Do I have a head going bad?

[SIGNTIME]

My xj540 is only 2yrs old but i think the black print head is starting to go on it i had one print a few weeks ago that the black printed with terrible banding but all the other colors were fine. I did a test print and found the black to have some miss fires I have since given the printer a good cleaning check wipers captops and still have the same results. I can get decent prints of black on high quality settings but not as good as it was last month. i Have also tried a powerful cleaning and still the same issue. I am wondering if my black head is going or if there is some other things I can do to bring it back.

 

[kanini]

The nozzle check looks good, the small deflections shouldn't give you that much banding IMO. Have you performed any calibrations lately, media feed, bi-dir, env. match etc.? Have you tried a head soak (but do the calibrations first)? Does this happen in uni-dir also?

 

[petesign]

Dont see much going on there. If you are getting banding, when was the last time you adjusted your media comp? (Not up to speed on roland's - but im sure there's a media comp setting in there.)

 

[MikePro]

as stated above, misalignment can also cause banding.
looking at the photo alone, my guess would be ink supply issues. does the banding occur during the whole print, or does it start/stop randomly? black-only or do you notice banding in blues/reds/greens as well?

 

[SIGNTIME]

I have done a few feed calibrations since the problem started and that doesnt seem to help. could it be the data cable needs replacing? I ask cause it was all of a sudden the nozzle test wasn't perfect as it was before it doesn't seem like that is something that would happen overnight but i could be wrong i am pretty green on these things.

 

[SIGNTIME]

Just tried dabbing the head with a soaked swab and filled the cap top with solution and parked the heads for an hour to try to get rid of the deflection but was no use. Is there anyway to correct deflection?

 

[SIGNTIME]

as stated above, misalignment can also cause banding.
looking at the photo alone, my guess would be ink supply issues. does the banding occur during the whole print, or does it start/stop randomly? black-only or do you notice banding in blues/reds/greens as well?

I am only getting banding in the black and it is continuous ... it prints decent when printing in high quality but at standard or high speed it looks like garbage... what causes common ink supply issues?

 

[CS-SignSupply]

Have you ever replaced the captops and/or dampers?

 

[SIGNTIME]

Have you ever replaced the captops and/or dampers?

captops yes last july... dampers no, how often should dampers be changed and is that something I should have a tech do?

 

[heyskull]

I'm not up to speed on the XJ540.
But it runs DX4 heads.
Also your test print is probably about as good as it gets for a 2 year old machine and very near perfect.
I think the adjustment of the machine will be the issue.
Maybe even a contaminated encoder strip or wheel.

SC

 

[MrSalumi]

Could be any of these categories.

Clean:
Encoder strip
Encoder sensor

Calibration:
Feed calibration
Bidirectional calibration

Suction:
Dampers
Captops
Priming (try to pull ink through a syringe from the captop lead before the pump)

My money is on a priming or air loss issue in the dampers, captops or hoses

Good luck