1050c Printhead cleaners

[MarkW87]

Hi all,

I recently bought a 1050c Plus printer in fairly decent working condition. I used to use a Roland SP540v in the office but this 1050c was for home so I am a little familiar with large format printers.

Its printing beautifully after I replaced the carriage belt, new printhead valves on the carraige assembly and removed any air from the system. The one thing I noticed when I had all the covers off was the printhead cleaners.

The C, M and Y cleaners have got this folded filter sitting in the window near the wiper but the black does not. Is this normal ? I can see what looks to be a sponge sitting right at the front of the cleaner which I cannot see in the colours.

Are these printhead cleaners refurbishable ? I only ask because this will only be a home unit and I'd like to try save as much as I can where I can.

Regards,

Mark.

[D Hook · Accepted solution]

I just went down and checked the cleaners on my 1050C and yes, they're the same.  Also the same on the 5000 series cleaners, IIRC.  Foam on all the colors but black has no foam.

Can you tell me where you sourced the printhead valves?  I also have a problem with air in the lines on my 1050C and am looking at replacing the whole tube system with a refurbished one.  But if I can try to solve it by just replacing the printhead valves, I could same quite a few bucks.

Thanks!

[MarkW87]

Hi D Hook,

I actually sent you a private message asking some other questions about your software / os for the 1050, no rush I think i am getting somewhere.

I ordered them out of China, They were $5 USD each and i paid $30 USD for express shipping. I found them on aliexpress and ebay but I ended up adding a seller to skype and buying directly from him. His skype name is plotterparts

I also ordered a new carriage belt, encoder strip and trailing cable kit from him as well. The previous belt broke last night so thats the only other part I have tried from him. So far so good. There are also O-rings on the ink supply station that could be letting air into the ink tube system as well but the valves were what was wrong with mine.

I have yet to disassemble a ink supply station to try and work oring sizes etc, when I do ill post some details.

[Mikeg81]

Hi,

Black is pigment

Colors are dye

There is no sponge because the pigment will stack up like stalagmites (just to give the idea)

If there was a sponge the ink will build up and touch the nozzle area damaging the printheads

[MarkW87]

Hi Mike,

Yeah I figured it had something to do with the fact the black is pigment and the colors are dye, makes pefect sense now.

Cheers.

[Adambucky]

Hi there. Did you manage to find out the o ring size.

Regards
Adam