Banding Issues

[signkraft]

I've got an issue that I've been working with for about the last month now. I'm getting light banding that runs the entire length of the print, and is only noticeable on grays. I've been working with a few tech people over the phone, and even had my dealer techs in here working on it, but haven't been able to come to a clear solution, or even what the issue is.
It happens almost the same on different medias, different profiles(even in density control only), on banner and vinly equally. I've re-written multiple profiles, at 720 and 1440, and different head passes, 8 and 16, with slight differences. The banding is definately a little smoother with the higher res and more passes, but still not sellable to my clients. I've adjusted heat settings, changed from bi to uni-directional, and scrubbed down the printer many times. My nozzle prints all show no clogging. Prints the same out of Photoshop or Illustrator, as .tif, .eps, or .pdf.

Has anyone ever come across this issue?
I am printing with a Roland VP-540. Using Versaworks V2.5.0

Any help or ideas would be extremely welcome, as a printer that won't print gray is quite aggravating.

Thanks in advance.

 

[ChiknNutz]

That isn't really "banding" in the traditional sense if it runs perpendicular to head travel...as this appears to be doing. Have you played with heater settings at all? It looks like improper heat and/or dirty encoder strip. Have you cleaned the encoder strip at all?

 

[signkraft]

Sorry, this picture was taken from a side angle. The banding is running horizontal with the heads.

As for the heat settings, I've printed everywhere from 35c to 50c, makes no difference in the banding, just the darkness of the gray. As for the encoder strip, that has been cleaned as well.

 

[lilb93]

First I would recalibrate the encoder strip. If that does not fix it , Replace the encoder and the strip.

 

[ljbutler1951]

This looks like what I was going thru. My rep came out and changed to the new pump and it stopped doing it.

 

[Jack Knight1979]

that is ink drop out from one of your heads. Most likely black.

 

[Former member]

I get the same thing from time to time....Mostly on solid colors like you've shown. I replaced both heads, pump, and encoder. (due to other problems) and i still get this effect. All calibrations, and environmental matches were performed by my tech. Ive noticed it happens more when I use the roland swatches in my design.... Is that what you used? The funny thing is that is not happening on the other sections of the print, just the grey... It might be the spot color.... just spitballing.
If you figure it out please post the solution.

 

[Jack Knight1979]

I've had this problem from time to time and after performing a calibration test. (Printing all colors CMYK with no calibration or profile in Versa Works) I noticed certain heads had banding. Damper parts replacement fix the issue totally.

That type of banding will ALWAYS happen to some degress. it's the nature of the Epson head design, but the picture posted above looks like a severe case.

 

[grafikpro2002]

Banding Issue

Yea ,
I just experienced that too.
I struggled for over 8hrs. playing w/ settings, cleaning,
call the folks that sold us the machine, Trying to get a roland tech on the line.
No one had any answers.

Nice to know that this expensive machine can't properly print pastel colors w/ out that happening after you've purchased it.

If anyone finds a solution for this, please let me know