Any thoughts...Versacam gradient dropout.

[Brendan]

Hey all,
My sp540 just started having an issue with gradient banding. After running all the things I could think of, I am finding that the BLACK ink is not printing properly. Every other color is fine...and gradients containing those colors are fine. What do you suppose is happening if just one color is dropping out? Bad cartridge? Print head?
Thank you in advance. Im gonna go broke running media through the machine, not to mention the time it takes to adjust things...DOH!

 

[Mike Paul]

What does the test print/nozzle check look like? Is everything firing correctly?
Are you ripping from Flexi or VersaWorks?

 

[Brendan]

I use versaworks for my rip. The nozzle check is showing c m and y perfectly. The black is very eratic..almost an every other line type of scenario. Test print shows fuzzy edges on pure blacks and horrible banding in the gradients. The cmy color gradients are fine.
Hmmm

 

[Mike Paul]

If you know the nozzle is clogged... I guess the hard cleanings didn't work? Time to have it replaced.

 

[high impact]

Sounds most like pugged up nozzles, air in the line or a bad head. But cannot tell for sure without knowing more info about when it started and what happened prior.

 

[high impact]

If you know the nozzle is clogged... I guess the hard cleanings didn't work? Time to have it replaced.

Not necessarily...

If the nozzles are plugged then go into manual maintenance clean move the head carriage - fill the capping stations with cleaning solution, return the heads and let them soak a while. While you have the heads exposed - you can also DAB CLEANER VERY CAREFULLY on the bottom of the nozzles on the c/k head...DO NOT WIPE - JUST DAB GENTLY. Do this a few times, I had to do this one time with mine after the nozzles plugged up after someone turned my machine's main power off for about 4 days. It cleared up after this procedure and some med cleans. I wouldn't do too many hard cleanings.

If it is air you can remove a line at the head and manually use a syringe to pull the air out.

 

[Brendan]

Thanks Guys...
I will try these out...then its tech time.

 

[Mike Paul]

Good point Mark,
I Should have mentioned trying to soak the head before replacing it, especially if it's out of warrantee and without a service plan.

I had my Black print head crap out on me a couple years ago, happened a few weeks before my warrantee expired so I had it replaced. The Tech guy tried cleaning and soaking the head and it didn't work.

I've seen quite a few posts on Roland's site about the black print heads being problematic with clogging.

 

[Precision Eng]

Had the same identical issue with my sp300 a few months back. Ended up being the head. Replaced and has been working perfectly ever since. No more
fuzzy and eratic black text or lines.

 

[Former member]

I had some issues like this too... Did several power cleanings no luck. turned out to be a dirty encoder strip... I f that thing gets dirty all sorts of weirdness can happen... so you may want to try cleaning the encoder strip.... just a thought.

 

[Drip Dry]

I had the same symptoms and it turned out to be the damper.
If the cleanings don't work, I would consider the dampers before replacing the head. 30.00 for damper vs thousands for a new head.

JT

 

[Goofball]

I don't know if this is the right thing to do...but it works good for me....I have a syringe that I got from my vet...I fill it full of cleaning solution and always squirt my print heads really good with it.....just place a paper towel underneath to keep down on the mess.....let it soak awhile and then continue cleaning....the needle gives you good pressure to help clean it.

Bob