Is this from a bad printhead? Opinions?

[dj_elite]

Ok so my printer was down for a while. Needed a new mainboard. Just got it fixed. Now my black is printing gray. Nozzle check is fine, couple of misguided nozzles but nothing too bad. I thought it was maybe the ICC, so I tried a bunch of different ones and tried changing the CMYK values and still no luck. I have tried soaking the print head overnight, running cleaning fluid lightly through it with a syringe, nothing works. Still prints gray instead of black. Other weird thing is when I print something with a contour cut the registration marks do not print. Registration marks are sent in black. Very strange.

Printer is Prismjet extra 38" (Mutoh Rockhopper JR 38")
Software is Flexi 8.6 V2

Any help would be appreciated

 

[Robert M]

Black

have you tried printing a box that has a 100% K value?

 

[dj_elite]

Yup. Still comes out gray. Even tried a new ink cartridge

 

[dj_elite]

Could this possibly be from a printhead being no good?

 

[Bradster941]

Cross contamination?

Suction some ink off the damper, then print some large boxes of black till it cleans clears up.

Post a pic of the nozzle check. Is it the same color?

 

[dj_elite]

Nozzle check is fine. Im thinking maybe a software issue. Im going to reinstall flexi right now and see if that works. I got the ICC profile of Mactac to print pretty black, not as dark as I would like it but close, but it is still not printing registration marks. I chose registration marks to print in all colors so if the black didnt work it would still print registration marks. It still will not print them. Very strange??? Ill let you know what happens after reinstall

 

[randya]

Were you able to get your parameters off the other mainboard, or did you redo all the headranks and alignments?

 

[AUTO-FX]

have you tried printing a box that has a 100% K value?

when you ran this test, did you check off "pure hue" in production manager? (under color settings)

BTW- I went through exactly the same thing, and I came to the conclusion that it was the cartridge. I have 2 black carts here , nearly full, that I have labeled as NFG

 

[dj_elite]

"NFG" I love it Auto! Yes parameters of old board the tech was unable to get since the board died. Headranks and alignments were done. I just tried reinstalling Flexi with no luck!

 

[dj_elite]

Auto-For pure hue is it the option that shows all colors? Did you just check the black?

 

[AUTO-FX]

Well, I know I did an exorbitant amount of cleaning, soaking, and more cleaning , and ended up shelving 2 new black carts before i got her printing decent again. All has been mostly good since that whole event. I also marked a new magenta cart NFG. I was having an issue with reds.

 

[AUTO-FX]

Auto-For pure hue is it the option that shows all colors? Did you just check the black?

correct

 

[AUTO-FX]

printing a large swatch in pure hue will give you a good idea of where you stand with your black head.

 

[dj_elite]

Did you leave it on or just for a test print?

 

[dj_elite]

Never mind you literally just answered my question...LOL!

 

[dj_elite]

So Bradster941, you got me thinking. I remember I had to make some shims for under my cartridges because of the Mutoh ink cartridge problems. I checked my shim and realized it was squished. So I made a new one, then siphoned the ink totally out of the damper in case of any contamination. I have only done a couple of test prints but I have registration marks back again and the black looks darker. Hopefully this was the problem. Ill keep you guys updated

Thanks for getting the gears going though!

 

[dj_elite]

I've done about 5 prints so far and so far so good! My shims are made out of foamcore so I guess every so often Im just going to have to change them out

 

[dj_elite]

Still acting up a little. Did about 6 prints and the black dropped again. Hooked my syringe and pulled ink through even though the damper was full and it started working again. Bad pump or pump lines im thinking. Cant be pump motor, color still works perfect. So I guess the printhead is fine since it prints fine when working. Any suggestions?

 

[jwright350]

you should still try to print a spot color mapped swatch of each color that will 100% isolate the rip from the printer. I think its wrong settings in your rip if your nozzle check is good.