Roland SP-540i Magenta Problem

[patronenbob]

Hi, i am Daniel from Germany. In January 2013 we bought a Roland SP-540i Printer. We only use it to create Labels for our own products (online reseller). Since march it shows the problem that we have too much magenta on the Vinyl. The problem is massive on normal print quality, on HQ it is nearly not vissible. So we can say that the other Colors behave normal, in HQ mode it is really good and on normal print mode is also still good, only magenta shows that massive problem. Roland says it is the Vinyl but we also checked other bands and other profiles, same problem. We already had 3 visits from the supplier without success. Printheads and calibration all perfect. We only use OEM Roland Ink. The machine has ist own room with right temperature etc. The reason why i write in this Forum: maybe someone had a similar problem in the past? Or any ideas? My supplier says "he just print in HQ mode than it is ok", but for me this is no solution. Thanks for your help, pls excuse my english.

 

[Salmoneye]

I saw your web page. So are you an events or sports company making your own products with your logo and selling them online? Like if one of my customers bought his own equipment and then selling it instead of buying from a sign shop? You might have a hard time getting someone here to help you with your banding problem. Could be one of profile, temperature, calibration etc. Good luck. If nobody responds you might want to better explain what it is that you do.

 

[patronenbob]

I saw your web page. So are you an events or sports company making your own products with your logo and selling them online? Like if one of my customers bought his own equipment and then selling it instead of buying from a sign shop? You might have a hard time getting someone here to help you with your banding problem. Could be one of profile, temperature, calibration etc. Good luck. If nobody responds you might want to better explain what it is that you do.

We do more than 50.000 Labels each month and until November we bougt from a Company, we changed to own Printer to be more flexible as we could not wait eac time several days for the Labels. I think to ask for help is allowed

 

[P Wagner]

The place to start is with the Nozzle Test print, that is accessed from the Roland's control panel. That print will demonstrate the nozzle performance for all of the colors, with each line of ink representing one nozzle. You are looking for a pattern that is consistent, with no gaps in the pattern (nozzle outs) or deflected nozzles. If you see either of these defects, the place to start is to perform cleanings, also performed from the printer's control panel. In the event that the nozzle test is clean, the next place to look is at the Media Feed Compensation, accessed from the Function key on the printer. Media Feed that is incorrectly set can be another primary cause of banding.

 

[patronenbob]

The place to start is with the Nozzle Test print, that is accessed from the Roland's control panel. That print will demonstrate the nozzle performance for all of the colors, with each line of ink representing one nozzle. You are looking for a pattern that is consistent, with no gaps in the pattern (nozzle outs) or deflected nozzles. If you see either of these defects, the place to start is to perform cleanings, also performed from the printer's control panel. In the event that the nozzle test is clean, the next place to look is at the Media Feed Compensation, accessed from the Function key on the printer. Media Feed that is incorrectly set can be another primary cause of banding.

all perfect, as i said the machine is only 6 months old so we have warranty on it. The engeneer visited us 3 times to find a solution, ech time calibrated, nozzle check (also the big one in the expert menu), checked all temperatures, we also tried another Software, we changed the Networkcable, every possibility... but the machine works perfect in HQ and perfect in Normalmode with the other Colors. In normal mode it seem the Roland Magenta ink does not work with the Vinyl, so we deactivated bi directional print, no success. We slowed down the printspeed, no success. Roland also visited us one time and says the machine has no Problem, they say it is the material we print on. So we asked some friends with similar machines to print our Labels and there it works. But i dont think it is normal that such a machine cant print Magenta in normal mode.

 

[P Wagner]

What media (brand / product number) are you printing onto? Secondly, what Media Profile are you using when this problem occurs?

 

[patronenbob]

What media (brand / product number) are you printing onto? Secondly, what Media Profile are you using when this problem occurs?

we use monomer Orafol 3164. but we also tried 2 other Brands and a Polymer Vinyl. Normally we use the generic1 Profile from versaworks. For the Orafol 3164 we downloaded the suppliers Profile. The OEM Vinyl wgwv from Roland showded Good results, but still ist cold Not Print Constant Color for Magenta and all Mixed Colors including Magenta. Also the OEM Vinyl is 300% more expensive. We invest around 10.000usd for Vinyl per Year, so i cant Pay 300%more. As Cyan, yellow and Black work Good in Standard Mode our Target is that we achieve the Same with Magenta.

 

[Jester1167]

The light and dark areas aren't consistent in the direction of the print head. The the media is moving while it is printing or the ink isn't curing fast enough. My guess is your heater settings need to be raised or lowered. Try running all your heaters at 30 to 35 and make the print head go the full width.

 

[patronenbob]

The light and dark areas aren't consistent in the direction of the print head. The the media is moving while it is printing or the ink isn't curing fast enough. My guess is your heater settings need to be raised or lowered. Try running all your heaters at 30 to 35 and make the print head go the full width.

printheat is 35 and dryer 45, we also tried Maximum and no Heat. We also tried Full Width Print only a Little better. We invested hours to Test all settings.

 

[Bly]

Sounds like it's time to linearise your printer.

I don't know how to do that in Versaworks.

Actually looking at those test prints it looks like you're printing too fast.
These printers can't lay down ink evenly at high speeds on vinyl.

 

[Jester1167]

I think I remember our printer doing some like that for the first foot or so of the print in high speed mode. Does it continue after a foot or so? Does it do it if you pull out a foot of material before you start printing?

The banding I see really looks like a media feed or buckling problem and not a head problem. Deflected nozzles will be consistent across the whole width of the print and I am seeing dark and light stripes that start and stop.

Do you have any bad pinch rollers?
Is the media buckling?

 

[what the]

Response to print

Hi, i am Daniel from Germany. In January 2013 we bought a Roland SP-540i Printer. We only use it to create Labels for our own products (online reseller). Since march it shows the problem that we have too much magenta on the Vinyl. The problem is massive on normal print quality, on HQ it is nearly not vissible. So we can say that the other Colors behave normal, in HQ mode it is really good and on normal print mode is also still good, only magenta shows that massive problem. Roland says it is the Vinyl but we also checked other bands and other profiles, same problem. We already had 3 visits from the supplier without success. Printheads and calibration all perfect. We only use OEM Roland Ink. The machine has ist own room with right temperature etc. The reason why i write in this Forum: maybe someone had a similar problem in the past? Or any ideas? My supplier says "he just print in HQ mode than it is ok", but for me this is no solution. Thanks for your help, pls excuse my english.

I kept getting really weird problems with my printer and no one could figure it out!!
I cleaned the clear strip the whole length of the printer with my cleaning swab and rubbing alcohol. (not cleaning solution)

I had a Roland tech come out and he put into maintenance mode and re-adjusted the clear strip modes. this fixed the problem and I was able to sleep again. They tech said these get dirt on here and ruins ink drop placement as it's the "memory" and if it's scratched, it needs to be replaced.
I would highly recommend this!!!!

 

[jeffpoit]

No feed problem

If you are getting banding just on magenta, that has to be cause from cartridge to delivery. Change cartridges first. Run your test patterns repeatedly for 10 times. If that fails to fix the problem, you could have damaged the print head by not running cleaning mode when inactive.

 

[FrankW]

There are issues with the heads which can't be seen with the regular nozzle test, but with the service mode nozzle test. This kind of symptoms could appear for example with a bad head cable. The service mode nozzle test could show it.

Independently from that, printing fast print modes on cheap, monomeric calendered vinyls in good quality is difficult. At first I would print the ink limit swatch out of the media manager to check if there is any ink coverage without that issues. If yes, it could be that the profile you use don't work with the media.

I would check the first idea, because the second problem should effect more colours than just magenta.