• I want to thank all the members that have upgraded your accounts. I truly appreciate your support of the site monetarily. Supporting the site keeps this site up and running as a lot of work daily goes on behind the scenes. Click to Support Signs101 ...

CETXPRESS FK-512X Banding caused by condensation

MrNick86

New Member
I have a couple heads that spray so much ink that the ink condenses on the bottom of the head and covers the nozzles causing dropouts on the print. Where should I start?
 

artbot

New Member
when you say "condense" you mean wicks? condensing would be from the rapid evaporation of the solvents in the ink, which the uv ink does not have. also what are your settings (heat, voltage, negative pressure)?
 

Nameci

New Member
The printheads mists if the carriage is on standy. You can adjust the misting interval. It is on the System Tab on the System Parameter window. It is set seconds interval. Setting it on a higher value will reduce the accumulation of ink on the printhead nozzle plate.

Be aware that when you shutdown the machine, the values on the printhead board goes back to its default value which is 8s. In order for the values on the config.txt to be sent to the headboard, you need to send a test pattern/prime bar right after starting.

hth.
 

MrNick86

New Member
What I mean by condense is that it looks like condensation of ink building up around the nozzles to the point that it drags drips across sheets and eventually blocks nozzles from firing to the substrate. Say, if I am printing a sheet with higher densities of ink eventually I will need to pause and wipe the heads if I notice colors starting to drop out. When I continue it prints mostly fine.

My yellow ink for sure is the worst. It over sprays so bad that at the end of the day the bottom of the head plate is covered in yellow. Heck, my filters on my lamps are even yellow!

Could this be the result of heads so bad that the nozzles just do not fire straight at all?

Could out dated color profiles in conjunction to the age of the heads have a factor?

I also feel this plays a roll in why I have been some banding issues.

I feel like I could use a little bit of direction in where to even start.

[Artbot]
Voltages - average is 13.5, range from 13.2-14.2 on some heads.
Temps - 43-44, white is 47
Negative pressure - (-3.0) and I bring it down to (-2.8) when I print white ink.
 

MrNick86

New Member
I do not have any leaks. I feel that I resolved the issue. STATIC! Static from the tons of styrene I have been printing is like yanking the ink out of the heads and the ink spreads around the head causing blockage of the nozzles. That is my theory at the least. Spraying all sheets down with 50/50 water and isopropyl alcohol seems to do the trick. Pretty wild I must say.
 

growler

New Member
Yep its static, another solution you can try is 1 tablespoon of fabric softner to about 500ml water. I use a eco/plant extract fabric softner. I spray that on, wipe it off, you can feel the discharge in highly static items. I give it a quick once over with IPA from there.

This works a treat for me.
 
Top