Christmas break and equipment shutdowns

[andyfest]

Things are a little different this year as the company has decided to shut down during the week in between Christmas and New Years. We haven't done that for probably 20 years. FYI - I contacted Fuji to ask about the layup of our FLHZ-125 plate processor and was told to empty and rinse the gum tray and water rinse tanks. Also empty & clean the developer tank and re-fill with distilled or RO water for the 9 day break and then drain & re-fill with fresh developer on start-up after the break. I also asked about our Epson 9900 plotter, but haven't got an answer back yet. Normally we don't turn it off at all, but we've never been off for 9 days straight since we bought it either. Will post their reply when I get one. Have a good weekend - I'm outta here!

[Joe]

<===== Always hear of someone else getting these breaks. I never do.

[pspdfppdfxhd]

We do!!!! ya ya ya! AND going to Punta Cana for a week starting January 7th, yahoo! Only caveat is the mother in law is coming. She is pretty "hip" though, i am not worried about that.  Whats to do at an all inclusive resort in Punta Cana for a week I wonder? Oh maybe drink my face off! Cheers! It has been a long hard year here!

[born2print]

IMO, leave Epsons running

[Farabomb]

The only way my epson gets shut off is a power outage... or when the damn thing is broken.

I had a Fuji processor parked for a whole year forgetting to dump the chemistry. The gum tank was ugly but a few hours spent taking things apart and cleaning out gunk she was up and running again.

Break? Who gets that? We have 0 work but the boss makes sure we are here "just in case" something comes in. Pisses me off since he's not doing his job but he's been leaving me the hell alone so honestly, I don't really care.

[Tracy]

Give the proofer a cleaning when you get back
I don't know about needing to change chemistry, seems extreme but who knows

[DigiCorn]

IMO, leave Epsons running

yes - keeps the ink from clotting

[Just_A_Mac_Guy]

We usually leave the epsons running... as for Christmas breaks...
All year they tell us how lucky we are to close at christmas... First 2.5 weeks of December, all account and sales people are out smoozing client/Suppliers so there is no work. Then some one gets the bright idea of offering to do rush work over the holidays to get new clients. Dec 21-23 are nuts as they insist everyone be available to get the job done. Morning of the 24 everyone panics and tries to get the president to order everyone to be on call between Xmas and New Years... (he is in Jamaica by then)
Some time in the early afternoon, they realize they do not even have a creative concept yet and cancel everything. (if the project every happens, it might start in February)
Every year, Like clock work...

[frailer]

The only way my epson gets shut off is a power outage... or when the damn thing is broken.

... ditto. Never turn em off. They do scheduled head cleans & stuff. Asking for trouble, otherwise.

Used to have a little turkey here who wanted to turn our HP server off over weekends. Nup, back in your corner.

[andyfest]

Well, Fuji just got back to me and said that the Epson should be turned OFF during a long break like we are doing at Christmas, but they didn't give a reason why. Any idea why? Does it park the heads properly? I'm only worried about the nozzles drying and clogging while we're away. We've left it ON for 4 days before, but never for 9 days.

[andyfest]

Oh and the long break was the company's idea. Because Christmas falls on a Sunday, we are getting stat holidays for Christmas and Boxing Day on the Monday & Tuesday. We are always granted a "floater" holiday at Christmas, which will be the Wednesday. Friday will be the stat holiday for New Year's Day, which also falls on a Sunday this year. Anyone that has a vaca day in hand will take the Thursday off and all others without a vaca day left will be doing year-end inventory that day.

[Farabomb]

I don't think it will hurt the Epson to be shut off for that short amount of time. I know mine was off for 3 weeks while I was fixing it. The head was fine. I think it takes a much longer time of being shut off before you have to worry about the head clogging.

That being said, I really don't see any harm in leaving it on.

[Joe]

Personally I would turn it off for the 9 days. I know you said it is an Epson but this comes from HP and might apply as well:

Printhead Health:

All inkjet printers have semiconductor printheads. Some have an integrated printhead (IPH), while others are separate from the cartridge (as in IIC or Individual Ink Cartridge architectures). Regardless of the architecture, the printhead needs to be kept healthy to allow you to print high quality documents.

HP inkjet printers have shut-down routines, where the printer "parks" the printhead and "caps" the cartridge. There are a couple of triggers that cause this. One is if the "Off" button is pushed on the printer. The other is when the printer has been idle for a while, and it puts itself into power save mode. The printer moves the printhead to what our engineers call a "service station" where the printhead is covered, with very limited flow of air to the printhead. The printer can sit for an extended time without drying out the ink in the printhead and without harming the printer.

How long? As with so many such questions, the answer depends upon many variables, and it's hard to give a definite answer. But it would be reasonably safe to assume that a month or so is ok, and that if you don't print for a year or so, you risk having difficulty getting clean, streak-free prints without significant maintenance/servicing or repair/replacement of the printhead.

If you remove power (pull the plug) to the printer while it is in the middle of printing or shortly after it has finished a print job, without using the power off button, you could leave the printer in a much less desirable state. In this case, the ink would have a higher likelihood of drying in the printhead, and clogging up nozzles. Ink can no longer flow through those nozzles, and you will get streaky output. To keep the nozzles working properly, inkjet printers routinely maintain the printhead nozzles. Many inkjet printers also have user-initiated cleaning cycles. In many situations, your printer can recover from clogging with one or more cleaning cycles. If it can't, you will need a new printhead. For an IPH product, replace the cartridge and you get a brand new printhead. For an IIC printer, your choices are to send the printer for service or to replace the printer (though some office-type IIC printers have user- replaceable printheads).

In your case the printer has mechanical ink valves that close when the printer is powered off. I believe this is designed to keep the head from drying out over long periods of time. If you leave it on I think it will consume ink doing cleaning cycles every now and then over that 9 day period. Ink isn't cheap.

[Farabomb]

I hear tales of the epson doing background cleaning cycles. In my experience, I have never head it kick on without prior input from me. I'm guessing it parks the head after a extended period of inactivity but that's it. I've gone weeks without having to do a proof and I haven't head it do a mystery cleaning.

[David]

I have heard that before about shutting it down so the heads will be "parked" and capped.
but, I've never had to shut one down for an extended period, so we always left them on.
but YMMV