HP Latex + Checking optimizer heads

[ikarasu]

I've been getting a bunch of "potential print quality" issues on our 560. I've ran nozzle prints and it seems to look fine - But now I've noticed there's specs of every color randomly misting in places. The optimizer does seem to have a lot of dropped nozzles on it. Never had a misting problem on Latex before... Everything else besides that head chart seems ok. The heads still under warranty... Its only got 115 ML fired through it, I just dont want to order a replacement and have it not fix the problem. The machien did have both Black / Cyan heads out on arrival... so I may have just got a bunch of damaged heads. Slot 6 looks like it's getting pretty high up there too.

Anyways... any tips on checking optimizer? Should the optimizer plot be pure black? Both my plots seem to have a ton of lines in them... Slot 1 shows almost no missed nozzles though.

 

[Brandon708]

I don't know of a solution for this other than changing the printhead. If its under warranty call HP and let them know and they will send you a new one. Sometimes I have even gotten them next day.

 

[Dan360]

Strange. Have you pulled out each head to make sure the strip at the bottom isn't damaged and hanging down? It can happen after a couple head strikes. It's possible that ink is firing onto it and dripping down as it passes over. If they look ok physically, I would switch the head. For us, HP has been great about replacing faulty consumables that are within warranty.

 

[ikarasu]

I'll try pulling them when I get back to the office. There has been a few strikes... We just started printing on traffic vinyl and there was a bit of a learning curve finding the sweet spot between wasted media / media jams. That and the leader tape fall off once... Got a bunch of sticky residue on the bottom plate, so media keeps touching it... Sticking then curling.

Nothing too major... And usually the jams are hitting the side and shouldn't be touching the heads... But you never know.

Do you know if you can put a new head in to test... Then remove the new head if it's not the problem, without the head drying/ruining over time? Or is it once the heads in, it needs to stay in?

 

[Dan360]

I've just popped in a head to test and then put it in a couple months later, didn't seem to affect it. I can't say if it's recommended though.

 

[Brandon708]

Like Dan said the heads do get damaged and the little strips on the sided will hang and cause imperfections in the prints. You will also hear it scraping along the media so you probably should of noticed that initially.
If HP sends you a print head they will want you to send them the defective on back so they can inspect it. I'm not sure if you know but the print heads are pretty cheap at around $135 each.

 

[Brandon708]

If I where you I would pull all the printheads and inspect them. It may not just be the optimizer print head.

 

[ikarasu]

Yes, I know they're cheap - One of the main reasons we got a latex. I've got a 110 at home, and I've had to switch it out once. They're like $130 here... which 1-2 jobs pays for, so it's not a big issue if they're bad. The problem is just knowing which is bad... Nozzle check seems ok on everything.. onlything I'm not sure about is optimizer. I have a really old chart where optomizer was solid black... Now I can see the little nozzle pattern in it. Going to print a plot at home to compare.

I've had a few strikes... The 560 is a bit more tricky / different than the 110, so I'm ok with replacing the heads ourselves without even warrantying them, since I'm pretty sure any damage is our fault. It's more finding the culprit! I thought it was black / Cyan since its blue/black that seems to spray everywhere... But those were the 2 heads we got warrantied because they arrived DOA in our new printer. I don't want to call HP and tell them they're both bad again without even knowing

Anyways, I'm going to print one on our 110, bring it in and compare. Then I'll remove every head and check for any physical damage.

It was also suggested that random ink like that could be an issue with the maintenance station... So I'm going to remove and look at that too.

Thanks for all the replies! I'll follow up once I finally nail down whats going on with it.

Love the 560 so far... This is the first issue with it, and I'm pretty sure it was user fault from media jams, love everything about it though.. It prints great on DG/HIT/EGP, I wish 3M would bring their MCS / traffic warranty to the 560 finally... That's my only complaint! And I expect it's more of a 3M Issue than an HP issue.

 

[Brandon708]

I was just scanning through the posts again. Did you do a clean all printheads task on the printer yet? Thats the first thing I would of done followed by a color calibration to the media you are using.

 

[mintprintmedia]

I've been getting a bunch of "potential print quality" issues on our 560. I've ran nozzle prints and it seems to look fine - But now I've noticed there's specs of every color randomly misting in places. The optimizer does seem to have a lot of dropped nozzles on it. Never had a misting problem on Latex before... Everything else besides that head chart seems ok. The heads still under warranty... Its only got 115 ML fired through it, I just dont want to order a replacement and have it not fix the problem. The machien did have both Black / Cyan heads out on arrival... so I may have just got a bunch of damaged heads. Slot 6 looks like it's getting pretty high up there too.

View attachment 137895

Anyways... any tips on checking optimizer? Should the optimizer plot be pure black? Both my plots seem to have a ton of lines in them... Slot 1 shows almost no missed nozzles though.

I had the same thing happen on my HP latex 335 and the head was barely over a year old. I replaced the optimizer head and everything seems fine now. My head wasn’t even close to needing to be replaced as far as use on HP’s site but it was just out of warranty so I had no choice. The good thing is that the heads aren’t very expensive compared to others. Hope that helps you

 

[sonia]

Please visit the HP Latex Knowledge center Forum to get more information on the related optimizer heads: https://hplatexknowledgecenter.com/forum/default/optimizer-chart if you don't find the answer post a question yourself.
I suggest you to perform a deep PH cleaning, an Automatic PH alignment, check that Spit on Page is disabled, create a new Color Calibration and ICC profile.

 

[Solventinkjet]

I never knew HPs required "optimizer" heads! Another expense!

 

[dypinc]

I never knew HPs required "optimizer" heads! Another expense!

Allows for better prints on more media. If that is not what your looking for, then the HP Latex is not for you.

 

[Joe House]

I never knew HPs required "optimizer" heads! Another expense!

The same could be said for light magenta heads, light cyan heads, etc. But they do improve print quality in some aspects and so does the optimizer system.

 

[ikarasu]

I never knew HPs required "optimizer" heads! Another expense!

We have a seiko h274s. I know comparing a couple generations ago solvent with current generation latex isn't fair... But on our h274 we were going through so much ink during cleanings and consumables like wipers, filters, etc that it costs way, way more than replacing a few latex heads.

We compared the solvent cost to latex, including everything such as head average life span... Vs solvents per sqft cost. They were roughly the same. Now I don't have data on the newest Gen solvent vs newest Gen latex... So maybe it's different. But I can say I'm glad we went latex and for every problem I've had with latex (just this one) I've had great support.

Wagner private messaged me... A few others did too. HP sent me a new maintenance cartridge, no questions asked... Which turned out to be the problem, BTW. (Thanks Wagner for the suggestion!)

Only issue is I had to print a patch for a job I did the day before switching carts... And the colors were way off. Whatever the maintenance cart was doing seemed to have shifted the colors. Tried to re-run calibration but it didn't help.

It Wasn't a big issue... Took a scan of the graphics, reprinted and went back and reinstalled the replacement patch and it was an exact match. Now you don't always have theuxury of having the old color available to you... So that's not always an option. I'm going to be printing sample colors of everything I do and keep it on file just to compare over time if something changes or not. And of course have the colors on hand if needed...

I can see why people say the colors not consistant in latex....seems if a heads bad or somethings out of whack the colors change. And while recalibtating in theory fixes it... It only works if you recalibrate before printing the job you need to replicate. If it's out of whack and you print something... Recalibtating it back to its standard will just change the color even more.


First time.ive experienced the issue... Hopefully the last. Anything important, or.if I see its running weird... Ill just recibrate, and hold.off on running cot sensitive jobs.

Still a small price in my mind, don't regret latex one bit!