Roland sc 540 intermittent banding HELP PLEASE!

[Visign]

Hi, we need an idea what is going wrong with our machine please. Sometimes it will print perfect, other times it will start horizontal banding halfway through a print. We have had a tech come out a few weeks ago and tell us the black print head needs replacing. But we also have a good very experienced friend in the print industry who thinks it is more likely to be the dampers, pump or cable etc because it is intermittent.

This machine is 6 years old but only has done 500 print hours. Does anybody know if the head can just 'get old' or does it only degrade through use?

Thank you very much in advance for any advice you can give us!

 

[Patrick's Sign Compa]

The more it prints the happier it is.
Make sure your are not RIPping while printing, make sure that is turned off in your RIP program

 

[Visign]

Sorry forgot to say that since we bought it secondhand at the beginning of the year we do use it regularly (at least 5 days a week, but only for little prints sometimes). The company that had it before us gave up because they could never figure out how to work it properly. When we got it it printed well all the time.

 

[GSGservice]

Roll some material off the roll so it's not pulling any load and see if it goes away. To much tention on the roll can cause this issue. However all piezo heads will fail eventually. It could be the screen in the damper is clogged and starved for ink.