[killerwebs]

Ok,

I guess this is a Monday...

Arrived at work today to find our MP5 printer stuck in Auto Circulate mode, had to power down. When I could not get it to print, I checked my ink cartridges and the whole printer was empty, it sucked out all the ink over the weekend, these were new cartridges too..

Have not spoke with Anajet yet, anyone had this issue before?

 

[JeridHill]

If the ink circulates, why would your cartridges be empty? The only way I could see it being empty is if it was purging and not recirculating. It might be worth getting some clarification as to how the system works when using the circulating function.

 

[23spiderman]

total guess here, but if the circulation somehow caused ink to get into the capping station, then siphoning could have occurred. basically, you have a wet "connection" from the ink carts all the way through the capping station and into your waste ink tank. once the ink starts flowing, it doesn't stop until the pressure is equalized.

 

[killerwebs]

My understanding is Auto Circulate actually purges some ink thru the system / heads, so if it is stuck in that mode for 24 hours +, I could see how it could empty the system.

 

[JeridHill]

The heads you are using should have circulation in the head, but it shouldn't be going through the nozzles, unless it's programmed to do that. Circulation should only be cycling internally to keep the ink from settling. Sorry, I don't have any other info, I'm not sure how your system is designed.

 

[estrada]

siphoning is a common occurrence if you leave the waste tank valve open overnight. We have had this issue before with our t-jets. However I've never owned an anajet. Did your white ink mix with your cmyk? If not, you might still reuse that ink...

 

[killerwebs]

I did speak with tech support. Nothing changed on the printer, other than firmware updates, and this has not happened before.

Reloaded new cartridges, refilled lines, working again. Told just to watch it and see if it happens again. And they are sending out replacement set of inks.

 

[abhobden]

I did speak with tech support. Nothing changed on the printer, other than firmware updates, and this has not happened before.

Reloaded new cartridges, refilled lines, working again. Told just to watch it and see if it happens again. And they are sending out replacement set of inks.

As far as tech support told me today on the phone, the circulate function literally just circulates the ink around the lines internally and it doesn't go through the heads or get purged in any way. We have stayed with the old firmware as we had problems with one of our cartridges not accepting so reverted back to 1.0.1. Hope we never have this problem with ours...

 

[onthespotgraphix]

I have had a similar problem after updating to the updated 1.0.3 firmwear released 4/16/12. The display becomes non-responsive or very slow in moving up and down your selection on the screen. I'm also getting this intermittent COMM FAIL not recognizing several ink cartridges. If you have a COMM FAIL you cannot do printhead cleans or nozzle checks. Then suddenly the COMM FAIL goes away replaced by GOOD. A few minutes later it does it again. I check the head voltages and they are all in the 22.### range. I have replaced cartridges and its no fix. Needless to say its taken two days to try and print a sample of a new shirt for a customer and still dont have anything to show for it. I've reverted back to the 1.0.1 firmwear and no updates to the ink slot and wiper blade and still having issues with the COMM FAIL. if the cartridges all show GOOD and I try and run a test print, the carriage suddenly stops midway thru the print directly on the shirt and the printer becomes non responsive to any buttons on the display forcing me to power off from the back. Anyone with these similar issues?

 

[abhobden]

After our update, our Cyan cartridge shows "old version" and can't do any prints, put a new cartridge in and it does the same thing. Fortunately we were able to revert back to 1.0.1 and everything shows "good". Seems like the firmware update hasn't been properly tested prior to release. If we all put in tech support requests hopefully they will come back with a proper update.

 

[23spiderman]

this kind of stuff is always my concern when buying a brand new model of anything. AnaJet had similar problems when they rushed the Sprint into circulation. hopefully for all of you, their tech support performs better than they have in the past and they get these things fixed, since this kind of stuff should have been tested better in the first place.

 

[onthespotgraphix]

I agree Spiderman. Test it and then test it some more. Once youre comfortable with the results then take it apart and evaluate if each piece is designed to optimum or if improving it can make it even better. Then re-assemble and test it again. My former background is in manufacturing engineering. I can tell this machine's potential might have have carried more weight than the machine's performance. Good thing though is that if you fix the latter the potential can be achieved and I believe they are headed in the right direction.

 

[beanie357]

Dtg ain't at the level it needs to be quite yet.
Spoken from experience.

A few more generationsd and methinks it might be the coolest thing since sliced bread.

 

[abhobden]

We are getting good support now from our dealer, rather than Anajet Tech Support. Hopefully over the next few days we will start to get some issues sorted. Over the month we have had the machine, I think we now know most of what there is to about the inner workings of our MP5. Its annoying having to go through that but in the long run, it's definately going to be beneficial (thats whats keeping me going anyhow!)