Is my printhead defect? (SP540)

[Gnarly]

Hi everyone,

sorry for my very bad english. Hop i can refresh my english in this forum too

I im wondering because the nozzle-test is not to bad - is it?
But printing black is horror. I always have "scraggy" prints in letters and so on.
It doesn't matter if i print uni / bisectional or in standard / high quality. It is always
the same looking.
The other colours a very good. Cyan too!
The bad printing is since nearly 4 or 6 weeks now.
Cleaning was made hundred times, also manually.

Is my black-cyan head dead and needs to replaced?


Greets from germany..... Gnarly

 

[klingsdesigns]

Do you have a lot of static or is the room the printer is in very dry?

 

[Gnarly]

Yes, there is a lot of static. When i handle with Protect-Laminat i always get a little electric shock when i touch the printer.
Should i ground the roland?

What do you mean with "dry"? Do mean the air moisture? In winter times it is dry in my workshop because of the heating.

Can static and dry air moisture cause this issue???

 

[klmiller611]

Yes indeed. Static can be a major issue.

Your printout looks more like deflected nozzles to me, as my static issues look more like it is pulling the ink vapor out of the air, and producing a halo or cloud effect, but that could just be me. Have you been wiping the heads with any pressure? To much can easily deflect nozzles.

If you can begin by adding a large humidifier to the space near the printer, may help. You may need to treat the material to help reduce the static. I use a spray treatment for carpet to reduce static shock, I spray it on the backside of a clean cloth, then lightly wipe down the boards. My biggest issues are coro and plexi.

Good luck
Ken Miller

 

[Gnarly]

I clean the heads very gently.
My only fear is that i replace the printhead for round about
1000,- Euro and the issue is here again.
Why is the problem only with the black ink??? The other colours are perfect!

Thanks for your tips until now. I will increase the humidity - maybe it will be work.
For the static problem i have to look for a solution....

 

[player]

You clean just the sides of the head, never the bottom.

 

[klmiller611]

I clean the heads very gently.
My only fear is that i replace the printhead for round about
1000,- Euro and the issue is here again.
Why is the problem only with the black ink??? The other colours are perfect!

Thanks for your tips until now. I will increase the humidity - maybe it will be work.
For the static problem i have to look for a solution....

I can't speak to your printer, but on my Agfa, it seems the cyans are far more sensitive to static than any other color. It looked a bit like the yellow was having issues to according to the jet test.

Best
Ken

 

[Gnarly]

You clean just the sides of the head, never the bottom.

The bottom "SHOULD NOT" cleaned

 

[niksagkram]

Welcome to the board!

Looking at your sample pics, it may not be just the black. Typically, black in a print is not just black ink, but CMYK. Look at the over spray with a magnifying glass and you will probably see that it is made up of CMYK dots. Your nozzle test has some issues, but it's not too bad. Have you tried cleaning the encoder strip on your printer?

Good luck

Mark

 

[Gnarly]

Welcome to the board!

Looking at your sample pics, it may not be just the black. Typically, black in a print is not just black ink, but CMYK. Look at the over spray with a magnifying glass and you will probably see that it is made up of CMYK dots. Your nozzle test has some issues, but it's not too bad. Have you tried cleaning the encoder strip on your printer?

Good luck

Mark

Hi Mark,

thanks for your answer.
Can you tell me what "encoder strip" means? In german this word makes no sense.
Please explain me what it is.

EDIT: I found the encoder stripe. Thanks!

 

[Gnarly]

I have tried a few things now:
Cleaning the encoder stripe, increase humidity, set down the static, clean the head again etc...
Unfortunately no solution.
Now i am seriously thinking about replace the printhead

 

[Morkel]

Is it just me, or does the sample print (black text on yellow) look like the ink has bled from being too wet? If your temps are too low or you're putting down more ink than the media can handle, the ink will not cure in the drop position and bleed out exactly like that.

 

[player]

^ Good call.

What material? ICC Profile? Temperature? RIP?

What does it look like printed just black on white?

 

[Gnarly]

I played a lot around with different media settings and ICC Profiles. It's always the same.
Just black on white looks the same too.
My heating configuration is beetween 42 an 45 Grad Celsius.
Material is Standard Vinyl (Orajet 3951 or 3550)
RIP Software is Versaworks.

 

[ams]

Make sure you aren't doing any overprints, that will cause it.

Make sure your wipers and wiper blade is clean.

Make sure the print head is lowered, if it's up, it may cause that

Never clean the bottom of the print head, the slightest mistake will damage it.

Replace or call Roland

 

[phototec]

My test print looks worse than yours (deflected nozzles) however my black prints much better than your sample.

I have a trick for you to try and see if you image prints any better, in VW under quality settings select "Generic Vinyl III" which is High Quality, then change the MODE from CMYK (v) to CMYL (v) W-PASS. The "MODE"

This will slow the print head down and produce a much better resolution print, give it a try and let see if anything changes.

 

[Gnarly]

@ ams:

My head is lowerd. Wipers are clean. Ok.. the wiper blade should be cleaned again.
What do you mean with "overprint"?


@ phototec:

Thanks for the Tip. I will trie it immediately.

 

[Gnarly]

Now i have tried for hours all your advices.
Nothing changes
Next week i will order a new printhead - does not help.