Colin
New Member
I’ve had my Roland SP540i for over 2 years now (purchased new). I am not a high-production shop (1-man show), and am fastidious in taking care of…….everything. I have only used Roland ink, and never let more than 2-3 days go by without printing 4 good-sized rectangles, each filled with C,M,Y,K to keep the heads happy.
Near the end of my first year (within the warranty period), I started to experience some ultra-fine banding. Not the sort of banding which is fixed by feed calibration, but a sort of fine banding especially pronounced in K-only prints (like if using the RVW BK blacks/greys). The telling part of this was that the fine banding was and is present in the feed calibration test print, and it prevents one from seeing the critical “space and overlap” in that particular test print.
At the time, I brought this to the attention of my dealer who I bought the machine from. When he was in my area next, he stopped by and had a look. He attempted a few things, like drawing ink through the head, soaking the head, etc, but nothing changed. When I suggested that a K head replacement might be in order, he said something to the effect that it wouldn’t be warranteed because such a problem could only be caused by a head-strike. When I explained that I had not had a head-strike, he seemed to defend his position more, saying that if we changed the head and sent the old one back, they would likely find evidence of a head strike and I would then have to pay full-pop for the head (and labor).
I found this to be perplexing. It seemed like an easy out for both Roland and the dealer to place the fault on the owner no matter what. More time went by and I've worked around the problem by using RGB blacks & greys, or using the painfully slow “high-quality” setting. I continued to occasionally ask if he had inquired to Roland about this, but he just stalled & stalled.
Several weeks ago I inquired directly to Roland, and emailed them the CoPeck report as they requested. It took a couple of weeks and more requests for a response before they finally got back to me. In spite of the obvious fact that my original dealer dropped the ball on this (within the warranty period), they told me that they cannot warranty the head because the CoPeck report showed 6 Motor/Scan-Error incidents, which means that the head was severely stopped by an obstruction. This had never occurred. (BTW, my new, competent service tech who was here yesterday said that the machine’s info recorded 4 not 6). I'm told that this doesn't necessarily mean a "crash".
We know that the K heads are replaced at a far higher rate than the others due to the higher carbon content in the black ink. Also, if Roland claims that a head strike must have caused this, then we would also see that same damaged inflicted upon the Magenta too, as it is the twin of the K. No?
I am no longer doing business with the dealer who I purchased the machine from. He is a good “salesman”, but IMO, doesn’t possess the depth of knowledge as a Tech, and provides poor “service”. While the Roland rep offered a 20% discount on a new head, I’m still looking at over $1000.00 by the time it’s installed. I feel let down by my original dealer and by Roland in all of this.
What do you think?
Near the end of my first year (within the warranty period), I started to experience some ultra-fine banding. Not the sort of banding which is fixed by feed calibration, but a sort of fine banding especially pronounced in K-only prints (like if using the RVW BK blacks/greys). The telling part of this was that the fine banding was and is present in the feed calibration test print, and it prevents one from seeing the critical “space and overlap” in that particular test print.
At the time, I brought this to the attention of my dealer who I bought the machine from. When he was in my area next, he stopped by and had a look. He attempted a few things, like drawing ink through the head, soaking the head, etc, but nothing changed. When I suggested that a K head replacement might be in order, he said something to the effect that it wouldn’t be warranteed because such a problem could only be caused by a head-strike. When I explained that I had not had a head-strike, he seemed to defend his position more, saying that if we changed the head and sent the old one back, they would likely find evidence of a head strike and I would then have to pay full-pop for the head (and labor).
I found this to be perplexing. It seemed like an easy out for both Roland and the dealer to place the fault on the owner no matter what. More time went by and I've worked around the problem by using RGB blacks & greys, or using the painfully slow “high-quality” setting. I continued to occasionally ask if he had inquired to Roland about this, but he just stalled & stalled.
Several weeks ago I inquired directly to Roland, and emailed them the CoPeck report as they requested. It took a couple of weeks and more requests for a response before they finally got back to me. In spite of the obvious fact that my original dealer dropped the ball on this (within the warranty period), they told me that they cannot warranty the head because the CoPeck report showed 6 Motor/Scan-Error incidents, which means that the head was severely stopped by an obstruction. This had never occurred. (BTW, my new, competent service tech who was here yesterday said that the machine’s info recorded 4 not 6). I'm told that this doesn't necessarily mean a "crash".
We know that the K heads are replaced at a far higher rate than the others due to the higher carbon content in the black ink. Also, if Roland claims that a head strike must have caused this, then we would also see that same damaged inflicted upon the Magenta too, as it is the twin of the K. No?
I am no longer doing business with the dealer who I purchased the machine from. He is a good “salesman”, but IMO, doesn’t possess the depth of knowledge as a Tech, and provides poor “service”. While the Roland rep offered a 20% discount on a new head, I’m still looking at over $1000.00 by the time it’s installed. I feel let down by my original dealer and by Roland in all of this.
What do you think?
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