Overview
Refurbishing the ZCorp Z510 color powder 3D printer.
State of play
Per Graham, 2015-10-29.
Over past months, Allen has worked on this printer, with some help from Graham, and probably others.
All functions of the printer seem to work, except for print head errors that the front panel reports (and reports back to the computer sending the job), which either causes the job to stop, or causes the print heads not to print usefully.
Things that work:
- Front panel
- Network communication (Software can submit a job.)
- X and Y motion
- Feed piston (Z axis)
The print heads were replaced. The ZCorp uses off-the-shelf HP large-format ink-jet print heads, but must flush the existing ink out to bring in the ZCorp ink/binder. The bleed process was performed, but this did not result in satisfactory printing -- instead producing errors as noted.
Current speculation is that the print head connectors (in the print head carriage) are not working properly. They involve arrays of "pogo pins", that may have a propensity to not press uniformly, or perhaps to incur wiring problems. They are in an area which might be subject to ink/binder spills.
There's a rumor that a thorough soaking and cleaning in some kind of solvent has revived this apparatus in other units.
Click to expand. Print heads not installed in this picture. See User Manual for more details.
Note on bleeding the supply lines
There are circumstances where it's necessary to bleed air out of the lines (tubes) that supply ink/binder from the source tanks to the carriage and ultimately to the print heads. The manual goes into some detail about using a syringe with a special fitting for performing this task.
We were unable to find a vendor for the fitting. However, we discovered that we could draw fluid (and air bubbles) through the system using just a syringe equipped with a blunt needle about the same diameter as the intake nozzle on a print head. Not sure if there's damage that might be done by this method (the needle may insert further than the print head intake, for example).
Resources
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