FJ-540 horizontal banding

[TripleRock]

Hello, I bought a used FJ-540 and I am having real issues trying to get a good bi-directional print out of it with no horizontal banding. Uni-directional is ok, I’m happy with that. The thin lines that are showing up happen all the time in certain color tones and gradients. When I got the machine it was running a quadra-k black ink and it had a lot of dropouts on the black head. I replaced the ink with regular black dye (all inks are dye). I did a number of cleanings, including a Powerful cleaning on the black in group A. Test print looks fine now with no black dropouts.

I’ve adjusted the media feed (CALIBRATION) , Head height was lowered to medium and then I did a bi-directional adjustment, I also did a manual cleaning with swabs and aqueous cleaning fluid. It happens on all types of media, I’m trying to use some HP productivity photo gloss media and had to guess about what media profile to use… which doesn’t seem to matter - still banding.


I’m using Roland ColorRip 2.2 - I’m not too sure about what version of firmware the machine has on it (it is at my shop so I can’t check right now) --- I’m going bananas. Any help or suggestions would be great! thanks!!!!! Mike

 

[FrankenSigns.biz]

Check the wipers they may need to be replaced. Are you having any feed motor errors? If so it could be the motor is going out on you. Lastly it could be a head. What do you see on the test print? Are all the lines there or are some missing. Are they in alignment? Most times Roland will give you free phone support. I suggest you call them @ 800-542-2307.

 

[TripleRock]

The wipers were pretty dirty when I cleaned them with a swab and solution... I only did the front of them like the video/instructions say. I think I can pick a couple up at wensco on monday.

Motor giving out? - I've noticed no error messages or crazy sounds --- I've always been a HP user so I don't have anything to compare it to, but nothing that sounds really weird.

Heads - (calibration test print) after many machine cleanings (a few regular, 1 medium and 2 Powerful) I think maybe 1 little block in the black is a little lower than the others...it's not missing, just a little lower. I think 1 magenta is a tiny bit lower than the others too. I know with the HP's you can have a number of the nozzles on a head not fire and it won't cause that bad of banding. is that true with the rolands? do they all have to be PERFECT in order to get a good print?

thank you very, very much for your help! Mike.

 

[FrankenSigns.biz]

No. I think yours heads are fine. Thanks for the info. My guess it's the wipers. Seriously, call Roland. They will talk to you. It may take more than a few minutes to get them on the phone but they don't care if you're the original owner of the machine. My 540 was doing this but we ultimalty cleared it up. I need to check with my shop to see how we cleared it up. I'm pretty sure t was new wipers.

 

[TripleRock]

thank you very much... pretty darn nice forum.

I'll give the local dealer wensco a call on monday to see if they have any wipers they can get me or at least order for me. it's a start, I'll just keep trying to deal with it one troubleshooting step at a time.

 

[FrankenSigns.biz]

Great. Stay on it next week and your issue should find a resolution before weeks end. The 540 makes a beautiful print.

 

[Ken]

I Have no opinion......?
Ken

 

[TripleRock]

Well Ken, at least I thank you (and British Columbia) for giving me Steve Yzerman, Ken Holland, Dallas Drake and Darren McCarty... well, maybe even Ray Ferrarro's son Landon, maybe.

 

[Pacific Coast Sign]

Your heads need adjusting. When was the last time they were adjusted? This is common with the FJ540. You cannot get a good print if the heads are not aligned properly and you will defiantly get worse prints Bi-directional than Uni. The FJ prints beautiful when properly serviced and maintained (cleaned).

 

[TripleRock]

Since I just bought it used I have no idea when they were last adjusted??? more than likely, never. is this something I can do myself??? or do I have to have a roland tech do it?

 

[TripleRock]

so... I put in some new wipers, did 2 normal cleanings and I still have banding. I think I'll give roland a call and see where I can get with them. I'm not anywhere near giving up, I was just hoping for an easy quick fix. I'll keep plugging away at it. does anyone know anymore about "head adjustment" that Pacific Coast Sign was talking about? is that a do it yourself thing, or a call a tech thing? any help would be great... thanks!

 

[Pacific Coast Sign]

You cannot do the head alignment...call your local dealer and save time, frustrations, and money. We know the "tricks" to get the best prints from your printer. At times it's worth the price to call your local Roland tech for support and repairs....not all repairs are easy..otherwise EVERYBODY would be techs! Ha

 

[Pacific Coast Sign]

If you need help give us a call...

 

[TripleRock]

Pacific Coast Sign... Thanks for the info, it really helps. I contacted the local roland dealer and we're going to bring them all the test prints, calibration prints, adjustment prints and samples of the banding and they are going to help us out. I love messing with stuff, but there comes a point when I've got to realize something is a little beyond what I can mess with myself. If they can go over the machine for a couple hundred bucks (I have no idea how much it might be) then I think it's worth the money spent. Thank you all very much for the suggestions... I'll let you know how the banding saga ends. Mike.

 

[Pacific Coast Sign]

Hey Mike,

It should take the tech about 1 hour to adjust the heads and maybe a bit more to do all performance checks, etc...probably no more than a couple hours without any major issues. Let me know what they find. Thanks!

 

[TripleRock]

I did a boatload of prints (calibration paper advance test, bi-directional test, nozzle test, and a good sample print out that shows the banding) and my partner brought them down to the roland tech and he brought up something that I never thought of.... he thinks that maybe the ColorRip's media profile settings are either overriding the machines or perhaps even adding to the machines issues. he told me to try setting the machines paper advance to "0-Zero" and try adjusting the media profiles settings... or maybe even make a new one. I finally found where I can edit the settings and I am going to give that a shot.

It makes sense.... the media profiles I've been messing with have a "Low" print head setting... I currently have the head set to Medium. The media's profile also had the paper advance set to something other than Zero. I'm going to go have fun with that for a bit and see what happens. He was a super nice and helpful guy and told me he would be happy to come out if this doesn't help.

I'll give this a shot and report back...THANK YOU GUYS FOR THE HELP AND RESPONSE!!!! - Mike.

 

[TripleRock]

HOT DOG!!!!!!! I now have a print that looks GOOD!!!! I ended up setting the machines calibration (paper advance) to ZERO.... then in colorip 2.2 I went to PRINT -> SETUP -> EDIT (the imaging configuration) -> PROPERTIES -> clicked on the media tab and made sure the head height matched and moved the calibration around (ended up being 0.45% for that media) until it looked great.

Great printer.... just a little different than the HP z6100 I'm used to. Now I finally feel like I can start taking in jobs in my new shop.

WOW.... and so ends the saga of the banding FJ-540.

Thank you FrankenSigns.biz, Pacific Coast Signs & even Ken.... Mike.