We get asked this question a lot, so here’s the pros and the cons to replacing your own printhead on your printer…
Let’s start with the Pros… errmm… Pro… because yes, their is only one…
You save around £200 - £350 on labour costs of an experienced engineer.
Now, moving onto the cons…
Number 1, what most people do, when they are thinking of changing a printhead is go straight to YouTube for a “how to” video. We’re all guilty of “YouTubing how to” videos, I personally have found out so much from DIY videos for around the house. However, what all these videos have in common, in all industries, is they never tell you “what not to do” or “if this happens, do this…” The smallest, minute ink droplet in the wrong place will destroy your new £600 printhead in a split second and could even take out another board. (Yes, you read that correct, Roland have just increased the prices on printheads making DX4 heads £604+vat)
Side note* Ensure that the earthing strap is clean and correct before re-seating, if not this can cause a real bad overspray type effect with the head not correctly earthed.
Now, if the engineer supplies you a new printhead, and they blow it up its on them to replace it at a cost to them, not you the client.
Number 2, once the head is fitted, and the head ribbons are re-seated carefully (because one bent pin on the ribbon can also blow the head and a fuse on the main board ) this is not complete. Next comes the alignment of the head. A badly fitted printhead can print worse than the one you have just taken out. Alterations of the head are done manually with tools and are done in minimal fractions of a turn and checked with a jewellers loop glass.
When the engineer comes, he does this everyday of his life and has a feel for it… admittedly he’ll make this look easy with the Bias, Vertical, Horizontal, Bi-directional alignments but it really isn’t quick if your not experienced. This boils down to how do you value your time? This leads us onto…
Number 3, an experienced engineer will almost always carry at least one Roland printhead in stock at all times, this means he can get your business back up and running as fast as possible.If you decide to change your own printhead on your Roland printer the process generally involves, shopping round online for the cheapest supplier because nobody likes buying heads, let’s face it THEY ARE EXPENSIVE! Nine out of ten times if your based in the UK you find yourself on Digiprint Supplies Website, again because they are one of the lowest priced suppliers (believe me when I say, mark up on printheads for people like us that sell them, is minimal)…Back to the point, you end up wasting time looking for a supplier, you end up ordering from digiprint, if your lucky you’ll get your printhead in 3 days. So, that’s 3 days your printer isn’t running, then you spend nearly another day fitting the head, that’s four days (minimum) you have lost buying and fitting a printhead, if it all goes to plan and you don’t turn your pride and joy printer into a toaster. How much print can you turn out in four days? Would it have been cheaper to have your engineer come out and do it for you?
With all that been said, if your are deciding to change your own printhead please feel free to reach out to us for guidance and tips, we’re here to help.
I hope this has helped decide one way or another for our readers and cleared up a few things.
Oliver - Field Engineer
Hinkler Group