Need Help Roland SP-300i cyan not printing

[Jeremy W]

Hello! I have many years of experience with printers/plotters and graphic designs, but I am relatively new to the large format printing of the Roland devices. At the shop I work at we are using a Roland SP-300i and today it started printing out the wrong colors for the first time - printing brown instead of bright green. After running the test print, I discovered the cyan is not printing; instead it is coming out almost black, like a dark grey instead. All three of the other colors are working fine. I took panels off the printer to check the ink lines and they all appear connected and not pinched or broken, however they do appear to be a very dark-blue-almost-black (the blue is faint but noticeable, unlike the print that shows absolutely no blue tint). I'm not sure if they should be filled with the bright blue from the cartridge or not as this is my first time tearing down a printer this size.

I've attached a picture taken of the test print page (it's on gloss adhesive vinyl).

Does anyone have any ideas on what can be done to fix this? I've run several cleaning passes, manually cleaned everything, and put in a brand new cyan cartridge. I'm pretty handy around electronics so I am comfortable opening panels and getting into the guts.

 

[timkaz227]

Hello! I have many years of experience with printers/plotters and graphic designs, but I am relatively new to the large format printing of the Roland devices. At the shop I work at we are using a Roland SP-300i and today it started printing out the wrong colors for the first time - printing brown instead of bright green. After running the test print, I discovered the cyan is not printing; instead it is coming out almost black, like a dark grey instead. All three of the other colors are working fine. I took panels off the printer to check the ink lines and they all appear connected and not pinched or broken, however they do appear to be a very dark-blue-almost-black (the blue is faint but noticeable, unlike the print that shows absolutely no blue tint). I'm not sure if they should be filled with the bright blue from the cartridge or not as this is my first time tearing down a printer this size.

I've attached a picture taken of the test print page (it's on gloss adhesive vinyl).

Does anyone have any ideas on what can be done to fix this? I've run several cleaning passes, manually cleaned everything, and put in a brand new cyan cartridge. I'm pretty handy around electronics so I am comfortable opening panels and getting into the guts.

It sounds like the cyan siphoned up some of the black ink. this happens to me on my 540 w/ the Yellow. Try doing several clean cycles followed by a test print after each so you can see if there is any improvement. Once I get some cyan showing I'll print a solid block (full width) of cyan until it looks normal.
Note: When I say test print, I mean the button on the front, not the image you shared.

 

[jriley]

Run this test print, take a picture, and post it here please. Thanks!

 

[Joe House]

This will happen when 2 conditions exist:
1. Old captop or something on the captop which allows the 2 channels to siphon through the cap top
and
2. The level of ink the the black cartridge is substantially higher than the level of ink in the cyan cartridge. - it could go the other way if the ink levels are reversed or it can happen on the Magenta/Yellow head the same way.

Hopefully the contamination has not reached all the way to the ink cartridge.

You need to replace the cap top - you should probably do both of them at the same time. Then work ink through the cyan channel, either by cleanings or by printing a large cyan block on some cheap media. (Or a combination of the two) Once the cyan block starts to come out cyan rather than the dark color you described, you're good to go.

Good Luck,

 

[player]

All of the above, plus check that your printer is level.

I have heard this can happen when one of the carts in full and the other almost empty.

A hair or fiber on the head can cause the ink to wick out one head and up the other.

 

[Jeremy W]

Thank you folks. I replaced the top caps (and the squeegees while I was in there) and after a couple heavy cleanings I'm getting all four colors, nice and clear. Incidentally, the test you asked me to print I ran before and after - before there was black where blue should be.

 

[brian notre]

I recently changed the black print head in Roland SP300i the black edges are not sharp, anyone know why? could use some help.

 

[Zoogee World]

I recently changed the black print head in Roland SP300i the black edges are not sharp, anyone know why? could use some help.

Do you have a picture. Also, when you did the head change, did you input the new serial, along with do all the head adjustments?