MP5 maintenance station dirty
[Anajet]
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Funny coincidence that you ask. I had just emailed Anajet tech support about that yesterday. The reply said to make sure the rubber ovals get clean and it also said "All the machines have ink that puddles up in between the ovals on the metal plate and this will eventually drain out."
So, I guess that is considered normal.
If you end up talking to Anajet tech support and learn something different, please report back here.
Eric
So, I guess that is considered normal.
If you end up talking to Anajet tech support and learn something different, please report back here.
Eric
Thanks Eric, am going to try call tech support soon about some other stuff too, we in NZ so they are 19hours behind us
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I don't think that having some ink in the caps is unusually, but if they are flooded... that might be an issue. If the ink is constantly puddling in the caps, then the bottom of the print heads are going to get wet. The wiper blade would be responsible for cleaning off the extra ink on the bottom of the print heads. If not, that could cause deflection issues and may lead to the nozzles getting clogged if exposed to air. In the meantime, you might want to pay close attention to your wiper blade and keep it clean.
A picture of what you are describing as "wet again, like puddle" might help others provide you advice. You can post it in this forum by clicking on the "Go Advanced" button below. You might also want to provide that picture to tech support as well so they can see exactly what is going on.
Just some suggestions based on my experiences with several different dtg printers. Let us know what tech support says after looking at your picture.
Mark
A picture of what you are describing as "wet again, like puddle" might help others provide you advice. You can post it in this forum by clicking on the "Go Advanced" button below. You might also want to provide that picture to tech support as well so they can see exactly what is going on.
Just some suggestions based on my experiences with several different dtg printers. Let us know what tech support says after looking at your picture.
Mark
It seems like the drain pump can't keep up with the amount of ink that comes out during a clean cycle and it just oozes out the sides of the rubber seals onto the plate. I assume that's why the plate is there with the drain canal carved in. To catch all that excess ink. Otherwise there would be ink everywhere.
Yes, it now seems like the puddles are after multiple head cleans, the main thing seems to be keeping the rubber seals clean, I guess ink is just one of those things that gets everywhere. I did call tech support and spent an hour on the phone trying to fix air in our lines and empty white dampers (succeeded too). Didn't ask about the puddles as the main thing was that we can now print and continue testing as we have only had the MP5 a month.
I talked to tech support yesterday to get some help with bad nozzle checks and I was told I could clean up the puddles with a paper towel.
Regarding my bad nozzle checks, they recommended removing and cleaning the wiper during my weekly maintenance rather than cleaning it in place like it shows in their training video. Once I thoroughly cleaned that, it took a couple of head clean cycles and refilling the ink lines to purge air and now I'm getting good nozzle checks again. There is definitely a bit of a learning curve (I've only had my MP5 about 3 weeks) to keep it running smooth but I imagine it will eventually become routine.
Eric
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Eric...how bad were your nozzle checks? and was this a result of hte gaps (air) in the lines? I'm having the same issue. Very poor nozzle checks and sometimes nothing comes out after just sitting for a few hours. Can you provide info on how many clean cycles you ran and what stage (1,2 or 3)? By filling the ink lines do you mean the command you would use when you first fille the lines with ink when you got the machine? Your answers would be greatly appreciated my friend!
Well, I ran a nozzle check, first of the day where pretty much nothing came out at all and that was the first time I saw that since I have had the printer (about 3 weeks) so I called tech support. We were on the phone a while and I don't remember every single step. I do remember that we re-did much of my weekly maintenance - I removed the wiper blade to clean it better and that dirty wiper blade was making a mess of the print head and print nozzles. After we thoroughly cleaned, I want to say we ran a level 1 print head clean and the nozzle check wasn't good so then they had me try a few things. As I said I don't remember exactly but I think we may have done two level 2 cleanings and maybe one level 3 also. We were still not getting satisfactory nozzle checks so that was when support asked me to look at the ink lines in the printer and see if there were spots with no ink - there were so they had me fill the print lines and purge lines just like when you turn on the printer for the first time immediately followed by a print head clean (I forget which level).
Sorry that I have forgotten some of the details but if you are having a similar problem, I suggest you call tech support and I'm sure they can step you through it as they did for me.
Eric
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105 Posts
Thanks Eric.
Ray has responded from Anajet and given me instructions on what to do. Ultimately according to his email its possible the ink controller firmwear must be reinstalled or the ink control boards must be replaced. I'm not hip on having issues like this right out the gate but it is what it is. Thanks!
Ray has responded from Anajet and given me instructions on what to do. Ultimately according to his email its possible the ink controller firmwear must be reinstalled or the ink control boards must be replaced. I'm not hip on having issues like this right out the gate but it is what it is. Thanks!
I am having that same problems every day I have to jump though a lot of hoops just to get good nozzle checks. First I release the carriage and wipe clean the bottom bottom of the inkhead and also clean the wiper and the station. Then I will the print lines. Next you do level 3 head cleaning.
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Trifate...I do the exact same thing. Starting out the day or afternoon with simply a printhead clean and nozzle check doesnt cut it. I do the same thing and literally wipe the bottom of the printhead carriage with cleaning solution using those lint-free cloths and then I use a swab to clean around the docking station. That wiper is that one that gives me hell. A better designed squeegee that wont allow the ink to stick to it to replace that crappy wiper on it now would be a nice future upgrade. My RH is within range as well as temperature....I just cant get a nice pretty nozzle check to save my life! Shes playing hard to get at the moment.
Seems like most of us are having the same issues. We had air gaps in the lines, as well as empty dampers causing ink starvation. We replaced our wiper blade (after only a month) and the head cleans are much much better. The old wiper has slight ink build up on it that can't be seen or cleaned properly whilst installed so we have replaced it and will clean it ready for the next time we need to swap out.
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Is it only me or would everyone agree it wasnt quite ready to hit the market just yet until some additional testing took place? I must mention however that Ray Larason (tech support) with Anajet has been superb at anwering my questions by email which I prefer so that ive got something to refer to if it re-occurs. Any "minor" glitches we've had to this point have been handled wonderfully by Ray. So while my printer right now isnt on my Christmas list at the moment....without Ray I would have packaged it up and sent it back.
One problem I had that it doesnt appear no one else has pointed out was the inablility to get AnaRIP to open in my windows 7 laptop. I ultimately had to restore the operating system to its initial settings on the first partition of the hard drive and then systematically re-installed all vital software only (adobe collection, corel, flexi, anarip, office, autocad). Now everything runs perfectly. The one thing I have not done is allowed windows to update the computer automatically. I believe this is the cause. So for whatever its worth if you encounter this problem its documented now on the forum. In this case, I was quick to blame Anajet and again Ray was great about providing suggestions. So I think those with the resiliency to endure the "glitches" phase of this printer will end up satisfied with the results.
One problem I had that it doesnt appear no one else has pointed out was the inablility to get AnaRIP to open in my windows 7 laptop. I ultimately had to restore the operating system to its initial settings on the first partition of the hard drive and then systematically re-installed all vital software only (adobe collection, corel, flexi, anarip, office, autocad). Now everything runs perfectly. The one thing I have not done is allowed windows to update the computer automatically. I believe this is the cause. So for whatever its worth if you encounter this problem its documented now on the forum. In this case, I was quick to blame Anajet and again Ray was great about providing suggestions. So I think those with the resiliency to endure the "glitches" phase of this printer will end up satisfied with the results.
Do you manually clean the bottom of the print head every day no matter how many shirts you printed since the last clean or do you only do it if you have printed over a certain number of shirts?
Other than the beginning of this week up until I did that thorough cleaning yesterday, I have been getting decent nozzle checks. Since yesterdays cleaning nozzle checks have been good too.
I think Anajet may have mentioned in their maintenance training video or in their manual that if you are printing a lot of shirts, it may be necessary to do the weekly maintenance more often than once per week.
Eric
Over the last couple of days, I had both Ray and Vinny helping me. Vinny is the one that stepped me through the procedure I mentioned earlier (cleaning and filling lines with ink).
I have AnaRIP running on my Windows 7 desktop and laptop without any problems. I have windows update set to notify me when there are updates and then I tell it when I am ready to let it install the update. So far, no conflicts with AnaRIP (knock on wood)!
Eric
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I clean it regardless of whether I printed 4 shirts for a customer or 40 for an organization. I prefer to start fresh having problems mid way thru the run.
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