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KEY TO SUCCESS:

Company: atyourservice.org  

Project: Printer maintenance  

Key to success: Before making that repair yourself, determine what the cost would be to replace parts or hire a technician should something go wrong.

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Here is a capping station a customer attempted to rebuild with disastrous results. Much of this capping station is designed from plastic parts that the customer apparently snapped off during disassembly and attempted to use Super Glue to reattach. Although it’s true that some capping stations are easier to rebuild than others, in this case, once parts snap off, it is best to replace the whole thing. Notice that the caps are uneven and parts of the wipers and the wiper tray are missing or have been glued as well. This, combined with the fact that the caps themselves are dried up and too damaged to be effective anymore, renders this capping station simply unusable even for spare parts.

I’m fairly experienced with my home’s wiring and have made basic do-it-yourself repairs on my home over the years with no issues. But I would never consider doing anything beyond my home’s wiring.

 

You won’t catch me attempting repairs involving power lines or transformers, like the ones we see on utility poles. Obviously, no matter how well I think I understand those systems, I just don’t have the experience... and my wife would kill me if she saw me try it.

 

In previous issues of Sign & Digital Graphics, I have written do-it-yourself material in an effort to empower readers to work on their own printing equipment, so I am in no means trying to tell anyone not to jump in. I actually encourage this, but with a slight caveat: Know what you’re getting into before you attempt some repairs, and be ready to step back.

 

Everyone is trying to save money these days, and do-it-yourself repairs are too often being performed beyond many people’s experience level. It’s important to know your limits and be able to discern when an experienced technician may be needed. Fixing printers is obviously not the life and death example I described with the power lines, but consider the costs. Understanding when to cut your losses might at least cost you only an arm and a leg.

 

Pumps and dampers: I have written more than once about how to replace pumps and dampers and encouraged this as a basic maintenance routine for your printer.

 

(See www.sdgmag.com/articleauthors/gregory-daerr for past examples.)

 

This procedure is relatively easy enough for most people and has a small chance of causing much collateral damage if done incorrectly. With few steps, this procedure is easily documented with a couple of images or diagrams and some instructions. 

 

Other components require more intricate understanding of the repair, and if done incorrectly will indeed increase the chances of causing even more damage both mechanical and financial.

 

For instance, most maintenance on capping stations requires a bit more experience and may pose somewhat more of a challenge to someone who has not been trained or has not done it before. Things like realignment procedures, disconnecting and reconnecting wiring or cables are delicate steps that have a high chance of creating other failures if not done correctly.

 

Printheads and controller boards: The margin for error here is much narrower, with a higher chance of causing expensive damage if not done correctly. For instance, connecting printhead cables backward or crossed will typically damage the printhead and in many cases the motherboard as well. Head and CR boards also are at risk here as well. Not to mention the fact that printheads are delicate, and simply handling the head incorrectly in your hands can damage them. Consider the costs before jumping into these repairs.

 

Once you get past the basic installation of a printhead, then comes both mechanical and menu-based calibrations and procedures. All of which can be challenging to even a trained technician. This ultimately adds up to a greater chance of failure, which is why I simply don’t recommend casual end users even attempt a print head replacement.

 

Here a client of mine tried valiantly to repair damage to an ink tube with obviously unexpected results. Experience with these types of repairs dictates you drain the ink lines before disassembly. I can only imagine their reaction when this occurred to him. This was a real gusher. This ended up spilling ink on a number of other components including a CR board and T-Fence, requiring them to be replaced as well.

Motherboards or even subsystem controller boards also are repairs I suggest are best left to professionals. Motherboards especially can present some serious complications, such as making sure the parameters and settings are properly backed up and or initialized correctly. The margins, print head calibrations and other settings can be different from machine to machine and are unique to each. These setting are usually stored on the main boards and losing or failing to back these up and transfer them to the new main board can stop a repair in its tracks.

 

Other control boards like carriage or head boards, which control sub systems, are still problematic replacements for the inexperienced but don’t require a laptop and follow-up calibrations to finish correctly. However, this, coupled with the fact that these boards are usually much less expensive to replace, makes them a gray area for those considering replacing these themselves. Again, consider the cost of a new board in the event you fry the one you’re replacing versus the cost of a service call.

Knowing your limits or factoring in what you can afford to pay in the event you make a mistake is important here.

 

I’ve worked with people who have tried rebuilding or replacing individual parts in a system, such as pumps or some types of capping or maintenance stations, with limited success. Typically these systems are not replaced piece-meal, but costs may dictate the necessity. Sure, it may be cheaper to replace a capping assembly versus replacing the entire maintenance station, but look ahead at the difficulty involved in doing this. Even as experienced as I am in this area, I do not look forward to these kinds of repairs as they can involve more unknowns than not. Costs associated with labor should also be considered when hiring a technician to do this. Make sure you consider the cost of the additional labor involved in the procedure when or if you decide to hire someone to do a piece-meal repair. Replacing a cap or rebuilding a pump can take much longer than simply replacing the part or entire system… and at an average of $100 an hour for labor rates these days, it can easily be a wash as far as costs are concerned. Saving money on parts can help, but keep your labor costs in the back of your head when planning these kinds of repairs.

 

One last point I need to make about doing repairs yourself: If you’ve been working on a printer and come to the conclusion that you’re in over your head for one reason or another and decide to bring a professional in, make sure that you tell the technician all that you have done. In many cases, this will save the technician time in isolating the issue and patching up any mistakes you might have made. Often this information is omitted either out of embarrassment or fear that the bill might go up. I run into this all the time, and it’s amazing what some people have done to their printers before calling me in. In many cases, it’s hard to trace the logic that caused a client to disassemble a particular system or another without a clue as to what was done. This can generate multiple unnecessary service calls to isolate a problem that in many cases is not even related to the initial problem. What’s worse is when you have a bright but inexperienced client who disassembled and reassembled a system in such a way that the only way to detect a mistake is to rebuild or replace the part, which again adds more costs to the total job. Bottom line: Don’t forget to tell your tech what you have done, preferably before he or she comes in so they have a good idea what they are getting themselves into. A good technician should ask pertinent questions about the issue before scheduling an appointment and do their best to manage your expectations.