Roland Rs-640 My Prints Are Coming Up Short?

[Banners Signs Etc.]

So we've just starting noticing that on a 4 foot print it comes out a half inch short. On eight feet its 3/4 inch. Normally not to big of an issue except when doing perfect fitting signs. Any ideas on how to fix this?

Edit: Left right is exact. Its something in the feed I'm guessing

 

[bilge]

RS should be at least 4 years old, so worn pinch rollers can't grip media well, I guess.

 

[Solventinkjet]

Are you having any banding issues? Have you checked the print feed calibration?

 

[shoresigns]

As VanderJ said, feed calibration is the first thing to check. That's the setting that allows you to fine tune the speed at which the media feeds through the printer, in case your prints are coming out slightly short or slightly longer than they should be. If the feed calibration is really far off, you may also notice some banding.

Now, the difficulty is that, at least on our Roland, you can only print a feed calibration test in black ink, and the bad deflections we all get on our black Roland heads makes it very difficult to read the calibration test. We haven't had many issues with feed calibration here, so we haven't tested this, but theoretically you should be able to skip the test and just do the math based on the actual length of the print. You say your 96" print is actually 95.25", so 96/95.25 = 1.0079. So if you increase the length of your print by 0.79% it will be correct, and the feed calibration works on percentage points. Just add 0.8% to the current setting and see if that works. Or subtract 0.8% - I can't remember which way the setting goes. Adding would make more sense, I think

 

[Banners Signs Etc.]

As VanderJ said, feed calibration is the first thing to check. That's the setting that allows you to fine tune the speed at which the media feeds through the printer, in case your prints are coming out slightly short or slightly longer than they should be. If the feed calibration is really far off, you may also notice some banding.

Now, the difficulty is that, at least on our Roland, you can only print a feed calibration test in black ink, and the bad deflections we all get on our black Roland heads makes it very difficult to read the calibration test. We haven't had many issues with feed calibration here, so we haven't tested this, but theoretically you should be able to skip the test and just do the math based on the actual length of the print. You say your 96" print is actually 95.25", so 96/95.25 = 1.0079. So if you increase the length of your print by 0.79% it will be correct, and the feed calibration works on percentage points. Just add 0.8% to the current setting and see if that works. Or subtract 0.8% - I can't remember which way the setting goes. Adding would make more sense, I think

Hadn't even thought to do the math..sheesh..will try. Yeah its an old printer but its still going strong every day. And yes the black head makes calibration a crap shoot.

 

[printhog]

The old NUR 5 meter printers had to have length adjustments in the measurements all the time. pain in the butt.

But the rolands have a print dimension adjustment in the service mode if I remember correctly. You print a target, measure and adjust. Then save the setting to rom. Consult your service manual. Many rips also have a similar feature.

Media Calibration can create that very issue at about that size. Use a 12x loupe to get it as accurate as possible then test print. Your rip may induce a Media Calibration setting as part of the media profile. If so it can override the machine setting, or add or subtract from it depending on configuration.

its only a freaking sign!