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Random streaking of CMYK during print

So mid way through a print we will get random streaks of solid cyan, magenta, yellow, and black. This has happened before and we cleaned the print heads, that seemed to have fixed the problem. But within a week it happened again. Photos I've seen of ink dragging don't look this bad. Is this just a case of extreme ink dragging has anyone else had this problem? We are printing with a Roland Versacamm SP-540i.
 

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DougWestwood

New Member
streaking

Hi There,

Looks like the heads aren't sealing when they aren't needed, and drips hanging off the heads causing streaks. Too much pump pressure going out? Not enough vacuum holding it in?

And yeah, this looks like a problem a bit beyond the typical operator.
Calling a tech is good advice.
- Doug
 

iam808

New Member
I don't believe this to be a hardware issue, in my experience with my SP540i, this is a network issue. For lack of a better description, there is occasional *noise* on the network and it's interfering.

My guess is that you are using a wireless connection. If so, set up a wired connection with a static IP address.
 

StickyBandit

New Member
Definitely a network issue. I had a wireless connection and had the same issue. The second we went wired the problem stopped.
 

T_K

New Member
I don't believe this to be a hardware issue, in my experience with my SP540i, this is a network issue. For lack of a better description, there is occasional *noise* on the network and it's interfering.

My guess is that you are using a wireless connection. If so, set up a wired connection with a static IP address.

Not something I would have thought of. But we've never printed wirelessly either. That's the wonderful thing about this forum.
 

MikePro

New Member
does your printer have a wiper mechanism to clean the printheads, that's caked-up with ink? or maybe your printheads are so gummed-up with excess ink around the edges/sides?

suggestions above are legit, but the thought just occurred to me that maybe you're just in need of some thorough cleaning.
 
The Verdict

So we called in a tech. MANY things were wrong with our printer. The tech said it could have been caused by many of the things that were wrong with our printer. He had to replace one of the print heads, another will need to be changed within a year or so. He said to ALWAYS use a wired connection. The wipers were recently changed, however the rest of the machine was in such a mess that they were not able to do their job properly. It seems to be a mix of everything everyone suggested.

Just a little background, I just started this job two weeks ago (only production experience was in school, none essentially), the company has had the printer for three years and they have never called a tech in, and had only cleaned it maybe twice during those three years. So needless to say the printer needed some real tender love and care. Print heads were super gross, looked like someone dipped them in jam. But after the tech gave it a deep cleaning he said everything is back to where it should be, and as long as we continue to clean it on a regular basis it should print fine. So beginning next week time is now being set aside every Monday so I can maintain the cleanliness. The original production guy had no experience either so he just let everything go. Maybe now that I am here things will go smoother from here on out.
 

GaSouthpaw

Profane and profane accessories.
Glad they were able to solve your problems.
I would suggest a daily maintenance regimen. Just from experience (on just about every printer I've ever run), daily maintenance can help prevent minor issues from becoming major problems. Plus, your weekly maintenance time can be reduced by taking a few minutes daily.
 

T_K

New Member
I just started this job two weeks ago (only production experience was in school, none essentially), the company has had the printer for three years and they have never called a tech in, and had only cleaned it maybe twice during those three years. So needless to say the printer needed some real tender love and care. Print heads were super gross, looked like someone dipped them in jam. But after the tech gave it a deep cleaning he said everything is back to where it should be, and as long as we continue to clean it on a regular basis it should print fine. So beginning next week time is now being set aside every Monday so I can maintain the cleanliness. The original production guy had no experience either so he just let everything go. Maybe now that I am here things will go smoother from here on out.
:banghead:

READ THE MANUAL!


No blame on you as the new, inexperienced guy. But your printer's been screwed up by what sounds like several years of neglect. Normal, regular cleanings can prevent a lot of issues from creeping up on you. Instructions are in your manual (if they didn't toss it). Search youtube. Plenty of resources from Roland and Roland owners on how to keep up with the printer.

I'm relatively new at my current job - just a few months. Never had to clean/maintain the printer before, since we had another guy at my last job to do it. So I knew nothing about it. I used the manual and youtube to learn my job, as well as reading forum posts. The information is out there, even if no one at your job can properly train you.

Make sure to do a manual cleaning AT LEAST once a month. More frequently if you're running it more, but never less frequently. Again, reference the manual for details.

Moral of the story: don't let this happen again! You didn't cause the problems, but you can eliminate them in the future.
 
Hahaha. I'll give the office a good look around and see if I can find the manual, and I'll definitely do some google/youtube research. Again, thanks everyone for all the help and advice!
 

MikePro

New Member
nice! yeah a good cleaning does wonders for that printer. I operated it for 10years until finally upgrading, but we still have it sitting under a cover in the back of the office and i KNOW that I could restore it to working condition if need-be....thanks to learning how to do all the service-work myself for so long.


weekly cleanings will go a long way to maintaining consistent-quality prints.
any issues, search function on this forum will usually have a few threads with exact same problem.
 
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