JFX200-2513 EX White Ink Banding

[pepford]

We print acrylics using a 600x900 Rasterlink acrylic profile. At the default value of 12 passes the colors print great. When we add a white background I have to change to 24 pass or my white has thin banding. Which is very noticeable especially when printing light colors such as a sky. Now we are getting banding on 24 pass. Having a tech coming tomorrow but want to know if 12 pass should be enough.

Thanks in advance.

 

[rjssigns]

How many "miles" on the printheads? The 2513 in the lab had the heads replaced recently. Took about two years to wear them out. Not completely shot but noticable. It gets run everyday with student projects or projects for multiple campus locations etc...

 

[pepford]

Not Much. Printer is 1 1/2 years old. This is the 2nd white/white/clear/primer print head. It was installed last summer. 80 of our prints use no white. We print white maybe once or twice a week.

 

[Solventinkjet]

How does your nozzle check look? Missing any nozzles?

 

[MikePro]

what's the nozzle test look like? banding that shows itself in one channel, and not in the others, usually means there's an issue with clogged nozzles. if it shows in all channels, then its just a feed calibration.

 

[pepford]

No nozzles missing. Its perfect.

 

[Solventinkjet]

No nozzles missing. Its perfect.

I'd probably run an air purge. If the nozzles are 100%, it must be an ink flow issues and air purge is a good place to start. It could still be a worn out head as well but you want to rule out all possibilities first!

 

[MichaelGass]

I just joined forum
Check pos and neg pressure-and air purge for sure. Also make sure wiper is 1/16 taller than head and cap pressure is correct

 

[pepford]

Thanks All. NEw print head was installed last week. Seams that was the problem.

 

[MGB_LE]

Was that replacement under warranty? We're shopping this machine and will be using it for a similar flood white background application. What was the cost for the head replacement?

Thanks All. NEw print head was installed last week. Seams that was the problem.

 

[dudeinthemoon]

It is a manufacturer issue, the white head is too close to UV lamp, and when you printing with the huge gaps UV dries the white head. Mimaki has a service kit need to be installed on every JFX200 EX

 

[Impact1]

Was that replacement under warranty? We're shopping this machine and will be using it for a similar flood white background application. What was the cost for the head replacement?

Heads on the EX model are around $3600 to $3700 plus travel and labor cost. They normally take around 90min to 2 hours to install and calibrate.