Mutoh VJ1304 banding/faint lines

[Bill T.]

Hey all, I am new to this site and hoping someone can help me out with copy quality issues I am having on the VJ1304. I am formally a copier tech and do not have much experience with wide formats. The issue I am having is light streaks throughout the prints when I am printing heavy ink prints. With the pic I posted it is not the diagonal lines but the straight light vertical lines in the print. Kinda hard to see at first but if you look close you can see them. in the pic the print head is traveling from left to right. I have replaced the print head, capping station and played around with the different applications for different media but to no avail. We have a big customer that want a bunch of these signs and if I cannot figure out what is going on here were going to loose them. Thanks for any and all input. Bill T.

 

[FatCat]

Are you certain the lines are only running vertical? In the one pic it looks like they are running diagonal, unless you have that wording running at a diagonal on your print. (If diagonal, I would bet it's a cable issue/communication issue - especially if you just replaced the head. Make sure all your cables to the head and main board are making full contact.)

Have you tried printing using other print profiles, and is it doing the same thing? (1440, 730, etc?)

 

[Bill T.]

Hey FatCat, The diagonal lines are part of there logo, the lines are vertical and are faint, have to look kinda close. I have been reading some other post about banding and came across cleaning the encoder strip. Have not done that yet, matter of fact going to go do that right now. I will up date my post if that clears it up or not.

 

[FatCat]

Ah, OK - thought it looked strange. Now that I look at your pics again, I would almost guess a heating issue, especially since it is on the vertical. Have you tried other profiles, and does the problem still persist? Also, do you see this on all media that you are running, or just certain ones?

 

[Bill T.]

Bummer, not the encoder. Matter of fact is was very clean. I have tried other profiles, same results. I have not tried other media, this is the only physical media I have available right now. I have tried changing the media "setting" but to no avail. I will look into the heating when I have a chance. Thanks.

 

[EmpireGFX.com]

I have been getting these on my Mutoh as well.. although it only seems to happen with certain colors. I have been using the same profile to print on the media for a few years now and they seem to be showing up now for some reason. Let me know if you find out how to remedy this.. I hate wasting ink & media to do re-prints!

 

[Lovejoy]

I'm still fighting this same issue. Since I changed my print head I am getting this exact problem..(did not have this problem before) Have a new encoder on the printer too. I keep hearing its the cap or station but I dont think so... thinking about changing the print head cable..

 

[GmanDesign]

Ive been fighting this issue since my machine was new outta the box. Techs have no clue what to do. Best thing I ever did was use matte film as much as possible then just use a gloss over laminate For some reason the matte film doesn't show the banding as bad as most gloss films do.