Digital BW, The Print

Hi John,

OK -- short it is ;>) Didn't mean to write a book yesterday...

You're on track now! Without having suction to the heads we've got a 
major problem, even though it may not be 100% of the picture. We've 
got to get the system flowing end to end.

Reading Ernst's quote: "When the heads are on the capping station you 
can apply a vacuum on the waste bottle tubes and pull the inks 
through. There's some mixing of inks at the head as a result but 
printing a CcMmYK waste area will get them back to normal."

This is the "brute force" method of pulling fluid from the end of the 
waste tube where they hit the pads all the way down through the 
capping station. It may be necessary if things are gummed up in the 
waste lines and pump. You can do this (as Ernst suggested) through 
the heads themselves which will also tell you if you've got the 
required seal of the heads and capping station -- but since you've 
got Epson inks in the carts and who-knows-what in the waste lines 
and pumps, I'd be more inclined to do the first round of flushing by 
creating a vacuum in the waste tubes first while applying Windex or 
another liquid to the pads. Do you have a large syringe to do 
this "pulling" with or another means of creating a vacuum?

In the mean time, let me go into the Epson manual and find the 
section on "power-off pump testing" if I can, and a couple of other 
instruction pieces. If you don't already have the waste pads, pump 
and all the associatged plumbing exposed, why don't you get that part 
ready by pulling off the panels and I'll forward some additional 
information shortly...

Regards,
Richard


--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "john dean" 
<deanwork2003@y...> wrote:
> 
> 
> Richard, Ernst, etc,
> 
> Thanks for the long detailed commentary on my printer changeover.
> To make this one short, I answer, yes, I thoroughly cleaned the 
> capping pads of the Lyson ink three times with Windex before even 
> installing the cleaning carts and Piezzo inks. After the Piezzo 
inks 
> clogged I flushed out the lines from head to carts thoroughly with 
> Windex also. Now that the heads and dampers have been replaced, I 
can 
> get no suction at all to the heads. When I did the initial fill 
with 
> the Epson dye carts nothing is coming up in the lines at all. I 
also 
> removed the heads and checked the ribbon connection again. The only 
> reason there is ink in the dampers is because I brount it there 
with 
> the syringe.Now I see with with the side and head covers off that 
> there is no suction into the dampers either at all. 
> 
> What I am attempting to do today is to tackle the pump and overflow 
> lines situation somehow. However,I don't understand how to do this 
at 
> all. I did find Ernst's description below but do not understand how 
> this works. I will try to evalute the condition of the pump if I 
can 
> figure that out from the manual. The one thing is for sure, there 
is 
> no ink moving out of the Epson carts to anywhere now and there is 
no 
> ink moving into the overflow pads below. Nothing is happening with 
> the initial fill or KK2.
> 
> John
> 
> Ernst's previous comments below. Is this what you were refering to:
> 
> 
> --------------------------------------------------------------------
--
> > You can use a syringe on the dampers to pull ink in the dampers 
> > too but that doesn't fill the heads + the waste ink pumps.
> > Normally that wouldn't be a problem if the pumps are new and the 
> > head capping adjustment is done, the pumps + heads will pull in 
> > the ink without problems. If you changed the capping station but 
> > didn't do the head capping adjustment you will not pull the ink 
> > through with a cleaning or air stays in the damper etc.
> > 
> > There must be a description of a waste bottle addition to 7000's 
> > etc on the wide format lists archive. I've done that within two 
> > months after I got a 9000 5 years ago.  When the heads are on the 
> > capping station you can apply a vacuum on the waste bottle tubes 
> > and pull the inks through. There's some mixing of inks at the 
> > head as a result but printing a CcMmYK waste area will get them 
> > back to normal.
> > 
> > A nice trick to empty ink lines is to place the head carriage in 
> > the middle of the printer and insert a special cart in the cart 
> > slot that has a tube to the seal (bag removed) which is connected 
> > to a wine bottle where you have a vacuum pump on (or one of those 
> > special wine bottle caps where vacuum can be applied to preserve 
> > the wine). The ink in that line is completely removed especially 
> > when you let it suck for 10 minutes and move the head carriage a 
> > bit to change the ink tubes bending. Air gets in at the head 
> > nozzle of that line.  Don't do that when the head is at the 
> > capping position as it will suck all the other inks through the 
> > line you want to empty !!!!
> > The cart's tabs have to be cut to use the same one for all color 
> > slots.
> > 
> > Ernst