Do I need a new print head?

[Aero Signs]

I have a lot of banding on my prints?
My cyan test pattern looks a little off .
The rest of the colors look great.
Some of the lines are not where they
supposed to be, on the cyan.
Is this a sign of a bad print head?
Do I need to replace it or does
anybody have any other suggestion.
Thanks
Running a
jv3.

 

[Aero Signs]

Here are the pictures

 

[ChicagoGraphics]

Those are just dirty jets, do a couple of normal cleans and it should clear it up, maybe even do a 15 minute head soak. No need for new heads.

 

[Aero Signs]

Thanks Chicago.
I have soaked them for hours with no luck.

 

[Aero Signs]

Do they make a stronger solvent solution?

 

[elsignshop]

i use acetone, when i do a head soak and it cleans them right up fast, but thats me and i have a mutoh

 

[glennp]

Make sure your cap for that head is in good shape. If it's worn and not making good contact it will not pull the proper volume of ink through the head causing the dropout your seeing. If this is something that just started happening that is the first place I would look. If the cap is good look at the damper, it seems like a ink flow problem.

 

[Aero Signs]

Is it difficult to change the damper?

 

[glennp]

It's not that difficult but it does require some mechanical ability and some knowledge of the machine. Has the head been like this or did it just start recently?

 

[Aero Signs]

It been like this for about a month.

 

[Aero Signs]

I changed the dampers. No change at all.
any other suggestions?

 

[charissabuskirk]

My cyan was firing similarly, had a tech come out for maintenance and ended up replacing the printhead too. Now, he also replaced other parts; new capping station, pump and dampers, so I can't tell you if it was the printhead for sure, but he tried to recover it and said he couldn't.

 

[MikePro]

looks like my printhead prior to replacement.

 

[Aero Signs]

Took the print head off and flushed it with solvent.
Looks a little better. But not good enough .
Any body now the best place to buy a new print head?

 

[SightLine]

IMO unless you are printing a lot of tiny text I'd run with it like that. I've run a JV3 with much worse on the black head with perfectly acceptable results for most things. Unless it's getting some nasty deflection and overspray of course...

 

[MikePro]

Any body now the best place to buy a new print head?

don't bother with Fellers. Merchant members here have printheads for half the price.

 

[Aero Signs]

IMO unless you are printing a lot of tiny text I'd run with it like that. I've run a JV3 with much worse on the black head with perfectly acceptable results for most things. Unless it's getting some nasty deflection and overspray of course...

No over spray. Just banding. notice the magenta and cyan don't touch.
Can this be adjusted?

 

[Robert M]

Print heads

I have them at www.solventinkjet.com

 

[genericname]

No over spray. Just banding. notice the magenta and cyan don't touch.
Can this be adjusted?

Two ways of doing this. I've had the best results by doing both. First, physically match it up as closely as possible by loosening the head's hex screws and shifting its position, then running another test print to make sure you have it close to where you want it. Second, Adjust2 in the maintenance menu. It'll make sure all your heads are firing where they're suppose to in order to match up with the head next to it.

Chances are though, if you're getting banding, it's not because of that tiny gap, but because of those missing dots. The worst the gap would do is cause a bit of ghosting due to misalignment. In the end, the decision to replace the head lies on what you deem acceptable. I have a Cyan head that looks like yours in one of our printers, though I'm not up to replacing a whole head for it, so I just use the other printer for Cyan/Green-heavy prints for the time being.

 

[SignaramaFL]

IMO unless you are printing a lot of tiny text I'd run with it like that. I've run a JV3 with much worse on the black head with perfectly acceptable results for most things. Unless it's getting some nasty deflection and overspray of course...

+1 My black head is actually the same, much worse than what was pictured, and we run with it. I notice it with tiny text but other than that it still works just fine!