How do you know if a print head is going out? Roland SC540

[Msrae]

I have a Roland SC-540 and I am experiencing an odd issue with my black ink print. I recently replaced all of my capping stations and things were going well until I went to print this last banner. The blacks were printing more gray so I ran a test print. The black was almost nonexistent for half of the test print. I did a manual clean without much improvment. I then did a manual pull of some ink through the capping station with the head parked. I ran a test print. Better, but still not great so I did a powerfull head clean then ran a test print again. This time it showed WORSE than the previous test print. Again I did a medium head clean and it printed a little better again, only missing in spots. It still wasn't great. Without doing anything else I ran another test print and, once again it came out worse. So it is going from better to worse to better. I can't figure out what would cause this to happen. Why would it keep changing print? I even just did two test prints in a row and they both turned out a little different. If it were just a clogged head I would assume it would clear and stay clear (I had a badly clogged head in my cyan recently and I was able to fix it with the soaking, pulling ink through the head etc).

I did a search but I did not find anything readily available on how to actually know when it is actually time to replace a print head or if I should keep trying to fix it.

Any insight/help would be greatly appreciated.

TY

 

[player]

You may just have a bad damper. Check to see if it has ink in the bladder. Also could be a seal at the damper. Look for ink leaking around damper.

If you have a stethoscope (mechanics stethoscope is cheap) you can listen for air leaks when you use a syringe to draw ink through the cap.

edit: You do have black ink in the cartridge?

Can you see any air or bubbles in the black line?

 

[phototec]

I had a similar problem (not as bad), and I soaked my heads all night (8-12) hours and the next morning the head was at 99%.

Have you tried a head soak?

Couldn't hurt....

 

[FrankW]

Could it be that one of the black cartridges is empty? Specially third party cartridges often fails with the "empty cartridge"-function.

 

[Msrae]

You may just have a bad damper. Check to see if it has ink in the bladder. Also could be a seal at the damper. Look for ink leaking around damper.

If you have a stethoscope (mechanics stethoscope is cheap) you can listen for air leaks when you use a syringe to draw ink through the cap.

edit: You do have black ink in the cartridge?

Can you see any air or bubbles in the black line?

Could it be that one of the black cartridges is empty? Specially third party cartridges often fails with the "empty cartridge"-function.

Well, I feel pretty dumb.:Oops: As soon as I read the responses a light bulb went on. DUH! that's why it is out on only one side...

Apparently one of the cartridges was indeed out. The machine never indicated a low ink level. I only use OEM Roland ink, so I have never had this issue before. In fact, it uisually tells me when I am low. I replaced the cartridge and all is good.

Thank you all for the ideas/trouble shooting advice.

Just a quick add on: Now when I do a test print I am getting a blank square in the middle of my cyan. ?? I am beginning to think I have printer gremlins. What causes a complete square of drop-out? The print was just fine when I was having the black ink issue and now the cyan has the missing square. *headscratch*


Thanks again signs101!

 

[player]

No gremlins... just no ink!

 

[Msrae]

The only reason I say gremlins is because the machine failed to give me a low ink indicator, and now my cyan is printing with a missing square in the middle of the test print. I know I have cyan ink this time. I can't see how it could have clogged in a perfect square pattern in a matter of 12 hours. No head strikes and the machine was parked on the capping stations.

 

[Robert M]

Head

Get a flash light and look at the bottom of the head. There may be something on it, what do your wipers look like?

 

[Msrae]

Get a flash light and look at the bottom of the head. There may be something on it, what do your wipers look like?

Fortunately, the latest test print is looking great. I just ran a few test prints and the missing square cleared up. The wipers are sparkling clean and appear to be in great shape.

Unfortunately, I am encountering a new problem. I was printing a 12' banner, black background, white and green lettering, easy straight forward banner. It got to about the 9 foot mark and dripped two large spots of cyan on the banner. UGH!

I only replaced the capping stations but I did not replace the dampers. Can a bad damper be responsible for allowing too much ink? It is as thought the cyan is "pooling" on the head and after a while it collects enough to drip a drop. Very frustrating to waste a full 12' of banner and ink.

 

[player]

Is your printer level?

(Probably not the problem but you never know...)

 

[Msrae]

Is your printer level?

(Probably not the problem but you never know...)

I am pretty certain it is. It is on a cement floor. I can double check, but this has never been a problem previously and it is still in the same place it has always been. I'll check, just for the heck of it.