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Poor quality prints. Trying to find out why
- Thread starter Rayder
- Start date
truckgraphics
New Member
Design Program / RIP / Profile
Just a thought. The printer might be perfect, but the design program / RIP and or profile might be the source of your problems.
You can print a really bad image with a really good printer if you don't have your settings adjusted correctly.
It seems that your problem is one that is shared weekly on this forum. I've been biting my tongue, because, let's face it, we are all in an intensely competitive business and I don't want to share my settings. (Am I paranoid much? Maybe.) My settings are my secret sauce - not that I have the sauce for your particular printer. (Don't have a clue about Onyx software.) But on the other hand, I respect that we are all hard working folks in the same tough business and it seems to me, based on the questions I see posted on the forums, that the printer makers are selling an awful lot of parts for perfectly good printers.
Now, you may indeed have a problem with your printer.
However, before you buy a new head or capping station or whatever, my advice is to get a cheap roll of calendared media set aside a day (or two) for experimentation and have at it, testing both bitmap and vector images. After you find your way on the cheap stuff, try some other media too.
Take notes. Find your best setting and make that setting your secret sauce !
(Also...just noticed you transported your printer...machines don't like to be transported. Sometimes all it takes is a few printing cycles and the machine gets back to normal on its own.)
Just a thought. The printer might be perfect, but the design program / RIP and or profile might be the source of your problems.
You can print a really bad image with a really good printer if you don't have your settings adjusted correctly.
It seems that your problem is one that is shared weekly on this forum. I've been biting my tongue, because, let's face it, we are all in an intensely competitive business and I don't want to share my settings. (Am I paranoid much? Maybe.) My settings are my secret sauce - not that I have the sauce for your particular printer. (Don't have a clue about Onyx software.) But on the other hand, I respect that we are all hard working folks in the same tough business and it seems to me, based on the questions I see posted on the forums, that the printer makers are selling an awful lot of parts for perfectly good printers.
Now, you may indeed have a problem with your printer.
However, before you buy a new head or capping station or whatever, my advice is to get a cheap roll of calendared media set aside a day (or two) for experimentation and have at it, testing both bitmap and vector images. After you find your way on the cheap stuff, try some other media too.
Take notes. Find your best setting and make that setting your secret sauce !
(Also...just noticed you transported your printer...machines don't like to be transported. Sometimes all it takes is a few printing cycles and the machine gets back to normal on its own.)
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The tech and roland support have both said that the calibrations and hardware are spot on so it has to be a software issue. right?
I bought a 50m roll of vinyl already and i've printed out a couple of metres of test stuff so far with no luck. Problem is roland no longer support colorchoice so they've pretty much said you're on your own. After having no luck getting onyx to work at all i downloaded flexi and trying to see if i can get that to make some legible prints.
So what exactly do profiles control? Is it just ink and colour or is there more to it? I ask because i can't understand how an output profile can affect how the printer prints (lines etc) as opposed to how it lays the colour.
I bought a 50m roll of vinyl already and i've printed out a couple of metres of test stuff so far with no luck. Problem is roland no longer support colorchoice so they've pretty much said you're on your own. After having no luck getting onyx to work at all i downloaded flexi and trying to see if i can get that to make some legible prints.
So what exactly do profiles control? Is it just ink and colour or is there more to it? I ask because i can't understand how an output profile can affect how the printer prints (lines etc) as opposed to how it lays the colour.
MikePro
New Member
profiles. make your own, or pay somebody to set you up right.Hello, I also have a SC500 and am having problems with my prints being too dark and just not looking good at all. I was wondering if you ever got this fixed and if so how? Thank you
back to OP, I wonder if you might simply be using media that is incompatible with your inks. at the very least, improperly profiled.
what ink are you printing and what media?
genuine roland ecosol max inks, 3m cast vinyl and avery mpi2000 vinyl. no profiles available except generic and random profiles provided by another forum member, none of which helped unfortunately. so to sum it up, no, still not working. looking at buying a new printer instead now. will definitely make sure the roland tech that comes out to do the installation stays until I'm 100% happy with the quality of the new printer though, I can't take much more of the headaches I've had so far.
If you are buying a Roland, your headaches are just beginning... you are in for a world of hurt!
reQ
New Member
hmm... owning a roland for 3 years now, no headaches? ( i don't count replacing dampers and other stuff that needs to be replaced from time to time a headache)
I wish I had your luck. My experience is quite the opposite.
If I was to buy again, I would not pay for the machine until it is proven to work 100% all functions. Print, all colours all heads, cut, print cut, tracking, long pieces, auto wind etc. If you do have a problem after Roland will F*CK you over, or at least that was my experience, as well as others I have talked to.
Another thing in my experience Roland does badly is if you have a problem, they may take weeks, months and even years to move forward with the repair. Not to fix it, just to go up through their chain of command to get approval, to get some guy named Scott to OK it, to release the parts...etc...etc...etc... All the while you are missing deadlines, spending hours and days and weeks trying different things, tests, calibrations, cleanings, profiles, materials and going through tons of material, ink and cleaner trying to make it work. Ugh. Been there, done that. Brand new Roland, bought new, paid top dollar. Then when they stall past the warranty, they say they will continue to try and fix it, but now it will cost per hour plus parts and travel both ways.
reQ
New Member
As i mentioned in some other thread - all depends what kind of distributor/service company you deal with. When i had an issue during warranty year, service guy was on site same week. And when warranty was off, my service guy (actually the owner of the company) did not charge me at all to drive 150km to my place and fix the issue, only charged me for parts, not even charged me to replace them.
If you build good relation with your supplier, most of your problems will be solved without giving you that headache.
If i would have your experience i would probably tried to stay away from roland also... but as you see, i have 0 issues even when i have any kind of issues with the machine
Well I have deal with the original dealer, Roland Canada, and Roland US and another dealer in Montreal, and finally with a good guy in Hamilton, but the problem is still not fixed, my machine will not print and cut. Never has, probably never will. No amount of being nice, or sucking up to "Build a relationship" crap would have changed a thing. Roland is Roland. It's all good until it's not. Then you are screwed. I am sure there are many people who are happy, and will pile on here saying how great Roland is, but not my experience, nor the experience of some others.
I did have a number of other issues, but my newest tech solved most of them. He cannot understand why my machine wasn't scrapped and replaced though, as it is retarded.
Cool story bro.
reQ
New Member
Same guy in Montreal helped solve my issue very quickly... weird (and i am in Saskatchewan, Canada)
Well, I doubt it was the same guy. He charged me $2k to come on site, not change the clogged damper, but instead charged me for a new head, never put the head rank numbers in, never changed the damper even though I requested it, (Later I learned if you don't change the dampers with a new head it voids the warranty.), never solved a misaligned capping issue, and of course as soon as he left the new head did exactly what the old head did. When I called back, they refused to do anything about it. The service manager said it must be my scan motor, he could hear over the phone it was bad. Of course it wasn't bad, there was nothing wrong with my scan motor. If he did hear anything it was the tech never lubed any bearings, but I am sure they wanted to drive back and slap on some more Roland oem parts I did not need. The company was TG GRAPHICS Montreal.
reQ
New Member
Yup, TG Graphics here also (but it wasn't TG untill our small distributor was bought out by them)
But i hear ya... i would ask my money back if tech did not solve the problem (i know it would be next to impossible to get a refund anyways) and after to flack off. Sorry to hear that u had this experience
That's only one in a long line of similar experiences from the day I bought the machine. I have had a number of serious issues and the machine is still not fixed. I have never been able to print/cut ever. Just don't trust Roland, your Roland dealer or your Roland tech. They are not, in my experience, an honorable organization. (to put it nicely.)
MikePro
New Member
yeah, those should be compatible.
regardless of perfectly dialed-in profiles, you should at least be getting decent results from stock profiles. maybe a linearization or ink limit issue, but I'm nowhere near anyone else on this forum who fancies themselves a profiling-pro
My money is your issue being a gremlin under the print cover.
ultimately, you cannot expect to profile/produce-on a machine that isn't firing at 100% and in-alignment. I would be leaning-on your tech to get those test prints up to snuff and heads in alignment before you worry about using/tweaking/generating any profiles in the first place.
Easily the worst company I've ever dealt with. As soon as they have your money, they're finished with you. Plus the quality is just mediocre on these 300i's, in my opinion. They said before I purchased it that it compares with other 8 color wide format printers in terms of quality. What a joke that statement is.