). Once that’s done, run a fillup ink or two (obviously make sure the waste tank isn’t about to over flow) and see what happens from there. If position 3 bursts back into life and position 6 starts to fail, you know you’ve got a duff damper. If the fault remains at position 3 you’ve got something else wrong. Maybe look at the cartridge solonoids or something. If they both start working then maybe you had a bit of crap stuck in the damper somewhere or something.

Good luck
Stafford

[Colin Crow]

We only ever use the foam cleaning swabs as prescribed in the manual (and supplied with the printer) for head cleaning – not cotton buds!

The new capping head solved a very similar problem on my CJV.

[Stafford Cox]

I didn’t realise the foam ones were supplied with the CJV, that’s good to know. Maybe you should try a cap first then if it’s fixed an similar error before, I just wouldn’t have expected one colour to fail given that the cap is common to all 8 head channels on these machines.

Every day’s a school day 🙂

[Neil Kelly]

well Good news I had a gut feeling that it was an ink starvation problem off some sort. After running every clean in the book I did a system flush and put the original flush cartridges that shipped with the machine (so glad i hung on to them i remember the guy who set it up was really keen to take them away with him) back in and cleanned the lines and head it was quite scary and anyone who hasnt seen your machine do this be prepaired for a violent back and forth shaking of the head halfway through. I think this is it swilling the solution around within the dampers to clean them out.

Well after refilling it appered to be slightly better and from a 45% failer it had reduced to 25% after a few more refills and cleans and and some blocked randem blocked nozzels , probably due to not having enough ink to refill straight away so the machine was in limbo for awhile untill I could pick some up today. (Big THANKS to Steve at Rising Signs for letting me pinch his spares ) I am happy to report It eventually came back to 100%.

My conclusion is it was not the Print Head, or a pump and was probably something restricting the ink flow to the print head, blockage, air bubble, dirty line, who knows? Anyone who may be concidering a Mimaki remember hang onto your Flush cartridges you may need them one day and never do a system flush without having two full sets of ink ready to refill imediatly after clean.

PS. Stafford I had already swapped the dampers yesterday exactly as you suggested but it didnt seem to make a difference. or maybee it did in combination with the flush and clean.

PPS. Many thanks for the advise Colin and Stafford and I hope this info might help any future Mimaki owners who come across the same problems. I will add that during my research I found a spares company in Belgum for all makes of machine and they do the dampers for 4 euro each and a six month service kit with full instructions on how to install inbox me if anyone wants the details..

Not one of the possible service companies I spoke to about an engineer call out suggested that I try the above, before they sent out an expensive tech. and there cost estimates were from £250 to £345 to come and take a look. I am not against thease companies making a living and one day after a major problem will rely on them to keep my machine up and running but I was disapointed that they lacked Integrity I suppose it would be like us fitting green letters on a blue van because thats what the customer asked for. well sometimes you you have to offer Free advise it pays dividens in the end. I will have to think carefully who I purchase an ongoing service contract with.

knowledge is power

Regards Neil…

[Stafford Cox]

Excellent news Neil, and thanks for posting up the results. It did sound like some sort of starvation problem which is why I was thinking dampers. Keep a close eye on it for the next few weeks in case the fault creeps back in but it sounds like you’ve got a result there.

All the best
Stafford

[Steve Lamb]

Neil

Glad you got it sorted out, no problem on helping, good to see you. Looks like it was a late one for you, 2am,

As Stafford says and I said yesterday, watch those dampers, if it has the bubble you said it had then its well worth getting a set to be able to change them. Did you need to use the syringe/

Steve

[Neil Kelly]

Yes i was shooting up all night thats why i coudnt sleep 🙂

[Fabrice Menard]

quote Neil Kelly:

I will add that during my research I found a spares company in Belgum for all makes of machine and they do the dampers for 4 euro each and a six month service kit with full instructions on how to install inbox me if anyone wants the details..

hello,
could you please tell me more about this kit?

[Neil Riley]

I’ve had the same problem with my CJV except it’s the Cyan channels for me.

Started losing half the test draw just like your pic. Sometimes one head side sometimes both. This started about a month after getting the machine.

Got the tech to look at it and he swapped the cap. Fixed it for about 4 months then started again. New caps makes much better suction for a while which tends to bring it back quicker.

Still an ongoing problem though. Only one year warranty on mine so I’m having to tackle this myself now. Recently bought a dozen new dampers from that online auction site and swapped the 2 cyan ones but then both channels leaked blue drips all over while printing. Beware cheap aftermarket dampers. (these were about $10 AUD each).

So I got my Mimaki supplier to send me 2 genuine dampers ($72 each!).
So far so good but I’m not expecting it to last long.

Neil I would like to know how you get on with your dampers (any drips or problems) and would also like to know the source if they’re any good.

Also you should learn how to isolate/open up one particular channel for flushing (with a syringe). This will save you a ton of ink and waste compared to doing what you did.

[Martin Pearson]

Neil (Riley), I’m sorry but if I am reading your post correctly then surely you shouldn’t be having to foot the bills yourself. I understand you only had a years warranty but if this problem started about a month after you got the machine and you have had to live with having to change the dampers every few months then surely the machine wasn’t fixed properly in the first place.
If the dampers are suppose to last longer than yours do then I would have thought that the machine had another fault that was causing this problem. Not sure if it would be classed as unfit for purpose but got to be close to something like that if it’s not operating as it should.

[Neil Kelly]

I got my dampers from
http://www.digiprint-supplies.com/index.php

but i havent fitted them yet as all is working fine at the moment

the syringe would definatly be the better option to draw ink through the line

no drips from me I would check they are seated properly.

the only time i get drips contaminating the print is if the head is dirty usually find a tiny hair or a piece of fluff is the problem and once cleared it fixes the problem I use foam pads and a torch so i can get a good look at the head when im cleaning.

foam buds available from

http://cpc.farnell.com/1/1/43005-foambu … olube.html

best of luck let us know how you get on

neil…

[Neil Riley]

Martin, it’s just something I’ve got to live with. Being it’s intermittent and there’s no one answer as to the cause. Could be dampers, cap top, air leak, micro filter in the head, pump, connections or the ink. I’m using Mimaki Eco HS1 BTW.

Neil, these aftermarket dampers were the cause for the drips.
Funny coz they look exactly the same as the genuine ones, but the ink just falls through them. I noticed when I switched back that the little button thing was more responsive on the genuine ones – and they are labelled "Compresson Dampers". So I have the feeling the non genuine ones weren’t able to keep the pressure consistent.

All speculation on my part yet but putting it out there as a warning.

As soon as I swapped back to the original dampers, the dripping stopped.
Then I changed again to new Mimaki dampers and still no dripping.

[Richard Thompson]

Hi Everybody,

Im getting a band missing when i run a test print on the black!

I Have done the following so far…

Cleaning: normal, soft,hard

Changed Capping station

I have read in this thread about using a syringe??
How do you do that. could anybody kindly explain how to do that "step by step"

Sounds like the dampers????

Thanks

Richard

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Attachments:

[John Thomson]

quote Richard Thompson:

Hi Everybody,

Im getting a band missing when i run a test print on the black!

I Have done the following so far…

Cleaning: normal, soft,hard

Changed Capping station

I have read in this thread about using a syringe??
How do you do that. could anybody kindly explain how to do that “step by step”

Head strike?

john

Sounds like the dampers????

Thanks

Richard

Head strike?

john

[Richard Thompson]

Hi John

What is a head strike?

Richard

[Kevin Flowers]

Richard
head strike is when the head has struck the vinyl or media clamps etc, once its damaged there is no repair except a new head

Kev

[Stafford Cox]

Or it could have hit one of the screw on the capping station. I usually replace those screws with countersunk ones. It does look like a physically damaged head if I’m honest. Is it a JV3S or SP? If it’s an SP, take the head to the far end and take the silver panel off and take a photo of the bottom of the heads.

[Richard Thompson]

Thanks for the help everybody, i will take a picture of the printers print head and will post one.

Thanks again for the help.

Richard

[Jawad]

We are having the same problem with the black head with mimkai Ts3 1600.