Printer stops printing Half way

[badouali]

Hi am running a JV3 250sp. Am currently having two problems. One is, when am printing large format banner, one half always looks darker than the other. Another major problem that started to occur from yesterday is that whilst printing, the heads will stop spraying ink half way. When i switch the printer of and turn it back on and do a ink fill up, it will start printing again. But i am loosing a lot of banner material and ink. The situation is really stressing me now. All my heads are original and brand new. I changed all the dampers and two caps and also one of the pumps. I am also using OEM inks.

 

[kkamauu]

try cleaning the encoder strip. could be possible that it is really really dirty... not really sure on this one - but the encoder strip tells the print head where it is if dirty could be messing with that....

 

[badouali]

Ok will try and do that. Furthermore when ever it stops printing and i do a test print, nothing shows up. Its all blank, but when i switch the printer and put it back on and do a test print, it shows up.

 

[signswi]

Check if the capping station is seated properly, sometimes it becomes dislodged from the arms and doesn't get a great seal.

The one half darker than the other I'm not sure about at all, clean the encoder strip, make sure you have ink in the lines (no air bubbles)...what exactly do you mean by half? Half on the X dimension or half on the Y dimension?

 

[badouali]

What i mean about the half is when am printing 5meter wide banner, i can only print it in two halves and then join them with the heat gun. So i always have a problem where by one half looks darker than the other. Is it normal for me to be doing ink flill up in the middle of printing in order for me to avoid the situation or not. I have changed the caps at the capping station and so far its seating properly cos the pumps are working fine. I am beginning to think it is an electronic problem. What do u guys out there think? Please help.

By the way what is the encorder strip. Is it the head cables?

 

[fmk]

Do you have fluorescent tubes as lighting? I've heard that UV light emitted by standard fluorescent tubes can cause prints become whiter. If the second print is darker, this could be the case.

 

[badouali]

We printed all in day light. I think the problem am having is something to do with ink starvation. Cos all of a sudden, the head will just be moving from right to left but dont print nothing at all.

 

[badouali]

I think i have to explain properly what i meant by printing stops half way. What happens is that the printer will be printing perfectly and then all of a sudden, you will see the carriage moving from right to left but no ink comes out. But when i switch off the printer and put it back on and send the same job again, it will print again for some time and it happens again. Is that due to the encoder strip. Cos am thinking if you having problems with the encoder strip, you might have an error message on the display. But in my case there is no error message. Just that one minute its printing fine and the next minute, its zero. Absolutely nothing at all.

I have checked my heads and the all fine. The test prints are perfect. The capping station is also perfect. Am beginning to think maybe it could be an electronic problem or software problem. Am currently using Flexi 8.1

 

[MikePro]

what's your rip software?
i had issues in the past with wierd elements in the design file not ripping correctly, would show up in the preview but not come out correctly in the print. (most likely, the file was too large for the rip/spool in my computer to handle)
try printing a horizontal scaled version of your print at the full length of your printer and see if it all comes out correctly.

 

[badouali]

Thanks guys. I think the problem has been solved now. We cleaned the encoder strip and that did the trick.