JV33 won't print solid colors

[TheSnowman]

Seems like when I start a print (on basically any material) on my newish (3 months old) JV33, it starts out INCREDIBLE quality, and looks amazing, and then it gets about 6" in, and it starts banding. I can cancel the print, start over, and the same thing. I can clean it, no difference. Test prints all print great, and it's driving me nuts to know why I can't print a solid print of any kind (solid color, or just solid ink on the vinyl) without it starting to band.

Anyone have any issues with this and correct it? I assumed it was in the profile, but it seems to do it all the time no matter what I'm printing. It's just like the head isn't getting enough ink to lay down enough. If it's not solid prints and it's got white in between here and there, it does fine.

 

[P Wagner]

That would not be a profile issue, it sounds more like plumbing.
I'd look at the dampers first, and possibly slow the carriage speed and see what effect that has on the problem.

 

[Masseria]

That would not be a profile issue, it sounds more like plumbing.
I'd look at the dampers first, and possibly slow the carriage speed and see what effect that has on the problem.

i was thinking the same... but he's having problems with all colors... sounds like a Pressure problem in dampers...

have you made any ink fill up?

make 2/3 and check tubes on top of dampers, and check if bubbles go in there...

 

[fmg]

post a pic if you can. A three month old machine should not have any issues with Dampers TBH.

 

[Patentagosse]

If it's a brand new machine, call the seller and get it serviced. Maybe some fine tuning is needed. If the tech can't find the source of the problem, now you're having a problem...

'Had some weird banding on my SP-540i (Roland) and after the tech did a s**tload of testings, they finally got it back to the shop and gave me an upgrade for better one (VS-540). 'Never knew what was the problem but now it's theirs...

 

[wilsonyeobl]

Hi, think you need to try at least perform a Ink Fill Up in the HD maintenance menu section

 

[TheSnowman]

I will try the fill up, but its under a one year warranty, and I bought it from Advantage and they are the best with support. I'll try to post pictures tomorrow morning showing what it's doing. I'll maybe just ride them a little harder to figure out what's going on.

 

[fmg]

I will try the fill up, but its under a one year warranty, and I bought it from Advantage and they are the best with support. I'll try to post pictures tomorrow morning showing what it's doing. I'll maybe just ride them a little harder to figure out what's going on.

I purchased the same machine from Advantage 4 years ago and it runs so good.
Changed the dampers twice, caping station twice, pump once and numerous wipers.
Should be working for you and I would most definitely call Advantage or Mimaki tech help to see if this can be resolved by a quick fix over the phone.

 

[4R Graphics]

What rip are you running?

I have a JV33 and with rasterlink pro 5 it prints great I have flexi 8.6 and when I print solid blues I get streeking almost like its starving for ink.

I built my own profile for it in Flexi and it deos the same thing streeks but print the same file in rasterlink and it prints perfect.

I like rastelink the best but I get better color (truer Panotnes) with the custom flexi profiles.

I run 540X1080 on both rips everything is the same except the rip its weird rasterlink good but color is off Flexi streeks (blues only) but color is almost perfect.

I built a custom profile for rasterlink as well and the color is just not as accurate as Flexi.

Its not just big prints either I printed a test box that was only 3" tall (feed direction) and 10" wide (scan direction) and it has streeks.

So it maybe the rip if you have another one try it.

I even tried 2 different speeds, resolutions and pass numbers all streek in Flexi (blues only) Oh and I have a perfect nozzle check so its not that either.

Not to high jack the thread but if anyone can tell me how to fix my flexi problem I would be greatful.

 

[xxtoni]

I have had banding issues on my VS-640, it turned out that some ink got onto the encoder strip and that caused it.

http://www.signs101.com/forums/showthread.php?t=92322

This is what it looked like and it made the cut inaccurate as well. Against the advice of the technician that sold me the machine I cleaned the encoder strip myself and that fixed the problem for good.

Not saying that's happening with your machine but it's worth exploring.

 

[TheSnowman]

Yea, my blue colors are the worst. I'm using Onyx 10.1.

 

[SightLine]

I'd also try messing with the temps..... it almost sounds like the material is sitting and cooking before it starts printing but once it gets past that spot it's not getting either warm enough or the heaters kicking in are possibly getting it too warm. Another possibility is maybe the head refresh needs to get increased slightly. Some RIP's have settings that can adjust that. The head refresh is how often the head pauses at the capping station to pump a little more ink in and if it is too long an interval it can cause slight dropouts.

 

[TheSnowman]

I suppose I just need to read up on Onyx a little more to see how to tweak my profiles a little more. Seems like it should be something simple since I'm at least getting good results when it starts printing.

You say you'd think it's TOO hot then? If I remember right, this one has three heaters on it, where my JV3 only had 2.

 

[Masseria]

I suppose I just need to read up on Onyx a little more to see how to tweak my profiles a little more. Seems like it should be something simple since I'm at least getting good results when it starts printing.

You say you'd think it's TOO hot then? If I remember right, this one has three heaters on it, where my JV3 only had 2.

You said you have tried in several materials... have you?
Why dont you try with no heaters and A4/A3 leaf.... print CMYK squares at 100%...(use Illustrator if you are able to)
If they are bad then try other rip software(click me for free). if still bad could be hardware(printer parts)..

post pics for more help...

 

[Rooster]

Any resolutions that begin with 540 are considered draft quality (straight from the operators manual).

You'll likely never get an acceptable solid colour print when using draft quality. Set your resolution to any of the fine quality settings that begin with 720 or higher. 720 x 540 should print faster and better quality than a 540 x 1080 setting.

If you're still getting banding, then increase the number of passes to the next step up to smooth out the print and allow it to lay down the ink more evenly.

 

[TheSnowman]

Here is what I just printed. I am on 6 pass, 720X1080, and I gave it a .7 second delay between passes, and a refresh rate of 1 (although I'll admit I have zero clue what this setting does). You can see how perfect it is at the start, and how terrible it is by the end.

I feel like I should be able to get as good of results as I had printing 4 pass on my JV3 for 5 years, and having way less banding than this. I guess I'm not against doing a two pass if I HAVE to, but seems like overkill for things that I'm not even trying to achieve awesome quality on, I just want what it starts out as.

It doesn't matter if the heaters have been on, or if they're just warmed up and just started printing, always the same results on printing a solid color, or a solid photo. Never changes.

Any tips that any of you see right out of the gate?

 

[petesign]

I think its plumbing. Pull the cover and see if the dampers are staying full?

 

[TheSnowman]

I haven't hacked into this machine yet...and I'm not going to till my warranty is up. If it is a damper situation, then a tech needs to be messing w/ it since it's under warranty.

 

[Rooster]

It definitely ink starvation since it starts fine and loses quality as it progresses.

You could try re-profiling with lower ink limits to reduce the amount of ink it's trying to suck through if damper replacement doesn't work.

Also try upping the refresh rate to a higher number. Based on this thread, it would appear the consensus is that the refresh rate is how often the print head will pause mid print to refill the dampers.

http://www.signs101.com/forums/showthread.php?t=39786

 

[TheSnowman]

Maybe I'll jack that number up as high as it will go and see how it does. Seems like a tech would be able to have a way for me to figure out if it's profile or if it's something with the machine, but everyone just keeps bouncing me around.

I'll try cranking the refresh all the way up and see what happens.