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wearstheink · September 30th, 2009

I would love any help/suggestions with this one...I have one line not delivering ink on my Anajet. I have the printer configured for YMCK/White and it's one of the white ink lines. Buying a new inkhead at nearly $900 is out of the question for me right now. Can I run my machine w/ a cleaning cartridge in this line? Or would I get terrible banding?? Has anyone tried this?? thanks....

zoom_monster · September 30th, 2009

Your head probably is not bad... at least not yet. If you cannot flush it when it's on the machine (chanel purge)You need to pull the lines off the dampers and flush them. I have a spare set of lines so that I can just switch them out and flush when not in the machine. It you do leave this too long, you may get a permanent clog. You can run the machine on three lines if that's all you have. It's just slower. if that head is firing though and you put cleaning cart in there, you'll be spraying cleaning fluid on your shirt. Just put an empty white cart in there.

Ian

wearstheink · September 30th, 2009

what exactly do you mean by "flush" the line?? thanks much--

23spiderman · September 30th, 2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by wearstheink


	what exactly do you mean by "flush" the line?? thanks much--

Open up the printhead assembly and pull out the damper of the line that's clogged. Disconnect the tube from the damper and try to pull ink through. If ink won't budge, put in a cleaning cartridge and try to pull the cleaning fluid through. You may have to try to push the fluid from the end of the tube as well. If you're pushing fluid from the end of the tube (that you disconnected from the damper), leave the white cartridge in so that you don't contaminate the cleaning cartridge.

There's a video on Anajet's website (tech support page) that shows how to pull out the dampers. It's quite easy and something you'll need to be familiar with.

Keep us informed on how your progress is going. Ian is very helpful on these forums, as well as Anajet's forums, and he may have other suggestions.

wearstheink · September 30th, 2009

Thank for your reply Sean. Actually, I had already checked both ends of the line, as well as the damper. Everything seemed perfect. After reading your post, I decided to try again, just because it seemed more productive than sitting here staring at my machine. What I saw this time was that the TINY O-ring at the end near the cartridge is damaged. I'm really hoping that could be the problem??

23spiderman · September 30th, 2009

So you can pull ink through the tube? If so, can you pull ink through the damper? If so, with the printhead parked over the capping station, can you pull ink through all 4 lines using the white waste ink tube?

wearstheink · September 30th, 2009

no, i can't...

wearstheink · September 30th, 2009

whoops, i take that back. I was using the needle instead of the part I attach when checking the damper...now I am getting ink from the waste tube...

wearstheink · October 1st, 2009

Hi all--
Not sure if anyone can help, but here's my situation at this point: I have thoroughly flushed the white ink line that is not firing. I can draw ink from the line at both ends, as well as thru the damper. With the print head carriage parked at the maintenance station, I am able to draw ink from the waste tube. When I run a purge for this line, nothing appears.

As I said in my post before, the O-ring on the line near the cartridge is damaged, but I'm thinking that is not causing my problem since I can still draw ink thru the line at the damper end.

If there is ANYTHING else I could try, I would love suggestions. A good deal of my business involves white ink and w/o this line firing, I am getting lots of stripes in my artwork making it unacceptable. My business is small--hopefully growing!--and there just isn't an extra $900 laying around for a new printhead.

Thanks.

23spiderman · October 1st, 2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by wearstheink


	Hi all-- Not sure if anyone can help, but here's my situation at this point: I have thoroughly flushed the white ink line that is not firing. I can draw ink from the line at both ends, as well as thru the damper. With the print head carriage parked at the maintenance station, I am able to draw ink from the waste tube. When I run a purge for this line, nothing appears. As I said in my post before, the O-ring on the line near the cartridge is damaged, but I'm thinking that is not causing my problem since I can still draw ink thru the line at the damper end. If there is ANYTHING else I could try, I would love suggestions. A good deal of my business involves white ink and w/o this line firing, I am getting lots of stripes in my artwork making it unacceptable. My business is small--hopefully growing!--and there just isn't an extra $900 laying around for a new printhead. Thanks.

Ok, here's the next step I would do. Just note that you MUST be extremely carefull doing this, and I guarantee you Anajet wouldn't recommend it.

Turn off the printer and move your printhead off the capping station. Take the printhead assembly apart so you can get to the dampers. Remove the damper of the channel that's not firing. If you have an extra damper, take your syringe with cleaning fluid and connect it to this "clean" damper. Gently, GENTLY apply pressure sending the cleaning fluid into the head. This will only send the fluid through the nozzles of the channel your damper is connected to. If you don't have an extra damper, clean out the one that you removed and use it.

I also place a mirror under the printhead so I can see when the fluid comes out. You'll probably notice only one or so drops of liquid at first. As the fluid dissolves the ink, you should be able to see many tiny droplets come out of the head.

With the mirror under the head, you'll also know if your head is clean or not. It shouldn't have any ink on it. Use your anti-static pads with cleaning fluid to remove any ink.

Again, this is a slow process. You don't want to shove all that fluid through at once. I've done this several times (on each white channel), and it worked for me. However, there are many on these forums that will advise against this because you run the risk of ruining your printhead. Of course, in my opinion, the printhead is useless if you aren't getting the results you need, so you'll have to determine your own risk tolerance regarding this.

This would also be a good time to replace/clean your wiper blade, wiper foam, capping station, etc.

wearstheink · October 1st, 2009

Thank you. Your method seems to make a lot of sense....tho I really hate "operating" on my machine like this. It makes me crazy nervous! I'll let you know if I decide to try it. I appreciate your knowledge & help.

zoom_monster · October 1st, 2009

I would suggest watching the videos, calling tech support about any move you make to increase your comfort level. The first time you take anything apart is always the hardest, but the more familiar you get with it, the better you'll understand your machine and be able to troubleshoot any issues that will arise.

Ian

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