[KWood125]

Anajet tech manual: Waste ink tank fills once every month at the very least.

Anajet Tech Support team: Every couple of months.

Truth: Last emptied- Mar 28th until Today.

Number of prints ran in those two weeks: Approx 250-75, mixed whites and darks.

Amount of ink in waste tank: Approx 48 fl/oz - which is approx 1420 mL. That comes out to 6.45 carts of ink. At 65.00 per cart of ink, not even considering shipping...

420 dollars. In two weeks. Waste. Explain this. I'd love to hear any ideas on how to cut down on this.

We are operating in 50+% Humidity inside of a greenhouse. We only run cleanings when banding (and operating at optimal humidity like that, what can I do to reduce banding? Nothing.) Running minimal cleanings to be as conservative as possible, yet still provide quality prints, consistently throughout a 75+ shirt run. Had to do one purge/print line fill to correct a problem with ink starvation... So, is it even possible to be competitive on quantity runs with a waste factor like this? You almost need to add 2$ onto the ink calculator just to be even with waste. Anyone else seeing this? This is pretty frustrating.

 

[brixen]

same amount here on our M10i.. we empty the tank about every 4-6 weeks..

 

[treefox2118]

I don't own one, but question: if you increase volume, will you have to increase cleanings? If not, then it's a volume issue unfortunately.

If so, then it's a manufacturer's defect.

 

[Outlier]

I have the same issue on our MP5i. At the very least why can't they update the firmware to allow cleaning cycles on each line individually. Doing print head cleans on every head to cure banding on one color is just filling that waste tank.

 

[ericwin]

Anajet tech manual: Waste ink tank fills once every month at the very least.

Anajet Tech Support team: Every couple of months.

Truth: Last emptied- Mar 28th until Today.

Number of prints ran in those two weeks: Approx 250-75, mixed whites and darks.

Amount of ink in waste tank: Approx 48 fl/oz - which is approx 1420 mL. That comes out to 6.45 carts of ink. At 65.00 per cart of ink, not even considering shipping...

420 dollars. In two weeks. Waste. Explain this. I'd love to hear any ideas on how to cut down on this.

We are operating in 50+% Humidity inside of a greenhouse. We only run cleanings when banding (and operating at optimal humidity like that, what can I do to reduce banding? Nothing.) Running minimal cleanings to be as conservative as possible, yet still provide quality prints, consistently throughout a 75+ shirt run. Had to do one purge/print line fill to correct a problem with ink starvation... So, is it even possible to be competitive on quantity runs with a waste factor like this? You almost need to add 2$ onto the ink calculator just to be even with waste. Anyone else seeing this? This is pretty frustrating.

In my personal experience, it takes quite a bit longer to fill the waste ink tank than what you have experienced. Since the time it takes to fill the waste ink tank will vary depending on how frequently the printer is used and how often print head cleans, print head fills and purge line fills are run, I don't see how anyone can give an accurate time of how long it takes to fill the waste ink tank. So, I would just label Anajet's time periods as a guideline and your "truth" as your personal experience but not necessarily what others should expect.

All I can suggest is after you run a nozzle check, don't just start running print head cleans. Look at your nozzle check and think about what it is telling you. I also examine my ink lines and damper levels before I start running cleans or print line fills. If I see gaps in my ink lines or low levels in the dampers or one or more channels, I usually run either a 10 or 20 second print line fill (most of the time, I need 20 seconds). I almost never run a "clean all heavy" which uses a lot more ink than the other clean cycles. With time and experience, you will hopefully learn the minimum that is needed to get it printing again.

Also, once I have run 3 to 5 cleans, if I still can't get a satisfactory nozzle check (nozzle checks don't need to be perfect to get a good print), I find that running more nozzle checks can sometimes make the problem worse and waste more ink. Once I see that cleanings aren't fixing my nozzle check I will either let the printer sit for 20 minutes or longer, run a 10 or 20 second print line fill if any one (or more) channel is still in very bad shape, or press a lint free cloth soaked with isopropyl alcohol against the problem nozzle for about a minute.

Also in my experience, whenever you run a print line fill, a purge line fill, a clean all heavy or press an alcohol wipe against a print head, you need to follow that with a clean all light before you will get a good nozzle check.

If you continue to find excessive amounts of waste ink, and you are confident you are not running excessive cleans & fills, then you might want to look into a possible hardware problem with your printer.

I have the same issue on our MP5i. At the very least why can't they update the firmware to allow cleaning cycles on each line individually. Doing print head cleans on every head to cure banding on one color is just filling that waste tank.

On a clean all heavy, that wouldn't be possible because the vacuum pump on the maintenance station sucks ink from all of the ink channels. I suspect there is a similar hardware limitation that makes it not possible to run a light clean on a single channel.

Eric

 

[Outlier]

In my personal experience, it takes quite a bit longer to fill the waste ink tank than what you have experienced. Since the time it takes to fill the waste ink tank will vary depending on how frequently the printer is used and how often print head cleans, print head fills and purge line fills are run, I don't see how anyone can give an accurate time of how long it takes to fill the waste ink tank. So, I would just label Anajet's time periods as a guideline and your "truth" as your personal experience but not necessarily what others should expect.

All I can suggest is after you run a nozzle check, don't just start running print head cleans. Look at your nozzle check and think about what it is telling you. I also examine my ink lines and damper levels before I start running cleans or print line fills. If I see gaps in my ink lines or low levels in the dampers or one or more channels, I usually run either a 10 or 20 second print line fill (most of the time, I need 20 seconds). I almost never run a "clean all heavy" which uses a lot more ink than the other clean cycles. With time and experience, you will hopefully learn the minimum that is needed to get it printing again.

Also, once I have run 3 to 5 cleans, if I still can't get a satisfactory nozzle check (nozzle checks don't need to be perfect to get a good print), I find that running more nozzle checks can sometimes make the problem worse and waste more ink. Once I see that cleanings aren't fixing my nozzle check I will either let the printer sit for 20 minutes or longer, run a 10 or 20 second print line fill if any one (or more) channel is still in very bad shape, or press a lint free cloth soaked with isopropyl alcohol against the problem nozzle for about a minute.

Also in my experience, whenever you run a print line fill, a purge line fill, a clean all heavy or press an alcohol wipe against a print head, you need to follow that with a clean all light before you will get a good nozzle check.

If you continue to find excessive amounts of waste ink, and you are confident you are not running excessive cleans & fills, then you might want to look into a possible hardware problem with your printer.


On a clean all heavy, that wouldn't be possible because the vacuum pump on the maintenance station sucks ink from all of the ink channels. I suspect there is a similar hardware limitation that makes it not possible to run a light clean on a single channel.

Eric

I suppose that makes sense. I don't have to like it but at least there's an explanation. Thanks

 

[MP5Hacker]

Try increasing your humidity to around 65%. You shouldn't get banding by just running regular prints if your humidity is high enough. I know anajet says 45%, but I like to stay mid 50 through 60s. What setting are you running your rip? I usually get thousands of prints before dumping the waste tank. I'm sure I can solve your waste tank issue with a phone call. *** A good rule of thumb, if you have to do more than 1 light clean to get a good nozzle check, it prob needs cleaning under the head plate.