Printhead Maintenance - Oce Arizona 550 GT User Manual

User Manual: Arizona 550 GT - Version 1.2, Revision B - 2012

Printhead Maintenance

Introduction
The Maintenance Station is located below the carriage. Printhead Maintenance takes
place while the carriage is parked. The station is covered by a sliding drawer. When you
perform printhead maintenance, any excess ink and associated debris are removed from
the nozzles with the result that ink drops can jet properly when the nozzles are clear.
Ink fill is disabled when the maintenance station sliding drawer is open. No more than
4 purges can take place (minimum of 10 seconds between purges) without closing the
drawer, which allows the reservoirs to refill.
Note:
The nozzle plate on the printhead has a non-wetting coating - contact with this surface
may affect the performance of the printhead. Do not wipe the nozzle plate with anything
other than the suction-head (or the supplied swabs when following the swab procedure)
as this can damage the nozzles and impair performance.
Purpose
To clean the nozzles of the printheads and thus ensure better image quality and avoid
banding.
When to do
Maintenance occurs at the start of the day (after the printer has warmed up) or when
necessary (misfiring nozzles, banding in image, etc.).
Note:
More maintenance is required in dusty environments, or when there are fibers protruding
from the media, or when printing on reflective media such as glass or metal (more re-
flected UV light hits the printheads). When printing on reflective media it is advised to
monitor the nozzle check and printhead nozzle plates and perform additional printhead
maintenance if required, to prevent ink from partially curing/gelling on the printhead
nozzle plates).
Before you begin
Make sure the carriage is in the parked position. The carriage and gantry automatically
return to this position after an image is printed. Do not move the carriage or gantry from
Printhead Maintenance
Chapter 12 - Printer Maintenance 221