Mimaki UCJV300-160 patchy printing

[balstestrat]

You were just getting ready to give it away and you don't even want to touch it? Should have gotten the extended warranty..
It's not aerospace engineering, very simple stuff.

 

[adsababy]

You were just getting ready to give it away and you don't even want to touch it? Should have gotten the extended warranty..
It's not aerospace engineering, very simple stuff.

Yep hindsight is great isn't it, 2 months out of warranty on a 12 month machine costing 22k I would expect better. I would love to fix it myself but without a detailed service manual it's not something I would tackle, do you have any documentation that could help?

 

[joeks]

I have this issue too. Visible in dark color blocks. Sometimes just bands like on your photo's, other times sort of weird patterns. Don't know how to describe it other than that. Might have to do with the lifting/bulging of the media i have a lot of the time. Also have minor headstrikes/ink wipes a lot due to the slight lifting of the vinyl. Attached photos show the patchy printed areas in the black section. Supposed to be 100% black, no gradients or jpg artifacts what so ever.

 

[adsababy]

I have this issue too. Visible in dark color blocks. Sometimes just bands like on your photo's, other times sort of weird patterns. Don't know how to describe it other than that. Might have to do with the lifting/bulging of the media i have a lot of the time. Also have minor headstrikes/ink wipes a lot due to the slight lifting of the vinyl. Attached photos show the patchy printed areas in the black section. Supposed to be 100% black, no gradients or jpg artifacts what so ever.

Looks similar but I am trying to work out it the patches are running in the print direction? it looks like they are not. If that is the case I think it is the material, have you tried another material to compare? FYI my issue was resolved by the engineer re calibrating the heads as they were out in the light colours, he also raised the head to stop the head strikes

 

[hapciustyle]

Hi guys,

I think this happens to us, also! Please see attached picture having issues printing full color background. We are not able to have a nice color with any profile we choose at 8-12 passes (tested 5 profiles).
The problem its more serious on the left sider of the printer, where it gets more

We changed head position from 3 to 1 (closer to media) - better results but still not enough for a good background..
We adjusted media passes / configuration from printer console. Media its adjusted.
We have LUS 170 ink with CMYK + white.

If we change profile to 16 passes then we have a smooth / nice background but no speed at all. It seems strange so please let me know what do you think ?

How many passes and which resolution you print so you can have a good background color ?

We just bought it from our dealer, showroom equipment. We don't have experience with Mimaki but we own HP Latex and EPSON SC-60610 in-house.
See also nozzle check test.

Any advice will be highly appreciated! Thank you!

 

[White Haus]

Hi guys,

I think this happens to us, also! Please see attached picture having issues printing full color background. We are not able to have a nice color with any profile we choose at 8-12 passes (tested 5 profiles).
The problem its more serious on the left sider of the printer, where it gets more

We changed head position from 3 to 1 (closer to media) - better results but still not enough for a good background..
We adjusted media passes / configuration from printer console. Media its adjusted.
We have LUS 170 ink with CMYK + white.

If we change profile to 16 passes then we have a smooth / nice background but no speed at all. It seems strange so please let me know what do you think ?

How many passes and which resolution you print so you can have a good background color ?

We just bought it from our dealer, showroom equipment. We don't have experience with Mimaki but we own HP Latex and EPSON SC-60610 in-house.
See also nozzle check test.

Any advice will be highly appreciated! Thank you!

This looks like a different issue - could be feed calibration is off or possibly ink starvation. What does your dealer say about that? I would get them back to fix it if you just bought the unit, even if it is a demo.

 

[hapciustyle]

This looks like a different issue - could be feed calibration is off or possibly ink starvation. What does your dealer say about that? I would get them back to fix it if you just bought the unit, even if it is a demo.

Dealer says: use 16 passes profiles for full background color. And yes, only with 16 passes I can print a smooth background color.

But this is normal ? How many passes do you use for full background color ?

 

[kbrys]

I get the same results with 16 passes @ 1200x600. That is the setting we have ran since install. The machine is two years old and just started doing it about 6 months ago. We did purchase a new identical machine and guess what it does the same thing. I mainly see it in blues and blacks the most and a little in reds. Still waiting to hear what the next steps are.

 

[AtlsGFX]

I have this issue too. Visible in dark color blocks. Sometimes just bands like on your photo's, other times sort of weird patterns. Don't know how to describe it other than that. Might have to do with the lifting/bulging of the media i have a lot of the time. Also have minor headstrikes/ink wipes a lot due to the slight lifting of the vinyl. Attached photos show the patchy printed areas in the black section. Supposed to be 100% black, no gradients or jpg artifacts what so ever.

Hey that’s an issue with Vacuum, don’t quote me on that but certain a lot of printers affected, there is a recall fix Mimaki issued it recently.

 

[Patrick Bateman]

Has anyone figure out what is going on with this issue? I am experiencing the same issue when printing large blocks of colors. It's certainly more noticeable on certain colors.

 

[White Haus]

Has anyone figure out what is going on with this issue? I am experiencing the same issue when printing large blocks of colors. It's certainly more noticeable on certain colors.

I've been having the same issue happen, but only when using a custom 300x900 profile. When we use our 600x600 profile we don't have any issues like this.
In your picture - I suspect the vertical stripes are where the media buckles a bit near the pinch rollers and since it sits higher up, the bulbs cure the ink differently and/or the nozzles are deflective due to touching (or almost touching) the media. The slight horizontal banding looks like ink starvation.
I've yet to find a way to correct this, just move to a higher pass/slower profile when we need perfect solid color prints.
What profile/passes are you running in that picture?

 

[Patrick Bateman]

I've been having the same issue happen, but only when using a custom 300x900 profile. When we use our 600x600 profile we don't have any issues like this.
In your picture - I suspect the vertical stripes are where the media buckles a bit near the pinch rollers and since it sits higher up, the bulbs cure the ink differently and/or the nozzles are deflective due to touching (or almost touching) the media. The slight horizontal banding looks like ink starvation.
I've yet to find a way to correct this, just move to a higher pass/slower profile when we need perfect solid color prints.
What profile/passes are you running in that picture?

Thanks for the info. We were able to eliminate the vertical band by using only the edge pinch rollers. Regarding the horizontal color shift, I have been using 600 x 600 16pass. I have tried higher pass counts but it seemed to exacerbate the problem. I have tried the same color using 3M, Arlon, and Avery profiles.

We are printing on 3M envision cast vinyl and have tried Avery 1105 with the same results.

Someone mentioned a vacuum recall from Mimaki. I called them and they stated there is no recall on the Vacuum.

 

[Patrick Bateman]

I've been having the same issue happen, but only when using a custom 300x900 profile. When we use our 600x600 profile we don't have any issues like this.
In your picture - I suspect the vertical stripes are where the media buckles a bit near the pinch rollers and since it sits higher up, the bulbs cure the ink differently and/or the nozzles are deflective due to touching (or almost touching) the media. The slight horizontal banding looks like ink starvation.
I've yet to find a way to correct this, just move to a higher pass/slower profile when we need perfect solid color prints.
What profile/passes are you running in that picture?

Do you have a specific profile that you use which you can share?

 

[Mikee]

Morning all for the UK..

We had this problem on solid print. Make sure you have the latest firmware installed on the printer. We have 3 of these machines and all firmware was out of date. New firmware installed and problem gone. Hopes this helps..


Mikee - Rocket Graphics Ltd - UK
EFI GS5000 - QS2000 - LX3 Pro
Mimaki UVJC300-160 x3 - JCV33-160 x2

 

[Pablo583]

Try running your print at a higher resolution 600x600 or 1200x1200. Make sure the carriage is at the lowest position.

 

[Patrick Bateman]

Morning all for the UK..

We had this problem on solid print. Make sure you have the latest firmware installed on the printer. We have 3 of these machines and all firmware was out of date. New firmware installed and problem gone. Hopes this helps..


Mikee - Rocket Graphics Ltd - UK
EFI GS5000 - QS2000 - LX3 Pro
Mimaki UVJC300-160 x3 - JCV33-160 x2

What firmware version do you have? I have v2.9. I believe there is now a v3.0 but when I tried to upload it, the software said to contact Mimaki.

 

[White Haus]

Do you have a specific profile that you use which you can share?

Sorry for the late reply. We're using a custom built profile out of Onyx Thrive. Are you using Thrive or Rasterlink?

I'm curious to see what firmware we're on, I'll check and see. I know we haven't updated anything in a while and it's usually a big ordeal and has to be done with a USB cord if I remember correctly.

 

[joeks]

I am on 2.9 and also got a message saving I could not update or contact supplier or something. Interested in this as well.

 

[Mikee]

Just looked at our Mimaki's and they are firmware version V3 - Hope this helps guys

BTW.. We use CALDERA RIP on all Machines
I have also installed RASTERLINK on a PC and runs USB fine (Print and Cut)


Mikee - Rocket Graphics Ltd - UK
EFI GS5000 - QS2000 - LX3 Pro
Mimaki UVJC300-160 x3 - JCV33-160 x2

 

[AtlsGFX]

Thanks for the info. We were able to eliminate the vertical band by using only the edge pinch rollers. Regarding the horizontal color shift, I have been using 600 x 600 16pass. I have tried higher pass counts but it seemed to exacerbate the problem. I have tried the same color using 3M, Arlon, and Avery profiles.

We are printing on 3M envision cast vinyl and have tried Avery 1105 with the same results.

Someone mentioned a vacuum recall from Mimaki. I called them and they stated there is no recall on the Vacuum.