Encoder strip

[Jim Hill]

The colors on my SP-300 have a faded or washed out look to them and I was wondering if it could be time to replace the encoder strip.

I have cleaned a few times without it making any difference.

I have also done a powerful cleaning and a medium cleaning without it helping to improve the colors.

I have also done a manual cleaning thinking there might be something on the heads.

Any idea what might be causing the problem?

Thanks Jim

 

[rjssigns]

Need more info, but a dirty encoder strip will usually only cause fuzzy edges. Could be time for new cap-tops. Could have a clogged line/head. Did you run a Fill Test to see if it's a starvation issue? Could be a corrupted file. Lots of things may be causing it.

 

[Gino]

Profiles, head heights, cleaning, contaminated media.... even possibly old stale inks could all be plausible culprit.

 

[brentriley]

The colors on my SP-300 have a faded or washed out look to them and I was wondering if it could be time to replace the encoder strip.

I have cleaned a few times without it making any difference.

I have also done a powerful cleaning and a medium cleaning without it helping to improve the colors.

I have also done a manual cleaning thinking there might be something on the heads.

Any idea what might be causing the problem?

Thanks Jim

Was it the Encoder Strip? I think min is going bad

 

[artbot]

it's a micro film that the head carriage's encoder sensor reads/counts left and right to confirm position for firing. when it has dirt (or speck of ink) on it, the sensor will skip a count and the print will start drifting right, staggered like stair steps. prints drifting to the left are a sign of an electronic issue with the sensor (dirt on a strip can not "add" to a count).

@jimhill, is the "washed out" look due to white spaces between the dots? are you in bidirectional? i'd do a bunch of testing in unidirectional compared to bi-. also static can cause microscopic misplacement dots causing white negative space and ink whisping away from the substrate causing a loss of density.

 

[brentriley]

Has anyone used http://www.solventparts.com/ to get parts I need an encoder strip and maybe sensor....
How hard is it to change the linear encoder strip and sensor? Is there something I need to run on the machine after these are replaced?