Need Help What's Going on Here? Weird Printing Marks

[PrinterPower]

Good morning!

As of yesterday, I've been getting these weird, streak like marks on the things I've been printing.
I'll attach pictures but what I've been using is our Roland Soljet Pro III XC-540, a banner material that I don't have a number for (I assume it's a cheaper, more generic brand), and 3M IJ35C-10.

Now the IJ35C-10 (the truck image) has had problems in the past that I assume to be static as I've cleaned the machine multiple times, but for the banner material, this is new.

I've done a manual clean on the printer and did find some strings from the banner material on the heads and on the module that gives the ink (Sorry, I forget the name of this part) and removed it. I also did some normal cleans on ABC through the printer.

I'm wondering if this is a static problem or something else?

 

[signman315]

looks like dust/fibers built up around/near the heads and then gathers ink and "brushes" it on like shown in your picture. But if you cleaned and still did it then maybe you have some severely deflected jets? Static could cause it but I've never seen static cause such dramatic problems. Looks like you might also have a secondary problem with weak jetting...the edges of the lines look like the printer is struggling to jet the ink regardless of the overspray and random other marks. Also check the head height setting, if it's set to high it could exacerbate the aforementioned issues. Although my first hunch is debris/fibers gathered around the heads, if it still does it after completely cleaning around the heads manually then I'm at a loss....

 

[PrinterPower]

looks like dust/fibers built up around/near the heads and then gathers ink and "brushes" it on like shown in your picture. But if you cleaned and still did it then maybe you have some severely deflected jets? Static could cause it but I've never seen static cause such dramatic problems. Looks like you might also have a secondary problem with weak jetting...the edges of the lines look like the printer is struggling to jet the ink regardless of the overspray and random other marks. Also check the head height setting, if it's set to high it could exacerbate the aforementioned issues. Although my first hunch is debris/fibers gathered around the heads, if it still does it after completely cleaning around the heads manually then I'm at a loss....

I usually clean around the heads so I'm hoping debris isn't an issue. I checked the printer head height and it is set to low. I'll attach and image of a test print, maybe that will show the problem's origin?

 

[signman315]

I usually clean around the heads so I'm hoping debris isn't an issue. I checked the printer head height and it is set to low. I'll attach and image of a test print, maybe that will show the problem's origin?
View attachment 135114

Your test print does show quite a lot of deflected jets but I've used/had printers with similar amount of deflection and didn't get the problems that your original post showed. So if it's not fiber/scrim from banners built up around or near the heads and it's not deflected jets then I'm at a loss...wish I could help you out a little more but that's all I've got for now. If you do figure it out please post the solution here so I and others know, thanks and good luck!

 

[custom sign center]

Static?

 

[Andy D]

Check the ends of your banner material... is it fuzzy with frayed threads?
If so, take a lighter or butane torch and burn them off the roll.

 

[Andy D]

I don't know if this is what's happening, but the frayed threads can "tickle" the nozzles and cause them to miss-fire or drip.

 

[signman315]

I don't know if this is what's happening, but the frayed threads can "tickle" the nozzles and cause them to miss-fire or drip.

Haha who doesn't like their nozzle tickled? Good for people, bad for printheads. OK terrible joke I know, couldn't help myself!

 

[ams]

Dust on the encoder strip maybe?