Black splotches during printing

[Ste-v]

Hi guys I’ve got a new second hand valve jet 1304 I’ve been printing for a while on it now (6-7 months)
But today my issues started…
I’m getting ink splotches all over my print,

Any advice would be greatly appreciated

 

[unclebun]

Look for a piece of fuzz stuck to the print head or carriage that is catching and dripping the ink vapors.

 

[Solventinkjet]

Yeah that's either what unclebun said or also a stuck wiper or swollen flushing sponge. Check that the wiper goes back to tit's home when the printer is printing. The wiper should be out of the path of the head. Also check the flushing sponge to the left of the wiper and make sure it's not sticking up and touching the head as it passes. It's most likely ink build up on the head though which causes little inkcicles that eventually drip onto the media during printing. They don't make it easy to clean the head on that model unfortunately. You'll need to take the left side cover off to get a better look at the bottom of the head.

 

[Ste-v]

Would I have to take the print head off?

 

[Solventinkjet]

Would I have to take the print head off?

No. You could but it would be a lot of work. If you take the left cover off and move the head all the way to the left of the machine, you can get a decent look at the bottom of the head.

 

[Ste-v]

I will do thanks

 

[signheremd]

That looks like a drop of ink from ink accumulating on the bottom of the head and dripping when it has enough mass. Usual causes are a hair or fuzz on the head or accumulation on the wiper or flushing sponge (as has been said by others). Worth asking, when is the last time you ran a cleaning cycle? Also worth noticing if your unprinted media is hitting the floor before it prints (that can cause debris to stick to the head).

 

[Ste-v]

That looks like a drop of ink from ink accumulating on the bottom of the head and dripping when it has enough mass. Usual causes are a hair or fuzz on the head or accumulation on the wiper or flushing sponge (as has been said by others). Worth asking, when is the last time you ran a cleaning cycle? Also worth noticing if your unprinted media is hitting the floor before it prints (that can cause debris to stick to the head).

Yeah that’s exactly what it was just a build up of ink
And it doesn’t look it clean in there either as you can see

 

[unclebun]

Yep. It starts with a piece of fuzz and grows from there. Usually the fuzz comes from banner material.

 

[Ste-v]

We have done a lot of banner, we are quite new to large format printing and it’s little things like ( banner fuzz ) like you saying that I’ve gotta learn,,

One more question where can I get the paper pinch rollers cheap I’ve actually seen them well I’ve seen one 1 roller for £14 each and I have 68 on my printer

 

[signheremd]

We have done a lot of banner, we are quite new to large format printing and it’s little things like ( banner fuzz ) like you saying that I’ve gotta learn,,

One more question where can I get the paper pinch rollers cheap I’ve actually seen them well I’ve seen one 1 roller for £14 each and I have 68 on my printer

Likely the Banner fuzz is the source of the problem. At this point you need new wiper blade, new felt wiper blade, new flushing sponge, a small bottle of solvent and some cleaning swabs. It needs a manual cleaning. Be sure not to ouch the head itself, just the black plastic edges around the print head.

As far as banner material, we switched from Duramax to UltraFlex Super Print Plus FL because of the difference in edge fuzz. We also always run banners with the media claps attached to help keep fuzz away from the head. Just remember to unclamp them before using sheet cut...