Using non OEM parts for printer, views please?

[Kevin Beck]

My tec guy told me the docking station non gen part was a tad too small so part of the head was left open. That’s on a Mimaki. I think the difference was £40

[David Rogers]

I mix and match on genuine / generic parts.

Wipers – real deal as only a few pounds in it for a pack.
Capping Stations – so long as it’s rated for solvent…cheap ones from digiprint work fine.
Dampers – again, good quality generic parts work for me.
Ribbon cables – got to be NUTS to pay £13 each (x8) for branded ones when I can get 8 for £12 online.

I swap out the parts of the maintenance station rather than replace as a unit if you can…a bit messy and fiddly but ultimately dirt cheap and gives you another couple of years.

Done on my Mimaki capping station (yesterday).

[Martyn Heath]

Thanks david, im just weighing up doing it myself and something goes wrong, lost time and money vs paying an engineer to do it with hopefully no problems. Im guessing its a 2-3 hours for a professional to change the maintenance station and damper?

Ive never done it before, been watching videos but it always seems straight forward until something goes wrong 🙂

[David Rogers]

Maintenance stations are relatively easy…just very, very messy. Take to bits methodically. You can be a bit cheeky and use the old tubing and just replace the actual caps.

Dampers…used to strike fear into the heart of many people. "You’ll snap the manifold…THEN you’ll be sorry!"
Solvent ink ruins plastic…it gets brittle. In 7 years of changing dampers (maybe 100+) I’ve snapped off one manifold fitting on an old machine. Fiddly to fix but not as big a deal as you’d think if willing to have a go.

Pulling off perfectly vertically reduces to risk to almost nil…getting some funky angles in…it’s gonna crack an old manifold.

[Stafford Cox]

Always genuine for me. I’ve seen too many failures of ‘high quality generic’ parts in my time to run the risk. Do it right and do it once.

Mutoh recommend replacing the entire maintenance assembly and wiper every 12 months. They do get pretty crusty but 18-24 months is my recommendation.

Stafford.

[Martyn Heath]

Thanks for the info david and stafford. Some good tips and tricks if im going to have a go.

I read somewhere that your supposed to have a cleaning kit and clean the dampers with solvent cleaner before installing to remove any excess water for manufacture. Is this true?

thanks

[Stafford Cox]

New one on me to be honest. Unless you’re having ink leaks or dropouts from the head, I’d leave the dampers alone. As said earlier in this post, you can potentially snap a manifold and while it’s not difficult to do, it’s down time for pretty much no reason.

[Martyn Heath]

thanks again :thumbsup:

[Bernard Gallagher]

David Rogers when replacing the capping station on a Mimaki do you need to adjust settings or put in & go?? Looking At doing my own as get can’t a technician. Looks straight forward enough job.

[Stafford Cox]

Assuming it’s a JV33, replacing the cap alone doesn’t need calibration. Replacing the whole station will need recalibrating.

[Bernard Gallagher]