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VP540 Banding in Magenta only
- Thread starter wochi
- Start date
Sign Ninja
New Member
Sounds like a jet that somehow seems to fix itself between the time of the problem, and your test print.
You try kicking the machine? The carriage specifically? Your magenta head specifically?
You try kicking the machine? The carriage specifically? Your magenta head specifically?
Pacific Coast Sign
New Member
Check your media...try another brand to see if the banding continues.
Check your profile.
Check calibration.
Check ALL head alignments.
Do you have a bulk system? Check the height of the bulk system, too low starves the heads, too high floods....
As you can see, there can be several issues to the banding...hope these help
Check your profile.
Check calibration.
Check ALL head alignments.
Do you have a bulk system? Check the height of the bulk system, too low starves the heads, too high floods....
As you can see, there can be several issues to the banding...hope these help
It makes the problem in different materials (banner, vinyl) of different brands so the problem is not the media or the profile as i try different profiles according to the material i´m using
Calibration is OK as it starts with no banding at all and keeps with no banding in all colors except magenta
I checked all head alignments and they are also OK
I have Triangle inks but in cartridges like the Roland inks. It´s a fill up system so i can´t see the problem there.
I´m getting desperate...i can´t print anything with magenta in it
Calibration is OK as it starts with no banding at all and keeps with no banding in all colors except magenta
I checked all head alignments and they are also OK
I have Triangle inks but in cartridges like the Roland inks. It´s a fill up system so i can´t see the problem there.
I´m getting desperate...i can´t print anything with magenta in it
just to eliminate possibilities i changed the 2 dampers and the caping station again and the problem is still there.
Can it be the pump?? How can i test if it is ok?
The last print i did it seams that it starts banding there are some white lines in each pass after some passes. the second pass covers the lines but not efficiently so i get brighter and darker tones of magenta.
Can it be the pump?? How can i test if it is ok?
The last print i did it seams that it starts banding there are some white lines in each pass after some passes. the second pass covers the lines but not efficiently so i get brighter and darker tones of magenta.
artbot
New Member
it can be a lot of things. looking at the photos... and i breezed through this thread so forgive it something is redundant. it does look like calibration issues. ink starvation and clogs look slightly different than this. calibration can come and go as material warms and stretches during feed. i'd move to something completely non stretching during diagnosis.
go buy a thin sheet of polystyrene and shoot with a decent coat of CAB lacquer. that will eliminate the heat/stretching/media aspect. you have to isolate this.
as soon as you ever get an issue occurring at a certain color. and head cleaning doesn't fix, you need to do a damper swap to track the issue. to see if it remains at the head or moves to the new swapped damper position. are you familiar with diagnosing by swapping ink lines? if not i can describe it in more detail. swapping damper/lines shows if the issue is supply side or vacuum side (above or below the heads).
if the issue stays at the head and it's also not vacuum related. you then can do a data cable swap to see if you have a slider board (mimaki term) or data cable issue.
data swaps go as follows. the data cables going to each head must always be traded in pairs maintaining their top and bottom position. the printer has no idea where the actual head rests. so you can "lie" to the printer moving data to a new head. currently i have my third/lmlc head printing water based rapid prototyping fluid assigned for the fourth special color head. so you could move your cyan data to the adjacent head (keep the left ribbon on top. right ribbon on bottom always in pairs from each single head.) to a new slider board position. and vice versa. the colors will print slightly out of horizontal position while doing this so don't be alarmed when the colors seem to be a half inch off. data issues remaining at the head don't always mean the head is bad. it can also mean the ribbon is bad or not plugged in all the way.
work with some of this stuff and or ask a few questions. i'd be happy to help get your printer printing again. i've got a lot of experience diagnosing printing issues.
go buy a thin sheet of polystyrene and shoot with a decent coat of CAB lacquer. that will eliminate the heat/stretching/media aspect. you have to isolate this.
as soon as you ever get an issue occurring at a certain color. and head cleaning doesn't fix, you need to do a damper swap to track the issue. to see if it remains at the head or moves to the new swapped damper position. are you familiar with diagnosing by swapping ink lines? if not i can describe it in more detail. swapping damper/lines shows if the issue is supply side or vacuum side (above or below the heads).
if the issue stays at the head and it's also not vacuum related. you then can do a data cable swap to see if you have a slider board (mimaki term) or data cable issue.
data swaps go as follows. the data cables going to each head must always be traded in pairs maintaining their top and bottom position. the printer has no idea where the actual head rests. so you can "lie" to the printer moving data to a new head. currently i have my third/lmlc head printing water based rapid prototyping fluid assigned for the fourth special color head. so you could move your cyan data to the adjacent head (keep the left ribbon on top. right ribbon on bottom always in pairs from each single head.) to a new slider board position. and vice versa. the colors will print slightly out of horizontal position while doing this so don't be alarmed when the colors seem to be a half inch off. data issues remaining at the head don't always mean the head is bad. it can also mean the ribbon is bad or not plugged in all the way.
work with some of this stuff and or ask a few questions. i'd be happy to help get your printer printing again. i've got a lot of experience diagnosing printing issues.
i did the damper swap already. I changed the two magenta dampers to the cyan head and the two cyan dampers to the magenta head and the problem stayed in the head as magenta (in the cyan head) printed perfect! so that´s not a supply side problem.
Vacuum side i changed all caps and tubes. No results.
Today a changed the head, and still doing the problem, so it´s not the head.
I changed the data cables (cyan to magenta and the other way around) and the problem seamed to pass to cyan but not sure.
Do you have somekind of more direct contact like messenger or skype? I don´t mind paying for the assistance if necessary
Vacuum side i changed all caps and tubes. No results.
Today a changed the head, and still doing the problem, so it´s not the head.
I changed the data cables (cyan to magenta and the other way around) and the problem seamed to pass to cyan but not sure.
Do you have somekind of more direct contact like messenger or skype? I don´t mind paying for the assistance if necessary
artbot
New Member
Some progress with help from our friend artbot!!
I can now tell that the problem is with data coming to the heads. I changed the cables cyan to magenta and the way around and the problem changed to the cyan!
Then i changed the position of all the cables and the problem stays at magenta so it´s something behind the cables that go to the heads.
Main board? cables that connect main board to carriage board??
thanks in advance
I can now tell that the problem is with data coming to the heads. I changed the cables cyan to magenta and the way around and the problem changed to the cyan!
Then i changed the position of all the cables and the problem stays at magenta so it´s something behind the cables that go to the heads.
Main board? cables that connect main board to carriage board??
thanks in advance
Sign Ninja
New Member
Your point of purchase should have a tech on board. Contacting the manufacturer can't send you backwards either.
artbot
New Member
i have had some good luck getting through some complex diagnostics with a tech at http://www.splashofcolor.com/ . they are also affiliated with a company called graphic solutions (in houston). possibly if you got them on the phone and requested a phone/diagnostic you'd have some luck. they will patiently map a diagnostic with you. you should put together a detailed description of the issue. and photos of the area and ribbons etc that are giving you the isolated event. there may be a language gap that all the extra information will help close.
and shame on macmedia for not getting back with you. that would be both you and me that can do business once but not get a return call no matter how much begging.
also, post those pics to this board. someone's got to have some knowledge of what is and isn't a safe final isolation protocol for those ribbons.
and shame on macmedia for not getting back with you. that would be both you and me that can do business once but not get a return call no matter how much begging.
also, post those pics to this board. someone's got to have some knowledge of what is and isn't a safe final isolation protocol for those ribbons.
DRamm76
New Member
Best post I've seen all day!