Weird ink level dropout banding on SP-540V

[adversignco]

I have something weird going on with mostly Cyan and Black but sometimes it happens with the Magenta as well. When I print in High Speed. These colors seem to drop out but not completely they just have less amount of ink saturation for a few passes. and its not always the same amount. I have attached pictures... This would go away when I would print on Standard print quality but the past few weeks it has been happening on even Standard and High Quality and not just on Cyan and Black but Now on Magenta as well... I have attached a few images of what I am referring to but it may be a little difficult to see. i have also changed the capping station and the encoder strip to see if this would resolve the situation without any avail. The heads nozzles are not clogged either. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Also this ONLY happens when printing on banner material. it doesnt seem to happen on Adhesive Vinyl. TIA for any help you can give me!

 

[MR. Graphics]

Could be bad material. Has this happened on any other banner rolls you have printed on?. Or all the prints from the same roll of material? I found getting closer to the end of a roll it seems to give me some ink absorption problems.

 

[adversignco]

Could be bad material. Has this happened on any other banner rolls you have printed on?. Or all the prints from the same roll of material? I found getting closer to the end of a roll it seems to give me some ink absorption problems.

yeah this has happened with different rolls and it doesnt really matter where on the roll i print it still happens... its really irritating because sometimes it happens more than other times...

 

[J Hill Designs]

Im guessing the line goes in the feed direction (perpendicular to head travel) - looks like media tunneling causing ink density difference because the media is closer to the heads when it tunnels - try lowering heat, and letting out slack on the roll

 

[adversignco]

Im guessing the line goes in the feed direction (perpendicular to head travel) - looks like media tunneling causing ink density difference because the media is closer to the heads when it tunnels - try lowering heat, and letting out slack on the roll

the lines are parallel to the head... only 1 direction always... in the direction the head is printing... i always let slack out on the roll... i have tried to lower the heat and still the same issue...

 

[J Hill Designs]

how old are the dampers? does the head park and refresh after this happens?

 

[adversignco]

how old are the dampers? does the head park and refresh after this happens?

dampers were changed 5 weeks ago... and the head does not park and refresh after this happens... it just continues to finish and prints correctly again after a few passes.... doing a cleaning doesnt help this either.... dampers are not starving either....

 

[J Hill Designs]

wierd. not sure if there is a feed encoder on your machine, but I would look into that.

 

[adversignco]

wierd. not sure if there is a feed encoder on your machine, but I would look into that.

encoder strip was swapped out about 2 months ago because of this issue as i was advised this may have been the issue, yet it didnt solve the problem, next the capping station and dampers were replaced... prior to that the heads were replaced about 6 months ago...

 

[gregwallace]

Our 3360 does this on some colors occassionaly. Its a stepping problem. Not sure what to do in your case since youve already reduced the heat and put slack in the material. Do you have all of those feet on the machine? When my printer (not a sp540v) gives me problems like this I usually find it optimal to reduce the stepping just a little(.002). In my case overstepping is definately the problem. Not sure if this helps.

 

[P Wagner]

This is a long-standing issue, called White Banding. It is not related to feed calibration, as this issue is essentially random and not consistent throughout the print. Search White Banding and you will find years worth of posts that discuss it, without any definitive resolutions that work in all cases. Printing at higher pass counts will mitigate the visibility of the print defect.

 

[gregwallace]

This is a long-standing issue, called White Banding. It is not related to feed calibration, as this issue is essentially random and not consistent throughout the print. Search White Banding and you will find years worth of posts that discuss it, without any definitive resolutions that work in all cases. Printing at higher pass counts will mitigate the visibility of the print defect.

The printer I operate is a vutek 3360 and inconsistent material movent is an issue ive worked hard to correct. I really dont have problems with it anymore. It is very inconsistent and only shows up on certain colors. Im 100% sure that in my case its overstepping. Of course heat, tension, and vacuum can cause material feed issues but sometimes it really doesnt matter what you do (besides running a higher interlace mode). If the feed calibration is an easy adjustment for you then I suggest you try it. It might not help you in your case but its something simple to try.

 

[P Wagner]

The printer I operate is a vutek 3360 and inconsistent material movent is an issue ive worked hard to correct. I really dont have problems with it anymore. It is very inconsistent and only shows up on certain colors. Im 100% sure that in my case its overstepping. Of course heat, tension, and vacuum can cause material feed issues but sometimes it really doesnt matter what you do (besides running a higher interlace mode). If the feed calibration is an easy adjustment for you then I suggest you try it. It might not help you in your case but its something simple to try.

Sorry for my not being clear in my prior post in this thread; I was referring to issues with printers that use DX4 printheads, my comment was not relevant to your Vutek machine. Cheers!

 

[gregwallace]

Sorry for my not being clear in my prior post in this thread; I was referring to issues with printers that use DX4 printheads, my comment was not relevant to your Vutek machine. Cheers!

I was not trying to argue against you. I just didnt like how you shunned my resolution without giving one of your own. I am well aware that you weren't referring to my printer but infact to the one in question.

 

[CS-SignSupply]

material and heat issue IMO. Ran into this (similar) on an SP-300v recently. Customer had 5 rolls of banner material (remnants), all gloss and looked to be 13 ounce. All 5 printed different using same settings and only one printed without issue. I noticed the same type of pattern as yours on 2 pieces and the other 2 printed very odd that made me think electrical (head ribbon cable, long ribbon cable, head, etc)

Bad thing, user had no clue which roll came from where.

 

[adversignco]

material and heat issue IMO. Ran into this (similar) on an SP-300v recently. Customer had 5 rolls of banner material (remnants), all gloss and looked to be 13 ounce. All 5 printed different using same settings and only one printed without issue. I noticed the same type of pattern as yours on 2 pieces and the other 2 printed very odd that made me think electrical (head ribbon cable, long ribbon cable, head, etc)

Bad thing, user had no clue which roll came from where.

Well i have changed the heads and head ribbon cable but NOT the long ribbon cable... i may try this to see what happens... but all my rolls are from the same manufacturer... and i have the same issues on all the rolls... regardless of tension and heat but more of what colors i print...

 

[adversignco]

Our 3360 does this on some colors occassionaly. Its a stepping problem. Not sure what to do in your case since youve already reduced the heat and put slack in the material. Do you have all of those feet on the machine? When my printer (not a sp540v) gives me problems like this I usually find it optimal to reduce the stepping just a little(.002). In my case overstepping is definately the problem. Not sure if this helps.

i tried this and it didnt not help really... but thanks!

 

[P Wagner]

I was not trying to argue against you. I just didnt like how you shunned my resolution without giving one of your own. I am well aware that you weren't referring to my printer but infact to the one in question.

I too am not interested in an argument with you, or anyone else for that matter.

My experience in supporting large-format print service providers (over 22 years at this point) tells me that the only reliable way around White Banding to print using higher pass counts to better hide the effect when printing solids on certain medias. That is the best 'solution' that I've got for this issue.