Mimaki JV5 - Take up Reel

Adjust the clutch on the take-up reel. I imagine it must work very similar to my JV33. Look for a knob on the right side of the take up reel (home station side). I forget which way to spin it, but you only want enough tension to roll up the material. It's easy to have it set to pull too hard which might be causing the media to feed through incorrectly.

 

Yes, it is a really poor take up. Think a lot of printer suppliers have that problem...
As it is suggested, try and adjust the take up on the knob on the control side near the take-up.
You can also use carbon tape on the heater platen to lower static electricity.

Best Regards
Rasmus

 

Yup, this is a very real problem with the JV5.
You may notice the media will always skew on the same side. I'd always get a "bubble" on the right. I shimmed the take up on the left. With trial and error I was able to make it better but I found that this machine requires pretty much constant surveillance.
What you can do to avoid wasting a print is to loose both take up knobs and micro-adjust it on the fly.
I also recommend using minimum tension.
And don't rely on the "clicky" feeder. Feed your media a good 2-3 feet, then go to the back and -very slowly- wind it back.

This is the best I can do.
With all those techniques I can manage to print at least 40 feet in one stroke.

BTW this is just one of the hundred problems that plagues the JV5. Good luck with this machine from hell.

 

Yes, this machine makes you to turn into a technician to have it working well.


Well, indeed is a picky machine, but I'm pretty sure, lots of quality problems would be solved if Mimaki at last would release a Wave or Soft Feather Pattern printing mode.