[asuanlarm]

So, I have two Anajet Sprint machines at the office and they've sat unused for a little less than a month. Both machines had cleaning fluid in the lines. The other day, I was able to start the machines and do some head cleanings and cleaned the wiper blade. Everything seemed fine. Two days later, I went back to start the machines again for regular maintenance and there is was loud grinding noise. The only thing I could do was to switch off the power at the back. Anyway, I can't get the machines to do anything without that dreaded grinding noise. I cleaned the encoder strip and it seemed like it was going to work. It worked fine for a couple of head cleans and then it happened again.

I'm posting here because we are located in Japan. We bought the machines from an ISS show in America. I was told to contact the Japanese distributor for help but they said they won't service our machines since we purchased them from America. If anyone has any remedies or advice, I would truly appreciate the help.

-Anuck

 

[kevrokr]

Try lubing the metal rail that the Carriage Unit rides along. If you still have issues, you may have to replace the pump unit. Hope this helps!

 

[JeridHill]

If you get the grinding noise and power off your machine, if you can't move the print head, then the wiper blade isn't unlocking properly and the pump assembly (as kevin mentioned above) needs replaced. The pump assembly is the same thing as capping station or capping assembly.

 

[asuanlarm]

The wiper blade is moving strangely and clicking as well. Also, it bumps up against something when it tries to raise. I can't make it to the office today so it's yet another day the Sprints are left being unused. We already lost a small order. Most of our business is embroidery and sublimation so we're not hurting but I would really like to get these machines back into working condition.

 

[JeridHill]

If the wiper blade is clicking when it's rotating, then that does sound like the problem. Your capping station would need to be replaced.

 

[zoom_monster]

If you manually rotate the gears on the capping station, you may be able to see the problem and fix it. This can either be done by turning a screw in one of the ink bays (accusable by pulling out a cart), or by reaching under the capping station and rotating a big white gear.
Rotate until the head is unlocked, but before the wiper rotates up. By the way, do this all with the power off.

Once the head is moved to the left and you can see the capping station, reach for the gear again and rotate until the wiper is in the up position. Next, rotate the other direction until the blade is down, but before a small white tab in the back left of the capping area moves into move into a slot (this is what locks the head). If you do not see this tab move smoothly or there is a hesitation, then something is broken and the capping station should be replaced. If it seems smooth and you can rotate easily back and forth, it could be that the printer was turned off wrong at the wrong moment and stuff got out of sync.

If you get it back to " until the blade is down, but before a small white tab in the back left of the capping area moves into move into a slot " And turn on the machine, The head will re-home and re-seat. If it does not or you hear the grinding again immediately turn off the machine(keep you finger on the switch at the back of the printer). If it re-seats, do a nozzle check or test print and also do a head clean to make sure the problem does not re occur. If the unit is over a year old, it may be a good idea to have a spare on hand as well as to get yourself familliar with how to change it. I believe, there is still a video on the website in the tech support area.

 

[kevrokr]

If you manually rotate the gears on the capping station, you may be able to see the problem and fix it. This can either be done by turning a screw in one of the ink bays (accusable by pulling out a cart), or by reaching under the capping station and rotating a big white gear.
Rotate until the head is unlocked, but before the wiper rotates up. By the way, do this all with the power off.

Once the head is moved to the left and you can see the capping station, reach for the gear again and rotate until the wiper is in the up position. Next, rotate the other direction until the blade is down, but before a small white tab in the back left of the capping area moves into move into a slot (this is what locks the head). If you do not see this tab move smoothly or there is a hesitation, then something is broken and the capping station should be replaced. If it seems smooth and you can rotate easily back and forth, it could be that the printer was turned off wrong at the wrong moment and stuff got out of sync.

If you get it back to " until the blade is down, but before a small white tab in the back left of the capping area moves into move into a slot " And turn on the machine, The head will re-home and re-seat. If it does not or you hear the grinding again immediately turn off the machine(keep you finger on the switch at the back of the printer). If it re-seats, do a nozzle check or test print and also do a head clean to make sure the problem does not re occur. If the unit is over a year old, it may be a good idea to have a spare on hand as well as to get yourself familliar with how to change it. I believe, there is still a video on the website in the tech support area.

This is a viable way to check the gears, and I have recommended this to my customers in the past, but no longer since the gears can get worn out or stripped quite easily by cycling the pump unit manually like this.

 

[zoom_monster]

I can totally understand this, but I would say the wear and tear would be from the gears being out of sync. There are no sensors in these devices(that I'm aware of) that tell them they are "homed", so as long as the movement is smooth and it's kept very clean, there is no real harm to be done as long as a good "starting point" is used. Since this is a relatively in expensive part there's not excuse to not change it. My current one is almost three years old.

 

[kevrokr]

Agreed. I've just found that turning those gears accelerated the wear and tear process. Being in tech support, I do not want my customers to have to change parts because of something that I had them do (which could get the fine tooth gears out of sync).

 

[GraphicGuru]

The key is to move the capping station's white tab from its "UP" or "LOCKING position." So long as the printhead carriage can pass this white tab, epson's startup mechanism can detect where it is on the encoder strip and finish up the startup process.

If you manually rotate the gears on the capping station, you may be able to see the problem and fix it. This can either be done by turning a screw in one of the ink bays (accusable by pulling out a cart), or by reaching under the capping station and rotating a big white gear.
Rotate until the head is unlocked, but before the wiper rotates up. By the way, do this all with the power off.

Once the head is moved to the left and you can see the capping station, reach for the gear again and rotate until the wiper is in the up position. Next, rotate the other direction until the blade is down, but before a small white tab in the back left of the capping area moves into move into a slot (this is what locks the head). If you do not see this tab move smoothly or there is a hesitation, then something is broken and the capping station should be replaced. If it seems smooth and you can rotate easily back and forth, it could be that the printer was turned off wrong at the wrong moment and stuff got out of sync.

If you get it back to " until the blade is down, but before a small white tab in the back left of the capping area moves into move into a slot " And turn on the machine, The head will re-home and re-seat. If it does not or you hear the grinding again immediately turn off the machine(keep you finger on the switch at the back of the printer). If it re-seats, do a nozzle check or test print and also do a head clean to make sure the problem does not re occur. If the unit is over a year old, it may be a good idea to have a spare on hand as well as to get yourself familliar with how to change it. I believe, there is still a video on the website in the tech support area.

 

[CoorsDTG]

Anuck,
I had this exact same issue. My maintenance station ended up losing a spring or something so none of it's gears lined up correctly in order to disengage it from the print head when you power on the printer. The sound that you're hearing is the belt that moves the print head back and forth grinding along the print head carriage because it is caught on the "bar" that sticks up on the very right side of the maintenance station.

Replace the maintenance station and you're all good. You can pick one up from Anajet or just find one online. The installation instructions are on the tech support area of the Anajet website. It took me about an hour. Easy peasy.

 

[ASTEVA]

Re: Anajet FP125 grinding noise on startup

Hey all I need your help on this same issue except mine happened right after we finished replacing the maintenance station. We replaced the head with the teflon one a week ago and now decided to change the maintenance station because the machine wasn't working properly. I need to fix this issue and get the printer started up before the head gets clogged....PLEASE HELP!

We spent 6 hours of our life last night trying to figure out what the printer is doing after we replaced the maintenance station. After we installed it (by the way the directions someone sent me are not for the model we have and Anajet does not even have a single video or tutorial on this!!), and started the printer up, it was trying to initialize and then made a loud grinding noise. It appears that the head gets stuck for some reason and isn't released from the capping station properly. When we try to peak through to see what happens to the capping station when it engages with the head, it appears that after a few normal cleaning sounds and the head sitting in the capping station, something happens when the capping station lowers itself to free the head but gets stuck.

Our hunch is: either the round white plastic circle that is on the bottom of the capping station, the white plastic arm that raises and lowers (what is it's function??), OR the blade doesnt sit correctly and blocks the head from moving freely. See attached pictures.

When we had first bought the printer and started it up I remember we encountered the loud noise problem and I think it was a simple fix by taking the black cartridge out and unscrewing to release and unlock the head so the system can realign itself and reseat the head properly at the maintenance station after startup. But after numerous tries doing this last night, we couldnt figure out to fix the issue.

I am pretty sure we installed the maintenance station properly and think that there is a small, little thing that is causing this while we have been trying to think globally on the issue. After being on it for 6 hours, our brains were fried at this point. Today is a new day and I'm hopeful that this community will help.

Is there anyone who is knowledged in Anajet FP125 in the Los Angeles area to come look at it today asap? I will pay for the service.

 

[zoom_monster]

Star,

I have the FP-125. I changed my Capping station a couple of times.

If you called me later today, I could probably walk you through some things to try. I will PM that to you shortly.

The rotating mechanism is probably just out of sync. There is a small white "tab" on the left as you are looking at the station that locks the head in place. This is engaged at the wrong point in the sequence.

 

[ASTEVA]

Zoom-monster, can you PM me so we can call you soon? I greatly appreciate you offering to help. It does look like everything is in place and sounds like something is not in-sync or the wiper blade pops up last minute and blocks the head in.

Is it too much trouble for you to take couple pictures of your maintenance station?? to show what position the capping station should be in (the tab sticking out, wiper blade down, etc.) before turning on the machine so we can follow that? Also, the round white circle knob that is on the left bottom side of the station.. Thank you..

 

[zoom_monster]

Star,
Did not hear back, but here is a PDF that I just created. You may still call if needed. Do let me know if you are successful.

 

[songerm]

I was having this problem and when I looked closely I had a bunch of ink buildup on the wiper mechanism. I went through with a pair of tweezers and pulled off a bunch of it and then followed up with cleaning solution on a swab. Make sure the wiper can move freely. Also make sure the capping station part that is spring loaded is seated properly. Mine had started to come apart but I was able to get it seated again. Just be careful not to break any of the little tiny tabs - there are two on the front side and one in the back. Seat the two up front first, and then the one in the back by twisting it just to the left and then down to get it "in the groove". This solved my problem.

 

[RafaelVF]

Hey Zoom_monster / CoorsDTG.
Thank you guys for your explanation below.
I might be needing to replace the capping station on my Anajet Sprint, or at least remove it for a proper cleaning.
Its wiper blade isn't moving as it should. Sometimes doesn't go up, sometimes doesn't go down...

You mentioned there is (or there used to be) a video or instructions explaining how to do it. I'd really appreciate if you could please help me finding that video or something else explaining how to replace the capping station.

Many, many thanks!

If you manually rotate the gears on the capping station, you may be able to see the problem and fix it. This can either be done by turning a screw in one of the ink bays (accusable by pulling out a cart), or by reaching under the capping station and rotating a big white gear.
Rotate until the head is unlocked, but before the wiper rotates up. By the way, do this all with the power off.

Once the head is moved to the left and you can see the capping station, reach for the gear again and rotate until the wiper is in the up position. Next, rotate the other direction until the blade is down, but before a small white tab in the back left of the capping area moves into move into a slot (this is what locks the head). If you do not see this tab move smoothly or there is a hesitation, then something is broken and the capping station should be replaced. If it seems smooth and you can rotate easily back and forth, it could be that the printer was turned off wrong at the wrong moment and stuff got out of sync.

If you get it back to " until the blade is down, but before a small white tab in the back left of the capping area moves into move into a slot " And turn on the machine, The head will re-home and re-seat. If it does not or you hear the grinding again immediately turn off the machine(keep you finger on the switch at the back of the printer). If it re-seats, do a nozzle check or test print and also do a head clean to make sure the problem does not re occur. If the unit is over a year old, it may be a good idea to have a spare on hand as well as to get yourself familliar with how to change it. I believe, there is still a video on the website in the tech support area.

 

[equipmentzone]

Hey Zoom_monster / CoorsDTG.
Thank you guys for your explanation below.
I might be needing to replace the capping station on my Anajet Sprint, or at least remove it for a proper cleaning.
Its wiper blade isn't moving as it should. Sometimes doesn't go up, sometimes doesn't go down...

You mentioned there is (or there used to be) a video or instructions explaining how to do it. I'd really appreciate if you could please help me finding that video or something else explaining how to replace the capping station.

Many, many thanks!

Here is a link to a video on replacing the capping assembly on the Anajet FP125. Should be similar to the replacing on the Sprint.

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/7226727/fp_125_maintenance_station_replacement

_

 

[RafaelVF]

Many thanks Harry!
This one for the FP125 will be of great use if I don't manage to get one for the Sprint.

 

[equipmentzone]

Many thanks Harry!
This one for the FP125 will be of great use if I don't manage to get one for the Sprint.

You should find the print engines with regards to the capping assemblies fairly similar.

_