How Preventative Maintenance - Halley

How Preventative Maintenance on Wide Format Printers Can SAVE You Costly Repairs or Replacement
How Preventative Maintenance on

Wide Format Printers
Can SAVE $$$
You Costly Repairs
or
Replacement
DENNIS HALLEY
Digital Technology & Learning Center – Denver, CO
Dennis Halley is a veteran of 40 year printing industry skills with a diverse background in experience, knowledge and broad network of relationships within the
printing field. He writes and speaks with solid practical experience and is one of the top value added resources to the industry. He has managed several production
facilities and worked for major manufacturers.
Dennis runs Photo-Imaging Consultants, Digital2You.cc and USAheatpress.com, owns & operates the Denver Digital Technology & Learning Center. Dennis has
spoken and written on many topics related to digital printing and finishing technologies for the industry. His blogs and articles are practical, down to earth and have
been recognized in the field to be spot-on.
The Denver Digital Technology & Learning Center is a 4,500 square foot experience with many types of printing technologies actually working for a hands on
practical learning resource. Many industry manufacturers, trainers and professionals have taught classes in the DTLC with this “hands on“ training concept. Color
Management, Dye Sublimation, Textile Printing, Fine Art & Photo Reproduction classes are some of the frequent classes held in the Denver DTLC.
Major corporate marketing and printing centers, print professionals, dye sublimation apparel factories, and industry color consultants from the US and neighboring
countries have all attended classes in the DTLC and praise the level of quality training with hands on practical experiences.
Dennis also sits on several academic advisory boards and is an early adopter of the Tech Lab and Makers Space growing trends. He also assists businesses and
incubates early start ups of dye sublimation apparel emerging businesses. Dennis and his team consults to the trade and industry on many aspects of digital print &
finishing production, color management, quality processes and technical systems.
Anybody ever try

to learn
how to
ski
when they were
young?
Everyone wants and needs to save

money in their printing operation,
so how often can you afford to
waste time, materials, labor and
have costly repairs on your printing
equipment?
Most important to remember;

Maintenance Pays, It does not cost!
….First, how about a show of hands on

what type of printers you have or
operate?
Stand up please !
Here is a group survey

for us to learn from
Raise your left hands and keep them up if

you have wide format Aqueous ink jet
printers.
(This includes all of you with Dye

Sublimation, DTG or Direct to Fabric up to
64”)
Now, raise your right hands up & keep

them up if you have any type of Solvent
wide format.
(This means most of the Roland, Epson,

Mutoh, Mimaki & others in the 64”
range)
Next, stand up on one leg if any of your

printers are Grand Format, greater than 64”
keep standing if you can.
This goes for most of the Latex, UV and

really big solvent units up to 2.5, 3.2 and
5 meter.
Not a very good position to be in, huh?

So, out of everyone standing in this

room with hands up and a vested
interest in preserving their printer
investments, all of you with trained
operators or technicians that are
performing routine preventative
maintenance or engaged in
manufacturer service contracts doing
preventative maintenance can sit down
& relax! as you are on the best road to
travel.
The rest of you standing (if you can still stand)

should just take out your wallets and dump
money on the floor, because essentially, you
will keep doing this more and more by
neglecting your printers routine maintenance.
Hard to stand on one leg, holding both arms

and hands up, huh?
Point is, you all have a lot of money tied

up in equipment and if any of the printers
are not working, it is costing you more
than money, so it is important to make
sure your printers are working properly &
producing to keep making money.
Every printer needs a cleaning now & then

Follow your published preventative

maintenance guidelines, charts or check lists
provided!
Every one of the major printer manufacturers

has published preventative maintenance
guidelines, charts or check lists that you can
use to keep your printer performing.
Training your staff on how to maintain these printers is very

important and will pay good dividends to your company by
keeping waste down, saving labor, reducing costs of repairs.
Not training your staff on how to maintain equipment will

just result in your increased costs of operation, outside
break-fix repairs and many other associated costs of
defective production.
This issue also results eventually into customer complaints
and lost business.
Preventative Maintenance Training Pays,

It does not cost!
Let’s look at a few examples of how much

it costs to repair or replace wide format
ink jet printers that have not been
properly maintained…
Aqueous 44”-64” Break Fix on site diagnosis & replacement of

pump cap station, damper and 10 channel print head
with labor can run from
$2,800 up to $3,500.
Replacing your pump cap station after 2-3 years and with
periodic cleaning is much less, around $250 in parts and labor
is already on site. Plus, you get to clean out the fuzz and lint
from a dirty printer, as it should be done.
Replacement of a dead 44” printer is around $4,000

or on a 64” printer is around $9,000
In this case the solution for most

Aqueous Printers is pretty simple
and very easy to implement, thus,
cheap insurance to do all the things
correctly to keep these simple
systems clean with these
4 common tips…
4 common tips & tricks to keep printers maintained
• Exercise your printer on a regular basis and run production and ink
through the system!
• Aqueous ink jet printers like 35-45% humidity, use a humidor or

humidified print room area!
• Keep lint, paper dust, room dust and foreign material out of your printer,
vacume the beast! Every so often, inspect the pump cap cleaning station
and clean regularly, change cap station!
• After a couple of years, expect that you should change out printer
capping cleaning station and any wear parts as needed. Failure to do so,
will kill a print head for sure.
Simple cleaning tools:

Pink, Swabs, Lint Free, Syringe, etc.
These can be found in the Reference appendix

on several articles written for Preventative
Maintenance in trade publications over the years.
These are some of the sections from our Digital

Technology & Learning Center programs.
As your printer cost increases, so does the need for

maintenance and the cost of repairs.
$20K-$30K-$50K printers need more attention to
periodic maintenance & upkeep.
Grand Format Printers run from $250k up to $750k.
Depending upon the model and type of head, these

heads if clogged or ruined run from $2,500 up to
$7,500 to replace.
On the larger, Grand Format flatbeds, 2.5 meter, 3.2 meter

and 5 meter printers, the heads can run up and over $10,000
each and you might have up to 24 heads or more on the jet
plate area on the gantry! This is really where it pays to invest
in proper training in the care and upkeep of the printer, print
heads and the fluid ink delivery systems. Often in shops with
many of these larger units, they will invest in an ultrasonic
head cleaning unit that each head is periodically rotated
through and cleaned.
This all applies to any flatbed or large hybrid.
Don’t wait until the problem is evident and

damage is done, get on top of this prior to
these situations to be in front of any
issues. This is especially important with
systems running the gummy white inks.
White ink can be a real print head killer if left

unchecked and not properly maintained.
Filters for Large Format & Grand Format
When it comes to most any type of ink, changing

primary and final filters is a must and should be done
as often as needed.
Filters are cheap compared to dead heads!

Areas of the wide format ink jet printer

systems that need paid attention to;
Fluid ink delivery systems, tanks, pumps,

filters, lines and most importantly….the
PRINT HEADS! Don’t forget the white ink
recirculating systems!
That is why everyone has cleaning solutions,

wipes, swabs, flushing solutions, ultrasonic
cleaning units and trained staff to stay on
top of these maintenance intensive & costly
grand format print heads.
Most any part of the Print Head Gantry System

(print heads and cleaning station)
Fluid tanks, pumps, filters and capillary delivery tubes (plumbing 101)
Don’t forget, that you also have other systems in this operation other
than fluid dynamics;
Paper handling, feed, suction, filters and printer mechanics to

handle X-Y-Z axis
All electronics from input power to every board, computers and

controllers
Any proprietary systems involved

Owners:
Preventative Maintenace Training

Pays
in the long run,
It does not cost !

Where do you get the Proper Training for your operators?
The Best of All Worlds;

OJT On the Job Training & the benefits of having an in
house tech that knows the history of the printers and is
operating them frequently or performing preventative
maintenance on a routine basis.
Manufacturer Sponsored technical training to supplement

the in house tech, very good!
Everybody wins in this type of relationship
Where do you get Service Support and Maintenance outside

of this:
Manufacturer Programs with Structured Service

and Maintenance Agreements
Upside of this type of program / Downside perspective
3rd Party Service groups

Upside of this type of program / Downside perspective
Hands down, these two options cost more, but are always
available if needed.
Moral of the story;
Preventative Maintenace Pays,

It does not cost !
It also nurtures value in your employees and

they have a vested interest in seeing that
everything is properly operating.
And ultimately...
Preventative Maintenance
on Wide Format Printers
Can
SAVE $$$
You
Costly Repairs
or Replacement
If you don’t learn how to

properly
maintain your
equipment,
You are going to have
A bad experience !
Q&A
Thank you for attending and

considering these options!
Questions? Contact Dennis Halley at dennis@digital2you.cc

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How Preventative Maintenance on Wide Format Printers Can SAVE You Costly Repairs or Replacement

How Preventative Maintenance on

Anybody ever try

Everyone wants and needs to save

Most important to remember;

….First, how about a show of hands on

Here is a group survey

Raise your left hands and keep them up if

(This includes all of you with Dye

Now, raise your right hands up & keep

(This means most of the Roland, Epson,

Next, stand up on one leg if any of your

This goes for most of the Latex, UV and

Not a very good position to be in, huh?

So, out of everyone standing in this

The rest of you standing (if you can still stand)

Hard to stand on one leg, holding both arms

Point is, you all have a lot of money tied

Every printer needs a cleaning now & then

Follow your published preventative

Every one of the major printer manufacturers

Training your staff on how to maintain these printers is very

Not training your staff on how to maintain equipment will

Preventative Maintenance Training Pays,

Let’s look at a few examples of how much

Aqueous 44”-64” Break Fix on site diagnosis & replacement of

Replacement of a dead 44” printer is around $4,000

In this case the solution for most

4 common tips & tricks to keep printers maintained

• Aqueous ink jet printers like 35-45% humidity, use a humidor or

Simple cleaning tools:

These can be found in the Reference appendix

These are some of the sections from our Digital

As your printer cost increases, so does the need for

Grand Format Printers run from $250k up to $750k.

Depending upon the model and type of head, these

On the larger, Grand Format flatbeds, 2.5 meter, 3.2 meter

Don’t wait until the problem is evident and

White ink can be a real print head killer if left

Filters for Large Format & Grand Format

When it comes to most any type of ink, changing

Filters are cheap compared to dead heads!

Areas of the wide format ink jet printer

Fluid ink delivery systems, tanks, pumps,

That is why everyone has cleaning solutions,

Most any part of the Print Head Gantry System

Paper handling, feed, suction, filters and printer mechanics to

All electronics from input power to every board, computers and

Any proprietary systems involved

Preventative Maintenace Training

It does not cost !

Where do you get the Proper Training for your operators?

The Best of All Worlds;

Manufacturer Sponsored technical training to supplement

Where do you get Service Support and Maintenance outside

Manufacturer Programs with Structured Service

3rd Party Service groups

Moral of the story;

Preventative Maintenace Pays,

It also nurtures value in your employees and

If you don’t learn how to

Thank you for attending and