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xR640 more issues

JoshLoring

New Member
We have had our XR for a little over a year. We had one head go bad right at the 1 year mark. During that first visit, the tech used up 6 cartridges of ink doing cleanings and flushes to try to get the nozzles back. This was on a Friday afternoon and of course the tech did not come with a replacement head. Finally gave up and came to the conclusion the head needed to be replaced. Asked to get some of that ink replaced, since 6 cartridges of ink to go through is absurd, but my dealer nor Roland has done or offered any resolution. So that "warranty" visit cost us $700+ in ink.

Ouch.
Looks like everyone has head problems with these printers. It seems to be the major flaw besides of course the take up system.
 

reQ

New Member
We have had our XR for a little over a year. We had one head go bad right at the 1 year mark. During that first visit, the tech used up 6 cartridges of ink doing cleanings and flushes to try to get the nozzles back. This was on a Friday afternoon and of course the tech did not come with a replacement head. Finally gave up and came to the conclusion the head needed to be replaced. Asked to get some of that ink replaced, since 6 cartridges of ink to go through is absurd, but my dealer nor Roland has done or offered any resolution. So that "warranty" visit cost us $700+ in ink.
So he wasted all ink from your carts and never replaced them? I would smack his face for doing sh*t like that.
 

oksigns

New Member
We have custom profiles and linearized Limits with an eye one machine for all media. If your solution is to print in 12 pass then your wasting unnecessary ink and print time. These printers should be capable of printing with zero banding at 8 pass.

I'm sorry that your solution is 12 pass. You should be demanding that printer to print clear at 8 pass and below. One year ago we ran over 20k sf of media at 720 flawlessly. Then.. The banding kicked in so they replaced the heads. Roland was still never able to fix it. Their solution was custom 1440 profiles. Yup.. More passes to cover up the problem. Fast forward 1 year.. Still can't print in 720 even with perfect media feed calibration and excellent profiles.

Well for any vinyl job that I do that does not have heavy grayscale art, I use my go to 6 pass profile with great results, otherwise, the performance and detail blacks and grays degrades which we count as a special case for our 12 pass profile that doesn't lay down that much more ink over our 12, it's just a time issue, but I no longer worry about banding.
 

JoshLoring

New Member
Well for any vinyl job that I do that does not have heavy grayscale art, I use my go to 6 pass profile with great results, otherwise, the performance and detail blacks and grays degrades which we count as a special case for our 12 pass profile that doesn't lay down that much more ink over our 12, it's just a time issue, but I no longer worry about banding.

I get it. It's not really a fair trade off though. I have a XC-540 that will print 720 perfectly fine in any color. It's sad that the XR fix is print higher quality to compensate. 1 hour to print a job that should take 30 mins is money lost on another job that could take 30 minutes.
 

Signed Out

New Member
Was talking about these machines with our tech when they were servicing our printer. He told me that they sold 6 of them when they first came out and 4 of them were junk and they couldn't get them to work right, and I believe one of them was dead on arrival. Since then our dealer has refused to sell anymore of that model... Told us if we were looking at a new roland to get the RF-640.

Really sucks for those who purchased this machine thinking they were getting roland's flagship inkjet, and just ended up with a huge headache. They know there is a widespread problem with these machines. Wish they would step up to the plate and replace these with working units for you guys. Has me thinking about HP latex when it's time to retire our XJ-540.
 

oksigns

New Member
After what you go through profiling and having that other Roland printing next to it, I can understand your frustration. I enjoyed the color accuracy but frustrated over performance. That's what led me to hack a 12-pass profile to use nearly as much ink as a my 6-pass. We just lost our original rep that had helped us on this issue, so we kinda feel like it is a pandora's box if we want to revisit this again for these exact experiences I read here.
 

JoshLoring

New Member
Was talking about these machines with our tech when they were servicing our printer. He told me that they sold 6 of them when they first came out and 4 of them were junk and they couldn't get them to work right, and I believe one of them was dead on arrival. Since then our dealer has refused to sell anymore of that model... Told us if we were looking at a new roland to get the RF-640. Really sucks for those who purchased this machine thinking they were getting roland's flagship inkjet, and just ended up with a huge headache. They know there is a widespread problem with these machines. Wish they would step up to the plate and replace these with working units for you guys. Has me thinking about HP latex when it's time to retire our XJ-540.

Hahaha. That's pretty funny. Roland straight up tells me "We are gonna have to close this ticket, you are the only one experiencing this problem." Really?! That's odd. I've had other Roland's for 10 years and never ever ever EVER had problems like this. I still have take up that won't track straight over 50' but "I was the only one".

The XR-640 is the flagship fail in my opinion. <-- Yes I said that In a public forum. Make sure you spend 4gs on the extended warranty every year or your f'd.
 

JoshLoring

New Member
Update:
Friday. Today marks 2 weeks down.
Still not working although my tech is doing a great job, you can't fix everything with duct tape.

More parts ordered yesterday.

It's funny.. My XR-540 has only had 3 heads and an encoder strip replaced in 9-10 years.
This printer has had 3-4 heads, a new printer replacement, tons of jimmy rigged take up roll fixes, 5-6 more heads on a new printer, head boards, countless dampers and caps and it still can't print. Lol
 

reQ

New Member
This printer has had 3-4 heads, a new printer replacement, tons of jimmy rigged take up roll fixes, 5-6 more heads on a new printer, head boards, countless dampers and caps and it still can't print. Lol
Sounds like frankenstein lol
 

LarryB

New Member
Update:
Friday. Today marks 2 weeks down.
Still not working although my tech is doing a great job, you can't fix everything with duct tape.

More parts ordered yesterday.

It's funny.. My XR-540 has only had 3 heads and an encoder strip replaced in 9-10 years.
This printer has had 3-4 heads, a new printer replacement, tons of jimmy rigged take up roll fixes, 5-6 more heads on a new printer, head boards, countless dampers and caps and it still can't print. Lol


Sorry for all of your troubles. Seems like a nightmare. I also have a 10 year old XC-540 and it is starting to show it's age. Looks like I will be switching over to latex instead of getting another Roland. I just hate having 2 machines for print/cut.
 

Signed Out

New Member
Sorry for all of your troubles. Seems like a nightmare. I also have a 10 year old XC-540 and it is starting to show it's age. Looks like I will be switching over to latex instead of getting another Roland. I just hate having 2 machines for print/cut.


Why do you hate it? Do you laminate most of your prints?
 

JoshLoring

New Member
Sorry for all of your troubles. Seems like a nightmare. I also have a 10 year old XC-540 and it is starting to show it's age. Looks like I will be switching over to latex instead of getting another Roland. I just hate having 2 machines for print/cut.

The xC540 is a tank. Just replace some heads and keep rocking.
Is rather have 2 working machines that only print and a separate cutter then one that's a paper weight.
 

JoshLoring

New Member
Did anyone else notice that the newer post XR-640 Roland's ALL have a new takeup system?

It's interesting that the XR had so many problems with the takeup that the re-engineered it for future models.... Hmm. Recall?
 

rjssigns

Active Member
at what point are you going to demand for a refund, and $$ for loses?


Good point. ^^^^

My first printer was a POS thermal. Got an attorney involved early on. Still took about six months to get things resolved. Ended up with them overnighting their latest model from Taiwan. I sold it on eBay without even opening the box.

Worst part is I the clients I lost because of that fiasco. They never came back. Nothing I could do would make them believe I could hit deadlines with all new equipment.

Lots more that a junk printer at stake when you can't deliver product.
 

LarryB

New Member
I had a lemon flatbed Gerber Ion which had so many issues with it I demanded them take it back. I ended up documenting every issue and service call with it and sent a demand letter to the owner of the distributor where I bought it from. He went to bat for me with Gerber and got them to buy it back. Check with the lemon laws in your state.
 
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