A Digital Printing Network
SP300v Turned off main power, now will not print colors.
Hello everyone,
I'm working on my VersaCamm that I've owned for 5 years since new. I do all the maintenance on it here. I spent today wrestling with my printer, trying to get magenta to print. And went through all my usual steps and still no magenta. It looked like there was ink at the print head but the magenta side of the head wasn't firing. (It was later that I read here to check for a cracked manifold, I believe mine is broken) I thought it needed a re-set , I then shut it down including the main power on the side. I was previously getting 3 of the 4 colors fully and now get almost nothing at all. It seems like it has lost its settings during the reset.. How can I get it back to at least where I was before the reset? Print test comes up completely blank, and I run my test graphic of CMYK blocks at full printer width and thats just thin sputtered grey lines. Thanks for reading, any and all help is greatly appreciated. -Vinny
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Steven Jackson - Admin on -
Vinny - it sounds like you may have blown a fuse. On the old SP300v units it is on the motherboard and is soldered in. I would STRONGLY recommend getting a service tech out there to diagnose and correct the issue.
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Permalink Reply by irving donaldson on -
Vinny I would concur with Steve - when you turned off the printer the system picked up the fault and now prevented it from getting to where you were prior to turning off the main power. When folks get printer errors - many can correct themselves by turning off the printer. When that is done and the printer resets - it was not a major issue and Tech is/was not required - however when it does not reset, error remains or worse yet protects itself - then a tech is required. I see what you have above, can you further describe what you see. When you turn it on - what is your LCD reporting to you - will it allow you to measure the media and set-up as normal. Will it execute all the print commands, but when it goes to print then you just see the grey lines. Is it possible to post a picture of the results. Prior to turning off - magenta shares with yellow on an SP. Are you saying that the yellow was fine, what is/was the status of your captop. Did you check for air in the lines or a bad damper. The nipple on the manifold where the damper sits is very brittle and snaps easily - is it possible that is your failure point and where you were pulling air. With all that said - it would not cause your now end result. One produces print quality issues the other is an electrical problem.Your first set of symptoms could be corrected by machine cleaning, changing captop, or a syringe. Once you had the reset issue, that would need to be corrected prior to the print issue. The electrical issue would have knocked out both colors to that head.
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Permalink Reply by Vince Gavigan on -
Going back to yesterday I was trying to get Magenta printing, Here are the steps I went through:
-I swapped the cart as it looked almost empty.
-Tried pulling ink with a syringe from the bottom of the hose going to the capping station.
Did a full manual cleaning.
Replaced the Magenta Damper, pulled ink into the damper with the syringe.
-Tried pulling ink from the capping station hose with syringe, didn’t get ink. Got some yellow.
-Removed Magenta damper, Used syringe and hose to put Roland cleaning fluid into manifold.
-Tried pulling ink from the capping station hose with syringe, didn’t get ink. Got some yellow again.
While this is going on I’m doing full width test prints in between and getting full Black, Cyan and Yellow.
I the turned off the machine, and turned off the main power in an attempt to re-set the printer as I believed the head was’nt firing.
I went on MyVersaCamm.com to read other threads and learned about the delicate manifold on the head, I looked at mine and I have some magenta stains at the base of the damper connection, as if it had cracked.
Today I powered up the printer to make sure it goes through its normal routines,
I’m running it now to see if anything unusual happens:
1-power up fine.
2-LCD displays: setup sheet
3-heater light flashing on panel, normal
4-clamps down, cutter measures media, normal.
5-heater up to temperature.
6-run test print
7-test produces nothing on media, heads go the normal 2 passes but media is just blank.
8-tried to pull in with the syringe from below the capping stations, just pulling air.
8-I put a few drops of cleaning fluid in the capping stations while heads were doing test print.
9- tried to pull ink with the syringe from below the capping stations, this time I got some black to come down the line.
10-Ran a test print and yellow printed this time.
11-ran 2 more full width test prints and yellow is back 100% !
I am optimistic that its an ink issue and a cracked manifold. Here’s a drawing of whats printing now.
Thanks again for helping me on this, Vinny
Realized I spelled Resulting wrong below LOL !!! , oh well
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Permalink Reply by irving donaldson on
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That is an excellent description and what I was looking for. Definitely sounds like and results show that you have a crack manifold. Once you mentioned changing damper - all my money went on the manifold. If folks do not know about how sensitive it is - they usually are going to crack it. Pulling the ink with a syringe from under the capping station is the right move - if you are doing it from the magenta/yellow line and all you have is yellow - then a leak on the magenta line or bad damper. Damper was changed so the air is probably coming from a hairline crack on the manifold - which you can change opposed to the entire head.
Do the same for the black/cyan side and see if you can get ink - if you do get ink and a test print reveals no color - then a blown fuse is likely on that side. As for carts looking or feeling empty - the display can show out for over a month and you still get great prints. The machine will stop when empty unless defective sensor. The machine reads ink from two sources - the chip and the tab. I will look for some other suggestions on the other line - but unfortunately the manifold is the main issue at this point. That will not be affecting the black and cyan.
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Permalink Reply by Vince Gavigan on
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Thanks Irving for taking the time to help. I'll get the needed parts ordered and work on getting Black/Cyan back up if possible. And we'll narrow it down to a whether its a blown fuse like you had said. The manifolds are original 5+ year old parts along with ink lines so its time to do a good overhaul. Very very grateful for your help, Vinny
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Permalink Reply by irving donaldson on
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No problem - when the parts come in just let me know and I will check further on my end for more fuse blown indicators. Welcome on the assistance, no problem.
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Permalink Reply by Vince Gavigan on
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Hi Irving, I got my parts in and have a question. I do not see in the service manual any mention of these manifolds listed as a separate service part. The closest reference is in the head replacement text. I see how to remove the head with the 3 small screws but its unclear if I can separate and re-mount the new manifolds. The screw/nut holding the manifolds seem to have been set with a cover of white sealant or silicone, as if to form a tamper proof seal from the factory. They seem (the manifolds) to be screwed on from the underside. Have you changed these yourself? Any advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks Vinny
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Permalink Reply by irving donaldson on
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Vinny Just back from Texas - look in your email .
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Permalink Reply by Vince Gavigan on
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Thanks Irving, I will work on the repair this long weekend in between BBQ, my family and learning to do auto upholstery. Again, I really appreciate your help and feel confident I'll have my printer back up and running.
Best regards,
Vinny
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Permalink Reply by Vince Gavigan on
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I worked on the VersaCamm today and replaced the parts I had ordered in, And I had success ! I I'm getting 4 colors again and still have to do some print alighment but I'm so glad to be back on line again. Many thanks to the forum and especially Irv for going the extra mile to get me back. What a relief ! Here's a pic, Thanks, Vinny
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Permalink Reply by irving donaldson on
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Vinny great job on getting back on line. Now stop wasting ink, and get to producing - lol. Sunday is not a rest day for the true Cammer. Happy future Camming, see you down the forum.
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Permalink Reply by Vince Gavigan on
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Don't worry Irv, I've got 44 signs ready to throw at her tomorrow to keep her busy ! Thanks again, Vinny
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