Banding & quality issues with Roland VG3 540

[gary123]

We're having an issue with banding on our Roland VG3 and I was wondering anyone here can give a bit of advice.

I have my VG3 since January 2024. It's my first large format eco solvent printer so forgive me if I don't communicate the problem perfectly.

For the vast majority of what we have done it's been perfectly fine as fas as quality. Anything that doesn't have solid colour coverage over a large area is generally fine.

In October I tried to print a sign which was a solid navy colour which printed awfully after about a foot. It started solid navy and then progressed to heavy banding & heavy overspray to the white around the navy.

A tech came out and the solution at the time was to just print unidirectional & slower and basically "it's just how the machine is". A few weeks after the same problem happened on a solid green. Now it's happening or more visible on more jobs including a job today which I attached below. It seems like blue/black may be part of the issue.

There doesn't seem to be consistency with this problem. Unidirectional helps, printing slower helps but I can't print everything so slow.

I've tried most suggestions including cleans. Encoder strip was cleaned a month or so ago (after the issue appeared). Head tests are fine/alignments were checked by a a tech and are fine.

Is this the output I can expect from this printer or is there an issue with my machine? I only have about 2 weeks left on the warranty so now would be the time if I had to push roland for a solution.

 

[gary123]

Photos of a job I tried today.

 

[cornholio]

Your problem is highly likely the cyan head, that needs replacement.
The TR2 cyan seems to clog the head sometimes.
Get it fixed during warranty.

 

[Roland Certified Tech]

The service level micro-dot test will tell all. Most likely will need cyan head.
Try Generic Vinyl II profile in High Quality.

 

[gary123]

Your problem is highly likely the cyan head, that needs replacement.
The TR2 cyan seems to clog the head sometimes.
Get it fixed during warranty.

Hopefully Roland will honour the warranty. I agreed to purchase and got delivery in the last week of 2023 but the machine wasn't installed by the dealer until the first week of January. The dealer said warranty starts from install date so hopefully they'll be honourable with it.

The service level micro-dot test will tell all. Most likely will need cyan head.
Try Generic Vinyl II profile in High Quality.

Is this common with these machines from your experience? Anything that can cause it or would there be anything we can do to avoid this again?

I'm a bit disappointed we're having issues with a machine so young. I was looking at an Epson when I bought this and was told that the truvis was a little troublesome (more so the previous VG2 & VG1) but there's a lot of Roland users here in Ireland that are happy with them and I thought the VG3 would have some of the issues ironed out compared to the VG1 & VG2.

The dealer I bought it from sold the rollover table we wanted so we did a bundle deal which is how I ended up with the Roland.

It's been maintained to the dot. I've been very very careful as regards headstrikes & only running more premium materials to cut down on any running issues. I could understand if it was abused but it's been quite the opposite.

 

[Roland Certified Tech]

You should be able to the head replaced under warranty even if very close past the warranty date. Get with the dealer ASAP and have them contact the Roland subsisdary.
Yes, cyan is an issue: do daily cleaning, shake the cyan every day and use the printer as much as possible.

 

[kevhanano]

We're having an issue with banding on our Roland VG3 and I was wondering anyone here can give a bit of advice.

I have my VG3 since January 2024. It's my first large format eco solvent printer so forgive me if I don't communicate the problem perfectly.

For the vast majority of what we have done it's been perfectly fine as fas as quality. Anything that doesn't have solid colour coverage over a large area is generally fine.

In October I tried to print a sign which was a solid navy colour which printed awfully after about a foot. It started solid navy and then progressed to heavy banding & heavy overspray to the white around the navy.

A tech came out and the solution at the time was to just print unidirectional & slower and basically "it's just how the machine is". A few weeks after the same problem happened on a solid green. Now it's happening or more visible on more jobs including a job today which I attached below. It seems like blue/black may be part of the issue.

There doesn't seem to be consistency with this problem. Unidirectional helps, printing slower helps but I can't print everything so slow.

I've tried most suggestions including cleans. Encoder strip was cleaned a month or so ago (after the issue appeared). Head tests are fine/alignments were checked by a a tech and are fine.

Is this the output I can expect from this printer or is there an issue with my machine? I only have about 2 weeks left on the warranty so now would be the time if I had to push roland for a solution.

Definitely push to get this resolved before warranty expires. This is not an acceptable output, nor is having to run unidirectional or at a slower speed.

 

[guillermo]

you should have bought a second year warranty..... but, do they offer 2 years now?

 

[Roland Certified Tech]

Roland in the US offers to buy warranty for up to 5 years. It has to be done within 30 days when the original warranty is over.

 

[gary123]

Thanks for all the advice, it was spot on. Technician was out today and the cyan head is being replaced by Roland. Only 6 days left on the warranty so this happened at the right time!

you should have bought a second year warranty..... but, do they offer 2 years now?

I'm in Ireland, don't think there's an option for a second year here. I think the UK and US may have extended warranty options which would be great if we did have them here.