Why are my prints so grainy?

[CBilkes]

I'm running a Roland SG-540 on various types of media, using various profiles, but all of my prints come out grainy. I just printed some decals on Arlon to show as an example. Very grainy and and some banding as well. I checked my calibrations and everything seems fine. Any ideas why this is happening? Thanks for any help.

 

[iPrintStuff]

Probably best showing a nozzle test too. Always your first check

 

[CBilkes]

Sorry yeah here's a couple nozzle tests

 

[bob]

Jack up whatever dither algorithm you're using to the highest possible, likewise gradient handling, and check your heater settings.

That's the obvious stuff, from there it gets interesting and beyond a primitive back and forth on this sort of forum.

 

[CBilkes]

Jack up whatever dither algorithm you're using to the highest possible, likewise gradient handling, and check your heater settings.

That's the obvious stuff, from there it gets interesting and beyond a primitive back and forth on this sort of forum.

Thanks, I'll try your suggestions. For the heat settings, do you think my current heat is too low or too high?

 

[Solventinkjet]

I would check your head alignments and fine tune them. Looks like you are getting some slight banding which could be the feed calibration as well. The nozzle check looks pretty good but the cyan is deflecting a little which could be causing some issues. You also have a little cross contamination in your yellow which tells me you may need to do some cleaning of the head and maintenance parts or possible the wiper and/or cap top are starting to fail.

 

[Greg Kelm]

Head height set to high?

 

[CBilkes]

I would check your head alignments and fine tune them. Looks like you are getting some slight banding which could be the feed calibration as well. The nozzle check looks pretty good but the cyan is deflecting a little which could be causing some issues. You also have a little cross contamination in your yellow which tells me you may need to do some cleaning of the head and maintenance parts or possible the wiper and/or cap top are starting to fail.

Thanks for the info! I run a manual clean on it once a week. Wipers were replaced a few weeks ago. I'll check my feed calibration and see if that helps the banding. What can I do about the Cyan deflecting?

 

[CBilkes]

Head height set to high?

Yes height is set to high

 

[2B]

what are your print settings?
* bi-directional / unilateral?
* how fast production / standard ?

 

[Greg Kelm]

Yes height is set to high

Lower it and run the same material. We would have the same issue when we'd forget to drop the head back down after running some thicker material.

 

[ewded]

print unidirectional for a temporary solution

 

[ewded]

then lower head and do bidirectional head alignment, step adjustment and make sure heater is on and working

 

[CBilkes]

Problem solved!!!

I lowered the head height, set the print to uni-directional and it's printing perfectly now. Thanks for the help!

 

[2B]

Problem solved!!!

I lowered the head height, set the print to uni-directional and it's printing perfectly now. Thanks for the help!

Good to hear,
As suggested, would do a bi-directional head test & alignment.

unidirectional is a quick fix but NOT how the printer needs to operate for 95% of prints