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Soljet speed

Bly

Bly

New Member
Hi all.
I've had a SJ-745EX for several years now, running it with Onyx Postershop.

I find to get prints that are free of banding on vinyl I have to run it at 1440x720 which is slow. 720 bands noticeably especially on solid fill areas.
Banners print fine at 720 though.

So is this just the nature of the beast or are there tricks I'm missing?
I'm doing print for pay and have to pass on large jobs because it would take a ridiculous amount of time to deliver.

Since the printer is nearly paid off I might be better off getting something faster. Any thoughts on the ColorPainter V64S?

Thanks in advance.

PS I was a regular over at Printingdigital.net but they seem to have vanished. You people seem nice though so I'll stick around here.
 
jasonx

jasonx

New Member
Banding is caused mainly due to incorrect feed calibration. Missing firing nozzles can also contribute to this also.

You should be able to print in 720x720 on vinyl with no banding.

I don't know anything personally about the pre Soljet III's so maybe I am missing something.
 
Bly

Bly

New Member
jasonx said:
Banding is caused mainly due to incorrect feed calibration. Missing firing nozzles can also contribute to this also.

You should be able to print in 720x720 on vinyl with no banding.

I don't know anything personally about the pre Soljet III's so maybe I am missing something.
Click to expand...

Yes I know.. "should" being the operative word.

As an example. A couple of pics 720 on photo paper.
 

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Baz

Baz

New Member
Is your RIP software controling the feed speed? If so turn it off .. let the printer itself control that.
 
J

Jack Knight1979

New Member
that looks like bad dampers to me.

if you have old/bad dampers your test prints will be fine because there is ink in the heads, but as you print your heads are being starved due to poor through-put from the dampers.

To find out what dampers are in question create 12"x12" tiles of each color CMYK in illustrator. Start printing these until you see which heads are missing color.

If you start to get banding stop the print job (pause, setup) and then to a test print right after. If you have auto clean on make sure to turn it off before you do this. You don't want the heads to do through a cycle before you can isolate the bad head.

Once you've found the head in question which looks like a LC or C from the picture change out the dampers and try again.

If you're using aftermarket ink you're in a whole new world of isolating the problem. I use triangle inks my faults are usually pressure related to the bulk tanks.

I also keep a service log keeping track of changed dampers and other parts. It's good practice to swap out your dampers every six months or sooner depending on how much printing you're doing.

I hope this helped. I don't think it's a problem from your rip. Although another factor could be that you are not putting enough ink down on the paper and causing the head to starve out. that has happened to me when I first started building profiles.

So if the dampers look good in your color bar test than you may want to pump up the ink flow by 10-20%.

PM me if you have any more questions.
 
Bly

Bly

New Member
Alright I printed a series of single ink swatches and the magenta looks in pretty bad shape. Maybe time for a new head since it's almost 5 years old.
Pretty sure the dampers got swapped last service.
Just wondering - if it's out of warranty is there some info on doing your own service on these beasts and best place to buy parts.

TIA guys you're a great help.
 
Pacific Coast Sign

Pacific Coast Sign

New Member
Check HEAD Alignments and Shot count...maybe your heads are worn out (6 billion shots is an "average" life of a head...more or less). Call your Roland Service Tech, he will get it printing great, and save you time, wasted media, frustration, and money as well.
 
Bly

Bly

New Member
Heh looks like I have another login here from way back.

Anyways I feel a bit foolish.
The tech came and did a proper clean of the heads etc and now it prints fine.

I'd only ever did a clean exactly as the video on the install Roland CD showed. He actually showed me how to clean the heads properly. He swabbed underneath them with the foam swabs which I had never done before.

So I need to clean more frequently it seems.
I had been only cleaning when ink drops started appearing on the media.
 
jasonx

jasonx

New Member
You sure he touched the underside of the heads or the sides of the heads? I was told to never touch the underside of the heads but to wipe all the build up on the sides of the heads.
 
Bly

Bly

New Member
Yeah that's what I thought too.
I asked him about it and he said it's ok as long as the swab is clean.
 
Pacific Coast Sign

Pacific Coast Sign

New Member
You may touch the underside of the heads..this is part of the manual cleaning and Roland even publishes a pamphlet how to clean heads that is given with the new printers. Swabs and cleaning solvent is you best friend when it comes to cleaning your heads. Don't forget to clean around the caps, scraper, and wipers too...this is important to get a good print.
 
J

Jack Knight1979

New Member
Seriously? I was told never to clean the undersides. You can in a pinch, but is a bad idea. I have ran flushing fluid through the heads from time to time, but never wiped the nozzles.

I always clean the sides of the head. Been doing this for years.
 
oakcitysigns

oakcitysigns

New Member
You aren't supposed to "wipe" or "scrub" the underside of the heads (nozzle area). Lightly dabbing a swab saturated with cleaning fluid is ok, if absolutely necessary.
 
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