uksignboards.com | pc 600 printing problem ,help please

Roland Printers

pc 600 printing problem ,help please

Posted by widget on 10 February 2005 at 14:06

sorry if this is the wrong forum but i needed to post a pic of the problem.
when i am printing i am getting some very strange lines,they start thick then get thinner,mostly noticable on blue.
i have tried different ribbons,settings,etc but always the same,my service report shows the head has done 774m i dont know if thats a lot of work for one of these or not,i have tried the line pitch settings both ways but its staying the same.
if anyone else has had this problem they may be able to help me
thank you

Gordon Forbes replied 20 years, 8 months ago 7 Members · 14 Replies
14 Replies

widget

Member
10 February 2005 at 14:13

sorry forgot the pic

Attachments:
Bill Dewison

Member
10 February 2005 at 14:49

The PC600 prints in lines as you know, the extra little lines are appearing because the the main print lines are overlapping each other.

There will be a useful bod on here who will know the answer to this, it happens to me quite a lot, mainly on CMY prints, so it’d be interesting to know if there is a solution.

Cheers, Dewi
widget

Member
10 February 2005 at 16:21

i know about the overlapping,and have tried adjusting the line pitch,but thats not really the problem its hard to see in the picture but if you look really close at the right hand side of the picture the line goes from fat to thin,also if i print a photo etc its only seems to be the blue lines that show up through it,the rest seem fine.
Chris Wool

Member
10 February 2005 at 18:53

hi
between aprox 15% to 70% of a colour will normally do this switching to photo mode may help but colour will be a different shade and use all ribbons – also experience tells me that the temp of the vinyl and after market ribbons will exagerate this problem

chris
Eric North

Member
10 February 2005 at 19:00

I have replaced heads on the pnc5000.
on this machine the adjustments are;
1/ top of head unit can be moved forward and back slightly. if this is not set so that the head is dead flat on the vinyl gaps might appear. grub screws may have to be released.
2/ there is a screw thru a spring that sets the angle to the machine. exactly parallel is required otherwise the head might print slightly wide or narrow. if you visualise a “T” the top of the t is the machine viewed from the top and the leg is the head position. hope the description is understood!.
the only other thing I can think of is that each colour has a different heat setting. if you are refilling maybe u are not using the right cartridge.
hope this helps

regards
eric north
Mike Grant

Member
10 February 2005 at 20:18

“Banding” is a common fault on these machines. I have never been able to get rid of them, some colours are worse than others, most noticeable on spot colours. The green is a nightmare!!! I avoid that colour like the plague.

Something you will just have to live with. 😥
widget

Member
10 February 2005 at 23:49

thanks for the replies,i am using genuine roland cartridges and this problem has just happened since yesterday,i have done quite a few prints and photo prints and they have always came out just fine.
it has me beat to why it is doing this now.
wouldnt be so bad but all you can see on the finished photo is these blue lines 🙁
J. Hulme

Member
10 February 2005 at 23:57

It’s called ‘Banding’ mate, you’ll get it on inkjet too, but not as bad as a PC600, trait of the machine, you’ll never get rid of it on spots.
CMYK should be better, you need to place dots/tones not solids.
Solids, you’re stuck with banding.
widget

Member
11 February 2005 at 00:02

nope,i know what banding is i have always had that,this is a whole new problem which is very hard to explain,wish i could have had a clearer picture,banding is usually a line the same size running right through the picture,these look like a big splodge of ink has been dropped on the right hand side then been spread out.
Gordon Forbes

Member
11 February 2005 at 00:05

I find that printing as a .bmp gets rid of lines in some files in spots I can eliminate banding well have done recently in orange and black.

Seems to be worse on the process colours as it does four or three passes depending on settings but i never have wide to narrow looks like an alignment setting may be needing checked.
J. Hulme

Member
11 February 2005 at 00:11

quote widget:

nope,i know what banding is i have always had that,this is a whole new problem which is very hard to explain,wish i could have had a clearer picture,banding is usually a line the same size running right through the picture,these look like a big splodge of ink has been dropped on the right hand side then been spread out.

Then you may need a new print head 😉
widget

Member
11 February 2005 at 00:13

how long does a print head normally last ? 770 metres seems quite a lot to me,it had only done 15 metres when i recieved the machine
J. Hulme

Member
11 February 2005 at 00:24

Don’t know mate, depends on cleaning routine, vinyl type and surface, atmosphere machine resides in, but thats hell of a lot of metres of vinyl, if you’ve done that with one printhead you’ve been very lucky(and profitable) 😉
Gordon Forbes

Member
11 February 2005 at 02:44

seem to remember 10K as a ballpark figure my last one did 14K and it wasn’t the head that went but the ribbon exchanger.