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V-camm Ink Drops on Prints – PIC Please Help
I have recently noticed on some of my prints these little drops of ink. They are scattered and very randomly placed. Sometimes on the very edge of the media, and are always spot colors (c,m,y or k). Today I noticed a few of them on this print and I’m getting concerned, anyone know what this is? I did a test print with no dot drop-outs, and have ran the automatic cleaning a couple times since they appeared a few days ago.
I figured I would ask you guys first before I call the dealer. Is there an easy fix? Thanks in advance.
Doyle
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14 Replies
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It looks like you may have hair or dust around a print head. A clean from the machine will normally not fix this, you need to manually clean it with one of those sponge things on a stick (that’s the technical name) very carefully around the outside edge of the print heads. You should be able to get down and see the offending bit of dirt.
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As posted above you need to clean around your heads with the cleaning swabs. Over time ink builds up on the heads and will drip off onto your prints. Sometimes hair of fuzz can also get caught on the head and cause overspray from nozzle deflection or cause drips. Your dealer should have showed you these steps when you got the machine.
Here is a short How-To on how to clean your versacamm.
http://printingdigital.net/forums/showthread.php?t=202Also it looks like you have some slight banding in the purple. If you go through and run all the calibrations it should clear that up.
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Thanks for the quick replies. My dealer kind of did a quick crash-course on the cleaning, but I can honestly say that I only remembered about half of all the things that they showed me.
Doyle
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Have you tried doing a head clean? On the printer click MENU scan up to HEAD CLEAN and scan accros to MEDIUM. This usually sorts it out for us.
H
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frog mans right, use the cleaning kit pour some flush fluid on to a cleaning stick ( sponge bit) gentaly rub the heads, only do a mechanical head clean when absolutly nessasary as it causes wear on the print heads! 😉
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quote eddie cotter:frog mans right, use the cleaning kit pour some flush fluid on to a cleaning stick ( sponge bit) gentaly rub the heads, only do a mechanical head clean when absolutly nessasary as it causes wear on the print heads! 😉
Key point here is not to touch the bottom of the heads, you only need to clean the sides. Touching the bottom of the heads can push debre into the nozzles and clog them. The wipers will take care of anything on the bottom of the heads.
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I did the manual cleaning, but the book says to use nothing but the swabs, no solution or anything. I tried this, then did a test print with horrible results. There were 4 or 5 dots missing. So I did a powerful head cleaning and it resolved the dot dropouts. Haven’t printed enough yet to see if the drip problem is gone. Thanks!
Doyle
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quote drogers4:I did the manual cleaning, but the book says to use nothing but the swabs, no solution or anything. I tried this, then did a test print with horrible results. There were 4 or 5 dots missing. So I did a powerful head cleaning and it resolved the dot dropouts. Haven’t printed enough yet to see if the drip problem is gone. Thanks!
Doyle
Trust me the cleaning solution does the job much better.. If you dont have a bottle of solution you can either bust open one of your cleaning carts or just order a bottle from your dealer..
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Thanks for the info. I need to order some of that cleaning solution.
Doyle
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We have had this same problem and it has cleared up with cleaning.
Also the heads can go after a year of work so be prepared to have the heads fixed if you are in that situation. The other thing to replace is the wipers. If they are warped they will not clean properly. there is a option in the menus to show the wipers to see how they are. -
Remember when doing the manual cleaning, NOT to touch the nozzles with the cleaning sticks, just around the heads.
the droplets are excessive ink there is on/around the head and when you print it falls down on the print.
That’s why it doesn’t help doing a clean from the menu. -
all this advice is correct. cleaning the edge with a swab coated in cleaning solution, as well as replace the wipes. You’ll notice the wipes need replacing if they have a dip, or are coated in dried ink
My only advice to you would be not to do a powerful head clean for a few missing dots. It takes alot of ink and is a waste. A medium clean, on the one head would be sufficent and uses much less ink.
The other thing to be aware of is if your pumps are not working properly the waste ink will not be removed from the resevoir, and will sit on your heads causing the drips too.
No amount of cleaning will resolve that issue in that case.
Your pumps will sometimes get a small crack in the clear tubing causing air to get in, and reduce the effectiveness.
You should have your pumps checked every 6 months. I had all three of mine fail in one day, because I missed getting them checked for a year. They will start leaking when the failure is bad, but drawing air will only result in the drips on the print at first.
Hope that helps.
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In terms of cleaning the heads , we have found that if you DONT clean part of the head itself , problems still persist. The stainless steel frames are often not the big problem , its a collection of grime that builds up at the inferface or edge of the fram and this grime extends to the head. If you dont clean this build up at the edge of the head/bezel arrangement , it wicks ink and you get the drop problem. This is particularily prevalent at the corners. Take a mirror and a torch and closely inspect the heads for this. You can clean it away with a swab and flush. You can get lint free cloth patches called PEC pads at most pgoto shops , these are used to clean DSLR sensors which are VERY delicate , use these as they are also sealed and dont get dust buildup , wrap them around the exisiting swap and get sharp corners and use the “sharp” corners to clean the buildup. Swipe from the edge of the head to the SS frame , dont swipe acroiss the heads at all. Then let the machine do its normal head clean.
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quote Rodney Gold:In terms of cleaning the heads , we have found that if you DONT clean part of the head itself , problems still persist. The stainless steel frames are often not the big problem , its a collection of grime that builds up at the inferface or edge of the fram and this grime extends to the head. If you dont clean this build up at the edge of the head/bezel arrangement , it wicks ink and you get the drop problem. This is particularily prevalent at the corners. Take a mirror and a torch and closely inspect the heads for this. You can clean it away with a swab and flush. You can get lint free cloth patches called PEC pads at most pgoto shops , these are used to clean DSLR sensors which are VERY delicate , use these as they are also sealed and dont get dust buildup , wrap them around the exisiting swap and get sharp corners and use the “sharp” corners to clean the buildup. Swipe from the edge of the head to the SS frame , dont swipe acroiss the heads at all. Then let the machine do its normal head clean.
If your having a problem on the bottom edge of the heads you may want to check your wipers, generally the wipers will take care of the ink in that area.
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