blurred prints and color fall out

[jmeeller]

Hello ALL! Have a mimaki JV3160SP, printer has ran fine for years. Been having trouble lately with what I think is communication. Print starts to run, for example a solid dark orange, with blue text inside. As it gets a little further down the text becomes almost 'blurry' with rough edges on the sides of the letters, not crisp like a couple inches up in the same print. It also fades from a dark orange to lighter colored orange. I have change the firewire cord, as well as the firewire board in the computer. Sometimes I will get lucky and the print will go like its supposed to and maintain crispness and color the whole way through. Its more off than on at the time so I am scared to let any large vehicle wraps run. Please help! Mimaki tech says it may be the encoder or encoder reader or both, I can see such for the blurriness but what about the ink fading to a different color and the test print coming out just fine. Seems like a communication error to me?

 

[J Hill Designs]

probably ink starvation. how long since dampers have been replaced?

 

[phototec]

Hello ALL! Have a mimaki JV3160SP, printer has ran fine for years. Been having trouble lately with what I think is communication. Print starts to run, for example a solid dark orange, with blue text inside. As it gets a little further down the text becomes almost 'blurry' with rough edges on the sides of the letters, not crisp like a couple inches up in the same print. It also fades from a dark orange to lighter colored orange. I have change the firewire cord, as well as the firewire board in the computer. Sometimes I will get lucky and the print will go like its supposed to and maintain crispness and color the whole way through. Its more off than on at the time so I am scared to let any large vehicle wraps run. Please help! Mimaki tech says it may be the encoder or encoder reader or both, I can see such for the blurriness but what about the ink fading to a different color and the test print coming out just fine. Seems like a communication error to me?

I thionk it would help more if you posted actual photos of your poblem?

 

[jmeeller]

just added pics! dampers have been changed fairly recently. along with a couple new heads. test prints are also flawless. no jets missing, i have never seen this before ever out of this printer.

 

[phototec]

just added pics! dampers have been changed fairly recently. along with a couple new heads. test prints are also flawless. no jets missing, i have never seen this before ever out of this printer.

I am NO expert, and I have NOT had that problem before, however from all I have read on the forum, it would lead me to think it was a dirty encoder strip or the sensor (encoder reader) is dirty.

Not long ago someone had a very similar problem and the cleaned the encoder dtrip and the sensor, and it resolved the problem, so I would suggest cleaning those first. You did mention the Mimaki tech says it may be the encoder or encoder reader or both. So start there.

 

[jfiscus]

X2 on a dirty encoder strip/eye. Have dealt with this exact same issue with Roland printers in the past. Thankfully, the Mimakis here haven't ran into that problem.

 

[gregwallace]

It looks like your print is running diagonaly. Ive had that problem on a roland before. Replacing the encoder strip didnt work but replacing the encoder itself did work. The blurriness is because your printer isnt aligning its passes (similar to your bidirectional being off) because of the messed up encoder/encoder strip. No idea on the color shift.

 

[MikePro]

if the strip appears clean the it is definitely the sensor. easy to try and fix without replacement.
one gold screw holds it in, if you can get the printhead carriage harness opened-up, the gold screw is towards the center at the same level as the clear encoder strip that runs the length of the printer.

the encoder sensor cups the clear strip like a "C", remove the screw and it lifts right out.
pull it out, snap a photo, and show us what it looked like.
...more than likely, there's some debris blocking the light/reflector. be it dust, hair, or even oversprayed ink. clean it up, reinstall, and you're set!

worth a shot, doesn't hurt anything to pull it out and put it back in. however, if it IS ink on the lens then don't just go throwing solvents on it to clean it up. start with isopropyl. cleaning solution burns most plastics.

 

[Masseria]

Actually im having the same issue.--

Check Encoder strip first.

also make a testdraw and post it. because my problem is that nozzles are firing wrong.... some are clogged or have ink inside of printhead...


also it would be nice to see a banding test, this will show if nozzle are 100% aligned.