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Newbie need help printing (Picture inside)

A

aqpaint

New Member
Hi everyone,

My name is Alex, I'm new to this forum. Also, I'm a newbie into printing on vinyl. I used to make "cutted" stickers.
I just bought a new SP-300V go get familiar with printing. I bought it used, the guy that sold me this printer, print me a sample and the result was pretty good. Except, it has a few drag line uppon the vinyl. He told me that the machine needed a good clean up.

I did a good clean up (following the how-to video on roland website) with the solution and stick.

Now that I have cleaned everthing I did a test print and the result is not very good. I have too dark colors and it have line into the graphics (like scanner lines). The guitar in the test print supposed to be colored and it is very faded. Plus, the cyan is too blue.



I don't know what can cause this. As I said, I know nothing into the vinyl printing machine, If someone have a clue for me it would be greatly appreciating.


P.S. On the how to clean video they said to clean that part of the machine (under the operation panel) but only into the border. It look like I have a massive build-up of ink in there, is this normal?
Thanks a lot
Alex
 

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Dennis422

Dennis422

New Member
How long the printer was "Sitting" and doing nothing between his print and your cleaning?
If more than a week, that might be a reason.

Also, check if you are using a correct profile and if you have correct temperatures set. Do not know much about Rolands, but that would be where I would look.

Welcome to the forum.
 
A

aqpaint

New Member
DKgrafix said:
How long the printer was "Sitting" and doing nothing between his print and your cleaning?
If more than a week, that might be a reason.

Also, check if you are using a correct profile and if you have correct temperatures set. Do not know much about Rolands, but that would be where I would look.

Welcome to the forum.
Click to expand...

Hi,

Thank you for th anwser,

I bought it sunday morning, I cleaned it monday night. The guy made the test print on the Friday before.
I don't know about the profile and the temperature. Is the profile the option on what media you are printing?
(Vinyl, banner, etc?) Where can I found this info?

Thanks!
 
A

aqpaint

New Member
Pat White said:
Your fill tests look good from the picture... can you post a picture of a nozzle test?

(on the printer hit base point then hold test print)
Click to expand...

Pat,

Is the nozzle test the print with the lines in each color? If it is this, the black have a few lines that are not at the right place and all other colors look good (maybe one or two line not a the right place)

I'm not home right now I could post it later.
 
G

GVP

New Member
Not 100% sure it applies to the SP300, but have you cleaned/replaced the wipers and cleaned the wiper cleaner blade? On our VP540, they get gummed up pretty often, and it can cause streaks in the print if the wipers aren't cleaning the printheads properly.
 
A

aqpaint

New Member
GVP said:
Not 100% sure it applies to the SP300, but have you cleaned/replaced the wipers and cleaned the wiper cleaner blade? On our VP540, they get gummed up pretty often, and it can cause streaks in the print if the wipers aren't cleaning the printheads properly.
Click to expand...

Hi!

I did clean them but not replace them. They were very very gummed, now they are not so bad, I'll order some to try repace them.

Thanks!
 
S

SignDesignExpert

New Member
Material Setup

aqpaint said:
Hi!

I did clean them but not replace them. They were very very gummed, now they are not so bad, I'll order some to try repace them.

Thanks!
Click to expand...

There are test prints and adjustments for material thickness. I'd print those alignment tests and set the adjustments. Also, there are settings for the interleave. Somewhere there is a setting that adjusts for the thickness of the material.
 
crystalcoastgraphics

crystalcoastgraphics

New Member
As Pat said, check that test print. If you have some lines that are missing you have some nozzles clogged up, if you have some out of place then you have some deflection. If it was my printer, I would do the alignment and make sure that was fine first. I think it is in the submenu on the printer, and then run a normal cleaning and see if the test print clean up some. If not, may need to try running a powerful clean or two. You might be able to get some missing lines back if they are not there. After that, I would try some different profiles in VW. The faster speeds will not be as great looking as the slower ones. Post the test print when you get the chance, might help some.
 
A

aqpaint

New Member
crystalcoastgraphics said:
As Pat said, check that test print. If you have some lines that are missing you have some nozzles clogged up, if you have some out of place then you have some deflection. If it was my printer, I would do the alignment and make sure that was fine first. I think it is in the submenu on the printer, and then run a normal cleaning and see if the test print clean up some. If not, may need to try running a powerful clean or two. You might be able to get some missing lines back if they are not there. After that, I would try some different profiles in VW. The faster speeds will not be as great looking as the slower ones. Post the test print when you get the chance, might help some.
Click to expand...

Ok! I'll do these tests and i'll post my results here! Thanks for all the ideas.
 
Mosh

Mosh

New Member
If I were to buy a used machine I would put new caps on, do the heavy head cleaning, new sponge and little wick deal under the sponge, a new pad.
SP300 next thing is the cable carriage is going to go out, and the old style pumps are and issue (unless it has been updated) Other than that I have one running after 8 years...the more you use them the longer they last.
 
A

aqpaint

New Member
Mosh said:
If I were to buy a used machine I would put new caps on, do the heavy head cleaning, new sponge and little wick deal under the sponge, a new pad.
SP300 next thing is the cable carriage is going to go out, and the old style pumps are and issue (unless it has been updated) Other than that I have one running after 8 years...the more you use them the longer they last.
Click to expand...

It is a SP-300V, is it the same pump and cable carriage? What do you mean by new caps? I did change the sponge but I don't know about the pad..

EDIT: I made a research and I saw that it have T pad and sponge, so I change the sponge that look like this:

Thanks
 

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K

kanini

New Member
The black head has some problems, high quality print mode could take it out but is painfully slow. Try the cleaning and adjustment tips above and if that doesn't help do a manual head soak (search the forum). Our SP300 black looks about the same, maybe a tad worse but that is from the previous owners head strike into the material. The only solution to that is to change head but with right profiles you can still get decent output (works for us). It should not have ink gummed up around the head so try your best to clean that out also. Good luck!
 
A

aqpaint

New Member
I did clean the machine, here photos of differents cleaning points. I cleaned the print heads and the contours were on metal, I did a few print tests and they are already this dirt, is this normal? Also, there's is a square filled with ink in the middle of a metal border, what is this? Is it normal that it has a lot of ink like this?

Thanks a lot for all your anwsers guys!
 

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A

aqpaint

New Member
Pat White said:
Are those the after cleaning pictures? Heads should be free of ink - it has probably coagulated so you'll have to gently rub the sides with a solution soaked swab until it comes off.

As for the sponge, I believe it's called "Surge mist Upper sponge" and should be replaced. They're only a couple of bucks.
Click to expand...

Yes thoses picture are after the cleaning but after a few prints. After the cleaning, heads were completly free of ink. But after a few test prints, they look like this. Can it be because of the sponge? Thanks!
 
Robert M

Robert M

New Member
tech manual

Send me your email and I will send you the tech manual
we have the service parts you need on our site www.solventinkjet.com.
we also have the Bordeaux inks for that printer on sale at 29.95 a cartridge
 
A

aqpaint

New Member
I updated to the last VW and I downloaded profiles. For now, i'm out of vinyl, I ordered some and I'll make my test. I'll let you know if everything solve my problem. Thanks every one for all your great inputs.
 
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