Question about color issue.

[theprintlabtx]

Hey everyone,

I have a quick question and would appreciate any help you can provide.

I got this printer used from my father in law. I ran a test print and the result is in the photo below. I have sorted out a profile that works around this issue mostly, but I would love to just fix it. Anyone know what I can do or where I can make adjustments? I have a spectrophotometer for my Konica Minolta, but it's not listed in the versa works list. Can I manually adjust? Is there anything I'm not thinking of? If I change to calibration and ink limit then vectors print well for the most part, but rasters are just a headache. I know I have some nozzles misfiring, I am just trying to better the color situation right now.

Thanks everyone for your help in advance.

 

[player]

Rolands and VW and the correct material profile are pretty good out of the box.

What you see on your monitor may not be what prints because of the monitor and monitor calibrations.

A few questions:

Printer model?
Material brand and type?
Profile?
Ink?
Is the test print perfect?

 

[theprintlabtx]

Roland XC-540
This is just a basic intermediate vinyl from grimco
This is a test print from the versaworks software
Ink is 20/20 ink from grimco
The test print is pictured above which has a heavy presence of magenta

 

[T_K]

I'm running a Roland vs-540i, so I'm not sure how much my input will apply to your printer. But, here's my input...

If you don't have the right print profile to match your material in VW, that can really change the print quality. If it's off brand material, you might have to try different media profiles.

I'd suggest creating a test document using similar elements and printing from your own file for comparison. This can help you confirm if it's VW or the printer.

Non-Roland inks could be part of the issue. I've ready tons of forums and online articles, and there's great debate about whether 3rd party inks screw up your prints or not. Nothing conclusive.

Double check your cleaning test print. See if everything is firing correctly. If the print head is not clean, doesn't matter what you do.

It looks like you've got some banding issues with the large swatches at the top. Unless that's just a photo quality issue.
Have you checked your calibration settings?

 

[DougWestwood]

banding? feed comp?

Hi There,

The banding in the color blocks might be from the feed comp.
This is the command which rolls out exactly as much vinyl as you need for each printhead pass. Too little and you get dark bands, too much and you get black stripes with no ink.

Should be in the manual. Good Luck!
- Doug

 

[Ragnabrok]

the pick guard on that guitar is supposed to be white, and the diamond plate should be gray, why they are so pink is odd, i can't imagine a profile being that heavy to magenta unless it was profiled on blue vinyl.

As everyone has stated, yes, try a different profile. Also, use the test print button on the machine, since that gives a nozzle pattern, and is a better indication of head health. print one of those and upload the pic, we might have a better diagnosis with that.