Roland VS-540 Black Bad nozzle test

[divers2deep]

as of a couple of days ago, I started having this issue. The black is going from printing nicely to approx 50% injection after about 20" of printing. Powerful cleaning get the print test back to 98% on black, all other color stay at 100% with beautiful print test.

Print head - all dampers - cap station - replaced 01/2016 by tech.

In the am at start up this is the result -



After 3 cleanings -

1st - reg
2nd powerful
3rd reg



Continue with printing - After approx 20" of printing, notice the instant nozzle blockage creating color shift and banding.



Nozzle check post printing



I soaked the head in the capping station for approx 5 hours.

after regular cleaning -



regular cleaning and manual cleaning



Medium cleaning




I have the following parts on the way, damper and cap station.

Any help and advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[phototec]

General question for you and anyone else who may know:

When doing a head soak, do you leave the ink carts in place or pull them out a bit?

Thanks

 

[Joe House]

@ Divers - Roland recommends replacing captops every 6 months. My experience leads me to believe that is a conservative time frame and most printers can go for a year between changing captops, wipers, etc. - your mileage may vary. I think you're on the right track though. Just be very careful when replacing the damper. It's easy to crack the nipple on top of the printhead when removing and replacing those. Are you using Roland inks?

@ phototec - leave them in. No reason that I can think of to pull them out a bit. This would possibly introduce air into the ink lines.

Joe

 

[bilge]

as of a couple of days ago, I started having this issue. The black is going from printing nicely to approx 50% injection after about 20" of printing. Powerful cleaning get the print test back to 98% on black, all other color stay at 100% with beautiful print test.

Print head - all dampers - cap station - replaced 01/2016 by tech.

In the am at start up this is the result -

View attachment 118396

After 3 cleanings -

1st - reg
2nd powerful
3rd reg

View attachment 118397

Continue with printing - After approx 20" of printing, notice the instant nozzle blockage creating color shift and banding.

View attachment 118398

Nozzle check post printing

View attachment 118399

I soaked the head in the capping station for approx 5 hours.

after regular cleaning -

View attachment 118400

regular cleaning and manual cleaning

View attachment 118401

Medium cleaning

View attachment 118402


I have the following parts on the way, damper and cap station.

Any help and advice would be greatly appreciated.

Perform INK REFRESH once. If it doesn't help, you definetely need to replace the printhead. DX7 is the worst printhead in Epson family.

 

[divers2deep]

UPDATE -

Change the Cap Top -

After powerful clean - 100% back.



Printed a 24 " banner, noticeable loss of black throughout print.



Changed the damper - black ink damper only. -

did a powerful clean and choke clean after -



Medium Cleaning -



How can I go from 100% to 50% on the black like this ?

 

[divers2deep]

Anyone have anything, any guidance on this ?

 

[woolly]

Been having similar till I found the cap was not sealing although all looked like it should. And the third new cap trying
Carefully doing flush adjust etc. But at the moment if I connect the small side spring the seal fails. I keep looking at the mechanism to see what's worn or out of alignment.

 

[divers2deep]

What doesnt make sense about this is that the cap seal the entire head, all colors. Why would it be only doing this to the black ink, if the cap wasnt sealing.

 

[woolly]

What I liked about the older head system it was individual

This way the suction unfortunately pulls on the least resistance I think you still have air in the pipe and a weak seal
In the past I have always ended up with a headache after a chock clean so said I would never do another one and yes mostly been the black playing up

 

[PenSigns]

Hi Divers, my first thought....because you fix it and the problem returns after a print job... may be the ink? clotting? Did you try changing the cartridge?

 

[bilge]

What I liked about the older head system it was individual

You're right. Now only one channel is gone, you can't use other healthy channels. If possible, you could looking for clogged head for test, but not this channel. Replace and test. If black test is normal then 100% printhead cause. If black is same as previous then dig deep. According to your explanation I'm 99% sure you need a new printhead. I replaced 8 of them so far.

 

[bilge]

Quick but risky test is swapping the lines. I don't know 6 color configuration, but black is on the 2nd or 3rd pair of ink lines of 4. Close the choke manually, then plug 3rd pair in 2nd and 2nd into 3rd. Test after power cleaning, your test pattern will be changed, but you can see the status of 4th (black) line of test pattern. The risk is ink leakage (it might damage printhead electronics) and getting air into the ink lines. If you do it carefully, it works.

 

[divers2deep]

Well. no luck as of yet. still 100% on all except for black drop outs. I have done the cap adjustment, gone all the way through the lines looking for air, and reseated the new damper. . Im waiting on a cleaning cartridge, going to try printing solid blocks of 100 K , any thoughts ? has anyone done this ?

 

[Roland Product Support]

Well. no luck as of yet. still 100% on all except for black drop outs. I have done the cap adjustment, gone all the way through the lines looking for air, and reseated the new damper. . Im waiting on a cleaning cartridge, going to try printing solid blocks of 100 K , any thoughts ? has anyone done this ?

___________________

Hey divers2deep,

This issue seems to be ongoing for quite some time and there's no need for you to continue struggling with this issue. It's recommended that you contact Roland support and get help with this ASAP. We'll need you to complete our support submission form so we can create a support ticket for you. Go here to submit your info: Product Support Form | Roland

We look forward to helping you and take care,

Roland Technical Support
Roland DGA Corp.
rn

 

[divers2deep]

Ive contacted support and roland local rep/tech.

They narrowed it down to air in the lines -

Ive replaced the IC holder. I have replaced the joint above the damper. I have gone through 3 dampers on the magenta/black. I have withdrawn ink through the line above the damper, no air coming through the line. I have flushed the line with cleaning cartridge. I have gone through 3 different black cartridges.

After multiple chokes and cleaning between every trial and error, black comes back to 100% but then returns to 50% while printing. causing a very bad quality print.


They are now stating a possible pin hole in the line or kink ( no kinks upon inspection)- NO VISIBLE AIR IN THE LINE THROUGHOUT EVERY PROCESS ???
They are stating change all of the dampers - My nozzle checks are 100% and beautiful lines on every color but black, why should i spend another $400 on dampers.

And here comes the kicker - Now it could be the 12 months old head......

What are your thoughts, sell as is ? Fix the head for the 3rd time, and pray that is the issue.....

It is very hard to grasp that everyone that is supposed to be professionals with this equipment just hopes that the next part will fix the issue. There seems to be little confidence in fixing specific problems on these machines.

 

[divers2deep]

You're right. Now only one channel is gone, you can't use other healthy channels. If possible, you could looking for clogged head for test, but not this channel. Replace and test. If black test is normal then 100% printhead cause. If black is same as previous then dig deep. According to your explanation I'm 99% sure you need a new printhead. I replaced 8 of them so far.

Do you self install printheads, or call out a tech ? If self install, where are you purchasing the heads from.

 

[divers2deep]

something I simply cannot comprehend is if I had clogged nozzles on the black, why do I constantly get the fluctuations in firings. Is it possible that during cleanings the suction is strong enough to pull ink passed the nozzles, but while printing the suctions needed is no longer there ?

 

[jfiscus]

I believe the problem is a bad pump or ink line from the caps. If the pump isn't priming the head correctly, you will have drop-out like pictured. it seems to fit that after a strong cleaning (extra pressure on heads) that the ink flows correctly, but otherwise it doesn't. Remember, ink isn't under pressure in these machines.

The only other problem that makes sense is a leak in the air lines between the ink carts and the heads. But you'd see air in the lines. All of these diagnosis are based upon good dampers.

 

[divers2deep]

.

 

[divers2deep]

I believe the problem is a bad pump or ink line from the caps. If the pump isn't priming the head correctly, you will have drop-out like pictured. it seems to fit that after a strong cleaning (extra pressure on heads) that the ink flows correctly, but otherwise it doesn't. Remember, ink isn't under pressure in these machines.

The only other problem that makes sense is a leak in the air lines between the ink carts and the heads. But you'd see air in the lines. All of these diagnosis are based upon good dampers.

While printing, is the pump actually drawing ink from the head. It never appears to really dock and seal to the cap during this process ? Does the pump have an active part in keeping the system primed ?