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Cleaning the Underside of the Carriage

Introduction

The underside of the carriage must be cleaned daily. It may be necessary to clean it more frequently if any of the following conditions exist:

  • media has a high level of static charge

  • full bleed printing

  • media thickness value is incorrect (carriage is too high)

CAUTION

For cleaning areas of the printer that have uncured ink contamination use the following safety equipment - nitrile gloves, a lab coat, and safety glasses with side shields to protect your eyes.

If a nitrile glove is contaminated with ink, discard it within a few minutes. Do not re-use gloves.

Equipment

  • Poly Wipe cloths

  • Isopropyl alcohol

IMPORTANT

When you clean the carriage or printheads you may need a light to evaluate their condition. All light sources emit varying amounts of UV (ultraviolet) light. UV light cures the UV-based ink used in your printer. If the underside of the carriage is dark when examining the printheads or the carriage underside, consider the kind of light source you use for the inspection. LED flashlights and halogen lamps emit the most UV light, while tungsten and fluorescent produce the least. Most Smart phones with a light source use LED lights. Regardless of the light source used, always limit exposure of the printheads to the minimal time required (refer to Customer Application Bulletin 55, " Minimize Exposure to UV Light When Inspecting Printhead Nozzles" for more details).

Procedure

  1. From the Maintenance tab select Move carriage to place it at the center of the gantry.
  2. Open the Manual Maintenance Access door.
  3. Fold a lint-free poly wipe cloth to a size that will fit between the printheads on the bottom of the carriage.
  4. Dip the cloth in isopropyl alcohol.
  5. Clean the ink from bottom of the carriage.

    Avoid touching the printheads (see figure below).

    CAUTION

    Use only nitrile gloves that have been checked for chemical resistance. In general, a minimum 0.5mm or thicker nitrile glove is acceptable. Use the gloves one time only, and replace them immediately if they are punctured or degraded. Do not re-use them if they are removed.

    Chemicals in UV ink begin to permeate nitrile gloves in less than 10 minutes. While this action may not be visible, changing contaminated gloves should occur every few minutes. These penetrating chemicals have no pigment so they are not visible; therefore just because you don’t have pigment on the glove or your skin doesn’t mean that exposure has not occurred.

  6. Close the access door.

    Do NOT close if you are going to swab the printheads next.

  7. Proceed to Cleaning the Printheads if you are doing Daily maintenance.