Startup Fill Routine on the Anajet mPower

customerJul 7, 2017

Startup Fill Routine for mP5i and mP10i

The following is the startup process for AnaJet mP5i and mP10i printers. Once you have your printer out of the box and placed in position we suggest you contact AnaJet Tech Support to walk you through this important process. It is also important that at this time no ink cartridges are installed.

PRE-INSPECTION

Make sure carriage and table retainers are removed before you power up the machine. These are both located underneath the lid.
Turn on the main power switch located at the back of the printer.
Press the power key located on the control panel. Watch the machine power up and confirm that you see the AnaJet flash screen and the display initialize. The control panel screen should show the jobs menu when finalized and ready to print. Also confirm that during the power up stage you see the print head carriage move to the right and then back to its home position along with the print table moving out to its home position.
Confirm that the wiper blade is functioning properly by pressing the <menu> button then scroll down to MAINTENANCE FUNCTIONS and press the <enter> key. Scroll down to WIPE PRINT NOZZLES and press <enter>. Open the lid, look to the left side of the table and confirm that the wiper blade has moved to the engaged position in front of the print head carriage. The print carriage will move to the right across the wiper blade and travel all the way to the other side of the printer. The wiper blade should then move back to its home position followed by the print head carriage. If any of these functions are not operating or you are not sure if they are, please contact technical support for assistance.

FLUSHING
Your printer was shipped with cleaning solution in the ink delivery system to prevent it from drying out. This solution must be removed prior to filling the printer with ink. Do not install and ink cartridges at this time. The ink delivery system for the mPower printers utilize full circulation for the white ink channels, this uses 2 sets of tubing known as the Print side and the Purge side. To remove cleaning solution from the printer, the Purge side must be flushed first. To do this press <menu>, scroll down to MAINTENANCE FUNCTIONS and press the <enter> key. Then select STARTUP FILL and press the <enter> key. Select FILL PURGE LINES and press <enter>. Be sure that the white lines 1 and 2 are both selected showing the word ON. Select FILL FOR 60 SECONDS and press the <enter> key. You will see a 60 second countdown next to the fill time selection, once this has completed you will need to repeat this process again for another 60 seconds. This should have adequately removed cleaning solution from the purge tubes. Please note that purge tubes are only used for the white ink channels.
Cleaning solution now needs to be removed from the Print side. This will include white and CMYK colors. Select Exit from the FILL PURGE LINES menu. Now select FILL PRINT LINES and press the <enter> key, select FILL FOR 30 SECONDS and press <enter>. When completed select FILL FOR 30 SECONDS one more time, once completed this should have adequately cleared the print lines. Inspect your print and purge lines for any signs of cleaning solution and repeat both purge and print fill functions again at lower time intervals. It is common to see bubbles or small amounts still in the line; they do not need to look perfectly clear and empty.

FILLING
You can now install your ink cartridges one at a time. The control panel should read NOT FOUND when an ink cartridge is not installed. Place one cartridge at a time into its corresponding slot in the ink bay. When a cartridge is installed the control panel should change to the word GOOD for that specific color. If a cartridge is installed into the wrong position the control panel will read MISMATCH. Once each cartridge has been installed you should see GOOD for every color, if the display does not read GOOD try removing the cartridge and put it back in. If an ink channel is not reading good you should contact AnaJet tech support right away. Make sure the white ink cartridges are gently shaken a few times before installing. The white ink cartridges should be removed and shaken a few times a week to help prevent pigment separation.
The white ink purge tubes need to be filled first. Select Fill PURGE LINES from the STARTUP FILL menu. Then select FILL FOR 60 SECONDS and press <enter>. It is ok to open the top cover of the printer and confirm that ink is moving towards the print head carriage at this time. Once the 60 second fill has completed you will need to repeat the fill for another 60 seconds. You can confirm that the white purge lines are filled by opening the cover and viewing the white tubes inside the print head carriage. Looking though the mesh covering you can see the front set of tubes that connect to the print heads. The white will be to your far right; you should see white ink inside those front tubes. The tubes do not need to be full but some white ink should be visible inside them. The two 60 seconds fills should be adequate to fill ink in the purge lines.
You now need to fill the print lines by selecting FILL PRINT LINES and pressing <enter>. Select FILL FOR 30 SECONDS and press <enter>. Once again open the top cover and confirm that ink is moving towards the print head carriage. You should see the ink move down into the carriage and then you will need to inspect the tubes from the front of the carriage. All the tubes should look full with no gaps. If any gaps are visible you will need to repeat the fill with a smaller time interval until all the lines are filled with no gaps. Running the fill for 30 seconds twice should fill the lines completely but may result in some wasted ink. Let the print sit for 2 minutes and allow ink to settle in the lines. Once 2 minutes have passed you will need to inspect the lines again for any gaps. If you notice any gaps in the lines run the print or purge fill at the shortest time increment.
With the printer now completely filled with ink press the <cancel> key until you are at the MAINTENANCE FUNTIONS MENU then select WIPE PRINTHEAD NOZZLES and press the <enter> key. This will wipe off the print heads and remove any ink from the maintenance station.
NOZZLE CHECK-PRINTING
Now, with the printer in filled with ink, you will need to check the nozzle performance and ink flow before you can start printing. First it is important to set the table height by pressing the <height> button on the control panel. This will lower and then raise the table to the appropriate height for a good nozzle check. Place a standard sheet of paper in the lower right corner of the print table closest to you. Press the <noz ch> button followed by the <print> button. The table will move in and print a nozzle check pattern for each color. CMYK patterns will print onto the paper and the two white patterns will print directly onto the table so they are visible, they then should be wiped off with a paper towel. You should see a solid bar for each channel of color in the nozzle check pattern. If you do not see a solid bar or solid bars of each color then a print head clean should be performed. From the main menu select PRINTHEAD CLEAN then select CLEAN ALL LIGHT or CLEAN ALL HEAVY depending on the quality of your nozzle check. Press the <enter> key to perform the clean. Follow this with another nozzle check and repeat the process until you have solid bars of color. If you have good CMYK in a nozzle check but the white ink channels are not as good, you can perform a CLEAN WHITE CHANNELS head clean to clean one or both white ink channels. This will help not waste any CMYK ink during a clean. Once you have a good nozzle check your printer is now ready to start printing.