SOLJET PRO III Grainy prints

[Catclaws]

OK, My Roland rep sucks. So i need help. ON dark colors (black navy, brown and tan) The print is not a solid clean coating. its grainy. On the light colors its solid. I have gone in and calibrated the bi-lateral and all that. Still grainy...

What can I do to fix this...

 

[ChicagoGraphics]

Thats how Rolands print, there is no fix........

 

[VisualMediaSolutions]

It depends on what media you are using. It can also depend on the print speed. There are lots of thing to make it that way anything from ink drop out to having gone into the service mode and not gone all the way out. Have you checked to make sure you don't have a bad cap or ink drop? I have a Pro III and I can always get a good solid dark color, so it is possible.

 

[DARLAK]

it has nothing to do with anything mentioned...

convert the artwork to CMYK, turn off the color profiling

print

see the difference...

also on anything black, make sure the cmyk values include percentages of the other colors or it will look crappy......

 

[flyinhawaiian968]

Nope, that's not it either Darlak! I design AND PRINT in CMYK all the time with my XC540, they are still grainy! Color profiling has been disabled since I got the machine, no difference.

Its always a bit more grainy whenever I have K in the image, but that's because its a prominent ink. I've cleaned the heads generously with no change, changed profiles here and there with no change, even lift the heads to give a more "dispersed" pattern, just a slight difference with a bit softer look to the print.

Haven't tried slowing the print down though, I'll try that on a job today, see if that changes the "grain effect".

Chris

 

[Graphix Plus Ink]

LOwer head hieght. But I agree, Rolands print that way.

 

[Graphix Plus Ink]

720x720 will help but I prefer a grain over a banned.

Resolution of Document also.

 

[cdiesel]

What are you guys calling "grainy"? What profiles/speed/media are you printing on?

 

[flyinhawaiian968]

I print on standard, with 3651, 900 for speed. Didn't get a chance to print slower today, was a busy day of doing graphics and couldn't spend time playing with settings.

Maybe tomorrow...

Chris

 

[ScottyDoo]

My XC540 prints smooth as can be (imho). Even on 3651...will have to look again with an even more critical eye and see if I can notice any grain.

 

[cdiesel]

I feel the same way about my XC..

 

[Rooster]

If you can edit your profiles remove some of the GCR (grey component replacement). This will use more cmy than black to make up neutrals and darker colors.

If you don't create (or at least linearize) your own profiles this will cause your neutrals to shift more easily so be forewarned.

A lot of canned profiles use a considerable amount of GCR to create neutral colors. This makes them more stable for people who don't have the ability to re-linearize them, but you sacrifice image quality by using more of the easily visible black dots.

 

[DaveM]

If you can edit your profiles remove some of the GCR (grey component replacement). This will use more cmy than black to make up neutrals and darker colors.

If you don't create (or at least linearize) your own profiles this will cause your neutrals to shift more easily so be forewarned.

A lot of canned profiles use a considerable amount of GCR to create neutral colors. This makes them more stable for people who don't have the ability to re-linearize them, but you sacrifice image quality by using more of the easily visible black dots.

Thanks, i'm going to try this.

 

[petepaz]

we have roland machines and when this happens i have done powerfull cleanings where you open up the machine and swab everything (check the manual also make sure your inks aren't low i was have that with black once and it was real low i changed the cart. and it was fine
but in general i have noticed the roland to be a little grainy at times

 

[Rooster]

Thanks, i'm going to try this.

There's only so far you can push it (it needs to use that black eventually). Let us know how it worked out.