SJ-540 runs out of ink on LONG prints

[CropMarks]

I tried every search I could think of, but couldn't find anything.... sorry if this has been addressed already.

I have a sj-540 and on really long prints (15-20ft +) it sometimes runs out of ink in the head and starts to starve for ink on heavily used colors. It's almost like the machine doesn't stop on it's own to take a breath (pump more ink into the heads). I have in the middle of a print, paused it... it goes back and starts pumping in more ink.... then I un-pause it and it keeps going.

print settings - Roland Colorrip 2.2 - SPVCB SOL Heavy Duty Banner - mode2 Standard v2 (ink limits turned down to 150)

just wondering if there is a setting someplace that I can turn on or tweak? Thanks for any and all help!
Mike.

 

[Fatboy]

What headspeed are you running and what size dampers are you using?

 

[Jack Knight1979]

Service mode, periodic cleaning,

change degree to light.
turn the interval to around 25 to start.

go into user menu
turn on periodic cleaning.

problem solved.

change the internal higher or lower to suit your needs.

 

[CropMarks]

Thanks everybody! I'll definitely get into the service mode and tweak things before I print out the two big banners that I have left to do. Thanks a ton!

I came from the HP aqueous world and I've only been using this Roland for the past two years, so I'm by no means an expert. lots of trial and error and searching forums. - so... the dampers I'm using are the standard size roland dampers... not the giant tall ones. Head speed is set at 1000???? Good? bad? - I'm not sure. thanks again... Mike.

 

[BlueDuck]

Hi Cropmarks,
I have had a similar problem - for ink intensive prints the ink flow was not keeping up.
I suspect, like you, that it is the dampers are partially blocked or what ever?
Any how the fix was to slow down the printing, Head speed at 1000 would be too fast for my machine, an original SP300. I also put in a small delay (0.5 sec) in "time between print head passes" (ColorRip/Print/Setup/properties.) Of course it takes longer to get my print job done but hey to be honest, my printer is not the slowest thing around here.

 

[Salmoneye]

I was told once that the 'S' 'P' stood for 'Slow' Poke' 300.

 

[Jack Knight1979]

Get the large screen dampers not the large bladder dampers, but the standard size with the large screen.

On high intensity ink coverage it is better to turn down the head speed a touch. This gives the ink train time to supply the heads. At least this has helped me in the past. I'll go from 1,000 mm/sec to 925 and it helps.

(Also on fine art prints, dropping down to the 800's will eliminate banding.)
The tiniest bit of starvation breaks the siphoning affect to those nozzles. That's why I use the light cleaning w/ periodic to keep the heads primed. It also keeps full cleanings down and saves on ink waste. As long as you don't have the interval on periodic too low and it does it every three passes.

Additionally, printing with starvation causes the heads to overheat. Overheating the heads drastically shortens the life of the head.

 

[CropMarks]

Thank you all so much for the info! Since I love learning things.... "in layman's terms" what is head speed? What does it "do"? - Miked.

 

[CropMarks]

@ Jack Night1979.... I'm trying to understand how the "INTERVAL" works. The default is 1.0..... but even with a setting of 25 it doesn't stop and clean fast enough. My red starts turning pink.... I "pause" it and it then cleans and refills. looking at the service manual it says "Cleaning Interval = Frequency x the value of [INTERVAL]".... so if it is set at 50 would it turn on faster than 25?

 

[Jack Knight1979]

As far as I know the interval depends on the temp reading off the thermistor on head 1.

In the winter, I run mine on about 16 which will usually pause once during a 4x8 in four pass mode.

In the summer to get the same results I need to turn the interval down to about a 12.

When I run slower than four pass I usually don't have periodic cleaning turned on unless I'm doing a long run of printing. I'll turn it to around 30 for a longer time span between cleanings.

 

[Jack Knight1979]

1000 is the fastest the carriage will travel when printing.

When you slow the speed down you PRINT SLLOWWEERR, but you have more precise dot placement. When I run giclee or t-shirts, or other small prints, I turn my head speed @ 600-750.

 

[CropMarks]

Alright... that makes sense.... Thanks!

 

[Jack Knight1979]

you're welcome.