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haulin

PrismJet Extra, good, bad, thoughts??

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I just bought a PrismJet Extra and hoping I made a decent purchase. The owner just had it fully serviced and it's suppose to be all ready to go. Paid $1525, by time I get it to me I'll have just shy of $1900 in it.

Thanks!

This is what was advertised....

This printer was maintained daily and serviced regularly by professional technician provided by service contract. Before we listed it on eBay we had our service provide replace any and all questionable parts and ensure that everything is working properly. Included in the work done was replacing:

2 pumps

1 cap

9 dampers

2 print heads

1 cap assembly.

All nozzles are firing and dampers are clog free.

$(KGrHqNHJDME-mH8Uzi0BP)iq2DKWQ~~60_57.JPG

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I'm not familiar with those units but a little research online looks like you have yourself a good deal if it is all in working order and depending on hours on the unit....

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Hi all, been a while since I've been on the forum. 

 

I just picked up a 48" last night. $1450 and it is operational but it has been left with ink in it for who knows how long. The cartridges expired in `09 and I'm guessing they were the original Mutoh cartridges. I took them out and shook them lightly and still sounds like there is good ink in them, also wet ink around the insertion hole so it looks like ink is flowing. 

 

I got it home and fired it up, went through the motions like it should, gave no errors on the display but didn't put any ink down on the banner material (that came with the purchase)

 

This is my first real adventure into the world of wide format printing (other than the old HP 1050 we have in our office that I've cleaned and pretended to be service-man on...) 

Can I pull the dampers out and try cleaning with denatured alcohol and if that doesn't work throw them in an ultrasonic cleaner? My dad is a watch and clock repairman so he has a couple available. 

Next, can I inject the same denatured alcohol back up thru the lines starting from the dampers pushing towards the cartridges? 

 

Or... should I run away from this thing and go back to dreaming of having my own printer? 

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denatured alcohol will do nothing with solvent ink except maybe jell it  - not what you are looking for - with it sitting that long you are looking at new heads, dampers, lines, cap tops - it will be what you call a learning experience and expensive.  the problem with solvent ink is once it sits  a few days it is permanant for the most part - to clean around items you can use Butyl Carbitol mixed with 25 percent acetone I believe but I wouldn't put that thru a head or damper.  another 3K and you should be ready to print is my best guess.

 

the heads are sensitive to too much pressure along with wrong fluids - very easy to mess up but in your case you have nothing to lose as you already have toast for heads.  I think the capping station on that one was particularly expensive also -

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curious how haulin turned out - as long as he never let it sit unplugged for a day his sounded like a good deal - if it sat than it gets expensive quick

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heck if this is actually  for your unit here is a great deal  http://cmykparts.com/MUTOH%20FALCON%20OUTDOOR%20REFURBISH%20KIT.html

 

all that is not on there is the lines from the carts to the dampers . . . . I also have a refurbed pump (new lines in it) for $15 shipped if it is that older style roland pump - I refurbed the ones from my old printer as they were heavier duty than the knock offs then got the new printer with the new pump style

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Dammit man... not what I was hoping for but I guess should know by now that I always get what I pay for!

This particular unit is the CMYK 4 head system and not the 6 head shown in the kit, I assume the parts are not interchangeable other than maybe the individual dampers and pump maybe? 

 

Also found that the pinch rollers are all cracked and torn up... am I seeing that correctly that CMYK charges $27.50 for each little roller? Or do you know if that's for a whole replacement set?

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Not sure on the rollers - check and see if it is the dx4 print heads - I know the new ones use an expensive all in 1 = if the dx4 you are looking at about 850 each - the best way to buy a printer is to find one with ALL nozzles firing and look at the nozzle test when you pick it up - about 85 percent of the ones on ebay/cl that says good print heads have nozzles not firing and will need replaced to print correctly - but they show a busy pattern or zoomed back to cover the crap it looks like close up. aminly because they don't want to pay someone to replace the heads or just cant afford the heads and do it themselves - it is about a 1/2 day to replace a head and align on the roland

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http://printheadsite.com/products.php?product=Epson-DX2-Solvent-Black-%252d-F056000

 

Anyone ever used this site? Looks like my printheads are epson compatible

they are pretty famous on another site - they just take the money - you never get a product - check out the address

 

clue is if they sell a dx4 printhead for 226 and the going price is 850 . . . .you know the rest of the old saying

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Ok thanks. You'd think I might have already learned that lesson with the initial purchase...  :rolleyes:

 

On a good note, got all the lines cleaned out from the cartridge to the dampers. Took the dampers out and let them soak in the ultrasonic cleaner for 20-30 mins and they are clean as a whistle now. Yellow and Magenta had some clumps but the u.s. cleaner broke it all down within a matter of minutes. Then took a syringe with a red pipe from a carb cleaner bottle and flushed them out in the solution. easy peasey.

 

Both printheads had buildup on them. wiped them down with a microfiber rag and some lemon simple green and they at least appear to be clean now too.

 

Gonna throw it together and see how deep this rabbit hole goes... 

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Got it back together. Not getting any ink up to the top of the machine where the lines transition from hard to soft. Is that indicative of a bad pump? No stripped gears down there. I guess the ink cartridges should prob be replaced too (?) I can hear something in there sloshing around and there are no errors being displayed on ink levels. (Does this machine do that?)

 

WP_20130827_010.jpg?psid=1

WP_20130828_002.jpg?psid=1

 

I've run at least 5 cleaning cycles and nothing is coming out the waste or thru the lines up top... 

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you can try to suck ink from the cap tops where they connect tothe pump - if it sucks then the cap tops are making a seal - if not could be bad cap tops or plugged heads - 

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make sure if you ever disconnect the ribbon cables to not only turn off the front power but also the main power or unplug - many people have blown fuses at the best and $2K boards at the worst when not doing that.If you get it going replace those dampers - they are cheap and fussy - recently had a few nozzles missing after a clean - cleaned 3 more times manually and with machine no change - changed out that damper that looked great and the nozzles came back.  I think that is premature at this point for you because there is almost no chance those heads are going to do anything if it has even been unplugged a month - nozzles and membrane are really small and any internal ink will be hardened.  the solvent disappaites and they just don't clean like a water based head will.  those heads must be much cheaper than the rolands.  get some regular solvent in case you need to run any thru the system but make up some of the butyl carbitol/acetone for everyday cleaning around the heads and cap tops/wipers - much cheaper and it really cleans anything - just too aggressive for the membrane in the heads or the dampers

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So - to dumb down the actual process of this machine ... 

If I understand this thing, The heads and dampers aren't connected to the pump, they only receive any sort of vacuum/pressure when they are positioned above the capping station, at which point the capping station is forced up to make seal with the print heads?

 

I tried suction on both the pump side and waste side. waste side was a little groggy but loosened right up. I used carb cleaner... 

I then tried the pump side and got some of the carb cleaner to suction on the color, but no ink movement in the lines, which leads me to believe its a bad seal on the capping stn. The black side was solid, no suction and no ink movement in the line.

WP_20130829_002.jpg?psid=1

Am I down to plugged printheads now?

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looking that way if the print heads were bad you would get air pulled thru . . .  everything is probaby hardened.   the pumps are used to pull ink thru the heads for the daily cleanings  - keeping them from clogging.  I think mine does it about 4 times a day and sends the ink thru to the waste tank.  the head when it is firing uses a small charge to cause the ink to project on the substrate,   the whole system must be free and clear to work.  sounds like the refurb kit is a good deal on that machine.  maube add lines from the carts to the heads so no checks break loose down the road wreaking havoc down the road.   once the ink system is freeen up and ready to to you then find out if the electronics are good - blown fuses or boards would be the next thing, but we are hoping the refurb kit does it.

printers kinda remind me of a concrete pumping truck - great when maintained, fun to use, makes money but let them sit uncleaned or with a bad part and the entire unit becomes  the debate of Fix or buy new as the cost isn't much difference

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ok, spent some time with the heads tonight. Got the cyan and magenta to open up and flow pretty decent, gonna let the heads soak overnight and see if the black and yellow will loosen up. Gonna shake em some more tomorrow in the u.s. Too. Picked up a brake bleed tool from harbor freight and bled the ink lines all the way up to the dampers, then syringed a cpl loads of ink thru and the ink appears to be usable...

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Well... I thought this forum was full of cheap-skates like me :lol:

This thing isn't necessarily killing me by being down so I figured I'd see what I could do before dropping the $$ on all the new parts. If nothing else I'm getting a pretty good working knowledge of the machine in general.

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the working knowledge will come in real handy down the road but most of us spend a lot of time making sure everything is perfect and careful what we use - even some aftermarket parts can cause trouble so when the carb cleaner and brake bleeder came out I was like eyebulge.gif  

LOL

 

 

 

Just be careful in the playing around you don't do more damage - say to the mainboard, headboard, encoder strip (easily damaged with most cleaners) etc.

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The knowledge you gain now could save you thousands later on when things go haywire.

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Well, got ink flowing thru the black but nothing from the cmy down to the waste tank. Black printed marginally on tue test page, lots of banding and obviously the alignment is off. I may or may not have hurt the circuit board on the black during reassembly but the cmy baffles me that I was able to get black thru to the waste tank but no color. I was getting just as much or more clean water thru it during cleaning then the black

 

Guess it's time to throw down for the refurb kit from cmyk.

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Well, got ink flowing thru the black but nothing from the cmy down to the waste tank. Black printed marginally on tue test page, lots of banding and obviously the alignment is off. I may or may not have hurt the circuit board on the black during reassembly but the cmy baffles me that I was able to get black thru to the waste tank but no color. I was getting just as much or more clean water thru it during cleaning then the black

 

Guess it's time to throw down for the refurb kit from cmyk.

:huh: 

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