Help- Printhead Gone Bad?

[PinkPrintingPixie]

I come humbly to my fellow print people asking what the heck? And hopefully for some answers.

In the last couple weeks or so, I was beginning to see some coalescence in light colors along with bleeding that came and went in dark areas. This was a big job for my HP700W- I think I printed 42 murals in 2 weeks- I had her printing a roll or so a day.

Well, today, I was printing a long string of window perf and my nice flat cyan all of a sudden turned practically yellowish and streaky/banding. I assume a printhead failed, and I ASSUME based on my forum research it was either the optimizer or overcoat head.

I replaced the cyan/black, and both of my light cyan/mag today but it's still horrid- which leads me to further believe that pesky Overcoat is the culprit. I attached a picture of my most recent status plots after installing the 3 new heads, as well as the cyan disaster.

I printed a small test after- and now my flat colors look really weird- darker around the edges and splotchy in the center. The ink is dry though.

-signed, flummoxed and exasperated.

For those curious- all of my printheads are 2021/2022 and have gone through more than 4kML of ink... so it was worth replacing the mentioned 3 regardless. (Blame the previous printer on that one) Just wish it fixed my issue.

 

[P Wagner]

My first thought is an issue with the Optimizer. There is a test plot for Optimizer in the front panel: Image Quality tile, under the 3-dot icon in the upper right.

 

[PinkPrintingPixie]

My first thought is an issue with the Optimizer. There is a test plot for Optimizer in the front panel: Image Quality tile, under the 3-dot icon in the upper right.

I think you're right. After taking a second look at the Optimizer section on my test- it's not showing any cross marks at all. I compared it to one I ran a few weeks ago and at least there I can see faint marks.

I'm still learning how to read these tests for this machine. Welp- sure hope they send me that head and it fixes my issues. I've been waiting on it since the 17th when they suggested it may be an issue.