SP-300 Print Problem

[Precision Eng]

Having problem with printing black. All other colors work perfect. When printing anything black, (lines, text, etc.) the edges are very rough looking. By rough I mean a line is not perfect, it has what appears tobe little hairs comming off it. Same way with black text, all the edges of the fonts are the same. Went thru two cleaning processes (1 medium) and checked and cleaned everything. I know the unit prints 100% as it was demonstrated by the guy I bought it from just a couple of days ago. Both myself and the guy I got it from are kinda stumped as to whats going on.

Here is a link to a pic that was printed showing how the unit prints black.

http://www.precngraving.com/sp300_sample1.jpg

Mike

 

[Ken]

I'm thinking it is your source file not propely vectorized or import/export problem. I'm noticing on the graphic you posted that at the top left ( on the red stripe) there is a little black triangle that does not seem to show this problem.
Yet you say text also has the same problem.
What are you creating these files in? What is the source file? Did you look at the source file in wireframe mode?
Ken
Ken

 

[Precision Eng]

Ken,

I should have explained that the picture in the link is a mix of test prints, thats why you are seeing overlays. The reds and blues were another graphic I made and tested which did print fine. The bird is the subject in question, with the fringing in the black. The bird is a corel object taken from their disk. It was loaded into corel and exported as .eps.

It was then loaded into colorchoice and sent to the sp-300. I designed some decals last night which are only Red, White, and Blue and they printed out perfect. It's just when you add black to it is when the problem arises. The link below is a test print directly from the machine which also shows how terrible the black is, so this pretty much would eliminiate any file issues as the machine can't even test print correctly.

http://www.precngraving.com/sp300_sample2.jpg

Mike

 

[P Wagner]

I believe that the problem you are seeing is related to the settings in the RIP software. Depending on what media you are printing onto, you will need a profile built for that media.

As black is the most dense color, what you are seeing is the effect of too much black ink (no ink limits) over saturating and bleeding into the media.

 

[Doyle]

I am having a similar problem with my sp-300v. I cannot get crisp black print anymore (small text looks fuzzy). When I print a test print, all the colors look great, but on the black, the lines are spaced inconsistantly, though none are missing. After talking to my dealer, they said that the print head may be bad. I am not sure if this is really the problem or not.

 

[Baz]

Thats what my printer (SC-500) was doing when the heads went on it last august. The tech that came in to fix it said that it could have also been caused by improper voltage settings for the heads when i upgraded the firmware to accept the new Max inks.

 

[mark in tx]

Could be the head going bad, could be your profile needs to be adjusted.
Also could be some fuzz from banner material stuck to the side of the head.

 

[jgolo]

Silly question - Are the heaters on?

Maybe the ink is drying too slow.

John

 

[Precision Eng]

Heaters are on and working fine. I just purchased this machine last weekend and picked it up. It was a 600 mile road trip so possibly something may have vibrated loose, I don't know.. Anyway, it has been sitting in our shop going on 3 days now in a warm environment and its actually starting to print a bit better, not like I would like it, but better.

Both the guy I got it from and the Roland rep suggested I get a new black cartridge, they seem to be pretty sure it should correct the problem... we'll see here in a day or 2 when the new one arrives. Maybe I'm to fussy as I inspect things using my magnifying glass, but what I am seeing is also visible without the mag. glass.

Mike

 

[Ken]

Well, no , I don't think you're too fussy about this. I can print tiny letters with my v-camm. (great for small decals). What is the ink limit set at? Play with that a bit. What resolution? How many passes? Head Speed? Feed speed?
And are you not using Colorip?(2.1) You said Colorchoice...
Ken