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Need Help Magenta drops out

luisht

New Member
Hello,

i have a Roland VS 540, and it’s drops out the magenta about a foot into the print. I run a medium clean and it work again for another foot. I replaced the damper and the cap top. Any suggestions of what I can do next?
 

Jim Hancock

Old School Technician
Power down the printer, both sub power and main power. Pull the magenta ink cartridge and make sure it has ink by rocking it back and forth. I have run into multiple instances recently where the tab on the cartridge did not come out and trip the switch to stop the printer.
 

luisht

New Member
Power down the printer, both sub power and main power. Pull the magenta ink cartridge and make sure it has ink by rocking it back and forth. I have run into multiple instances recently where the tab on the cartridge did not come out and trip the switch to stop the printer.

Yeah, but when I run a clean cycle and then do the test print it looks ok. Its when I start a long print like over 18 inches, the magenta drops out.
Right now I'm running the printer on High Quality and everything looks good.
 

Jim Hancock

Old School Technician
Cleaning can pull enough ink from a mostly empty cartridge to temporarily recharge the print head as there is always a bit left in the cartridge. Normal ink supply to the head is by gravity feed to the dampers. Did you check the magenta cartridge?
 

luisht

New Member
I did, my printer has 2 they are almost full, I'm surprised I was able to print 6ft print without issues on high quality, but when I go to normal, I get the same problem again.
 

Jim Hancock

Old School Technician
What ink configuration are you running? If you are running CMYKx2 did you change both magenta dampers?
 
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Sean@CedarHouse

Printing Money
When you look at the ink lines to the print carriage do you see air bubbles? Have you drawn in through the cap while the head is in the home position? If so, do you see air bubbles in the syringe? Reason I'm asking is because it's possible one of the "O" rings inline may be leaking air. You can take the top cover off and look at the lines to see if you have ink drip anywhere. If you do then that's likely the cause.
 

Solventinkjet

DIY Printer Fixing Guide
Whenever a single color drops out on a print head it's almost always an ink flow issue but could be electrical in very rare cases. Most of the time it's a failing/old damper especially if the color starts out fine and drops out during the print. Another common reason is the cartridge is empty but has failed to flag the machine properly. The next most common thing would be a cracked/broken manifold. Check the plastic spike that the damper slides onto the head and make sure it's not broken. After that, if you know it's not just clogged, it's probably an electronic issue such as the head itself being fried or the head/main board circuitry fried. In my experience it's almost always ink flow.
 
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