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can anyone give advise with a jv3 purchase please?
So as I mentioned in another post I bought a used JV3 thinking I knew it all (while clearly I don’t), and the prints seem to be a little off. Like for instance, if the artwork has a line running vertically the edge of it won’t be nice and straight, almost a little pixilated.
Same goes for most photos, even if they are high res. They seem really grainy even when printing 16pass @ 1440×720.
All the nozzles are firing but 3 on the magenta.
Now I’m having a tech come in to do color profiles later this week, but I wondering if you guys have any ideas what could be causing this? I’m really beginning to wonder if I bought a printer that was just to old and I wasted a pile of cash and am going to have to replace it.
Thoughts?
Thanks in advance!
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18 Replies
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hi there. I just wondering what rip you are using. we use shiraz and all the profiles are available. shiraz also print superb. you said something about your magenta head. xan u ezplain what u mean by 3 . the jv3 is one of the best selling machines out there. so don’t think u bought a bad one as it doesn’t sound like it.
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I am running flexi 7.6 right now. Is there a demo available for that piece?
My main concern is that the printer is not totally fixable, is that possible?
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Also, I am not sure that the graininess is a problem with the RIP? It seems the bands aren’t lined up horizontally. When I draw a horizontal line and print it the edge is relatively crisp, where as a horizontal line is not.
Is there a setting that could adjust the alignment of the bands? Maybe I should try printing in unidirectional printing?
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hi, you might be able to post a picture in this thread, if not send it to admin@uksignboards.com and Rob might post one up… what I need to see if the test print of nozzles and your problem. I am confused.
I would like to see if all your nozzles are firing and they are firing without deflection.
Also Shiraz is here
http://www.applied-image.com/See Downloads in Support, you should be able to download a demo, although I am not sure if it will drive the JV3 in demo mode, this I have never tried.
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I don’t have a digital cam on me right now, but all of the nozzles except 3 are firing. The ones that aren’t firing are just not firing at all (as apposed to shooting off in some crazy direction). I’ll try snapping a photo with the camera phone for you shortly.
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ok.. nozzles not firing could be:-
Is it the top or bottom 3 nozzles in the line of the print test?
1: pumps are weak, unable to suck thru
2: seal on print head not cleaned and not good, therefor the air is escaping, this sometimes down to dirty ink on bottom of head or crusty bits on the docking station rings. (top 3 or bottom 3 nozzles?) try Thin and then headclean/fill up ink.
3: Head is damaged, metal objects used to clean head etc.
4: Ink is dried in head.After doing the cleaning bit by taking off the metal plate on the heater panel and cleaning around the heads (not the heads nozzles) and cleaning the rubber seals, then put it in thin-head height , you could then swap pump tubes around (bad head with good head tube), this might jolt it or then find a syringe to pull the ink thru but only do this if you feel confident.
Could be any of the 4 things above but as the machine is expensive I would suggest you call someone like an engineer to come and service it.
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Sorry for the slow respose- The nozzles are only a few (3 on magenta) and not in a row.
Odd thing is, when I run the machine in Uni-directional mode the problem goes away completley? Any idea one what could cause this?
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Sounds like the printer needs setting up properly.
If it’s printing a straight line in uni directional mode and it’s jagged in bidirectional mode then it needs calibrating, sure Dave will tell you how to do it if it’s possible to do it yourself or there may be a menu item for it.Some printers have an eye to set themselves up and some need setting up by hand.
But basicly the head is firing ink onto the page in both directions so if it’s just slightly out of line on the back stroke then the line will be stepped.
In uniderectional mode the head is only firing on the out stroke so it should line upSteve
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We run our JV3 exclusively in uni-directional mode. Tired bi-directional,
with mixed results – OK for low res banner work, but not for quality work.
Even though the machine is sold as suitable for bi-directional work, I have
since heard from an engineer that it is not recommended. No doubt someone will beg to differ though. 😕Cheers,
Jamie. -
Agree with Jamie TOTALLY.
I have put more metres through our JV3 than i can care to remember and i do not put anything through it Bi-directionally, it is a waste of time and media for most of the work we do here. I too have pretty much been told by the dealer the same thing. From what ive seen, it looks like a design fault. The heads are not staggered, so effectivly the ink is being laid down in different orders and always has terrible banding in it with that lawnmower effect. Im told the newer mimakis have staggered heads now though.
If you can get a decent print in uni-directional, i would take it and run with it, even if your profiles and machine setup is perfect, chances are pretty good your bi-directional printing will look pretty crappy from my experience.
Im also pretty sure that three jets out on those heads are within the spec for a healthy head.
The beauty of the mimaki for us is the take up system, we didnt get the speed out of it that we were told it could do due to the bi-directional problem, but we can send a full roll to print before we leave at night and expect it to be finished in the morning when we return. Its just such a great take up system so any time lost during the day due to uni-directional printing, we can easily make up overnight.
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Yea, we did that alot with the other Mimaki I use to work on.
My main problem is getting the machine profiled now – I’ve talked to a few people and been quoted everything from $200-$1000+ what is a reasonable cost to expect to pay? I’ve installed Onyx on the systme which is suppose to be a pretty good rip to work with.
Thanks again for all the help guys!
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Go to the onyx website and download a few profiles and experiment, it could very likely save you that money. I had trouble finding a banner profile for the machine so we had one done for that. We dont have those problems anymore as we can do it all in house these days.
If the cost for profiling is such a big problem, just ask your local media supplier to profile it for you, im sure you could work a deal out with them in return for some brand loyalty to them.
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JV3 and Onyx is a pretty common combination, so I would do as suggested,
and ask your media suppier if they already have profiles for your set up.
If they have, it’s a pretty simple procedure to install them, and hopefully, you will be up and running quickly. A lot of media manufacturers have a
profile section on their websites too, so look for your printer and RIP, then
download the profile for the media you wish to use. Google search should help here.Cheers,
Jamie. -
Yea, I’ve been google’ing it for a while.
Unfortunaltey the problem is the system came with a Hilord bulk-ink system, which only has profiles for 6 color config (And it came with 4×2 ink setup).
I’ve managed to find some profiles that are somewhere near what I want, but Onyx will only allow me to edit them if I have a ‘densiometer’ (sp?) or colorimeter. Are these expensive tools?
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Aah…didn’t realise that you were running a bulk system. To my knowledge,
most medias are profiled for Mimaki inks, unless bulk suppliers have done
their own profiling for end users to download. If it was me, I’d flush the
machine and swap back to Mimaki inks. More expensive, but much better
support available, and lots less hassle.Cheers,
Jamie. -
I am very tempted to do just that, but I’ve geard nightmare stories of plumbing getting clogged when you do the flush? Ant idea what the odds of this happening are and do you think its worth changing over to six color first (with the current ink type) since there are plenty of profiles available for that mode from the ink manufacture?
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Personally, I wouldn’t go with 6 colour, as it effectively halves the speed
of the machine. An alternative would be to simply swap out the bulk carts
with Mimaki carts, and run without a flush. I have heard of this being done,
but I don’t know how the different inks would react with each other. -
I’m having so many problems right now I don’t know if I want to increase my exposure to risk :lol1:
The ink manufacture just called me and said he got some profiles from one of his distriutors for 4 color config on my machine, so we’ll see how they work. Hopefully it goes smoothly!
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