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  • CJ-500 print head banding

    Posted by Peter Yip on 16 December 2007 at 17:08

    Right i am a little stuck at the moment,

    today the print head seems to have developed banding and over ink (especially black) on any prints i have made.

    machine: CJ-500
    RIPs : Flexisign

    done a few head cleaning, if i do test print all nozzle came out perfect,
    also have done head aligment.

    the only other thing i can think of is that when i print canvas the other day the edge of the media have caught the print head slightly, could this be enough to damage a print head ???

    many thanks in advance.

    Chris Wool replied 17 years, 9 months ago 2 Members · 10 Replies
  • 10 Replies
  • Chris Wool

    Member
    17 December 2007 at 00:20

    just thinking out loud
    have you left it in overprint mode some people use that mode on canvas.
    fluff etc left on capping station so the pump cant suck the excess ink away
    over filed ink tanks

    chris

  • Peter Yip

    Member
    17 December 2007 at 00:29

    Hi Chris

    many thanks for your feedback, no i have never used the over print mode before, the capping station was actually replaced 3 months ago, the printer has not been that heavy use, i did had a good look at that and it does look pretty good still.

    it just puzzle me about the banding while the print head nozzle check came out fine, and i did check all head aligment, bi-directional adjustment and the media is feeding correctly.

    guess i might just give up and try to put a new print head and see. thats £100 and an hr given away ……

    regards
    Peter

  • Chris Wool

    Member
    17 December 2007 at 00:42

    you say over inking, profile altered or material change, picked the wrong profile when you changed back. 1400dpi mode on a 360 profile

    if the print test shows as perfect i would be tempted to look elsewhere.
    try a different roll of vinyl.

    chris

  • Peter Yip

    Member
    17 December 2007 at 11:14

    hmm thats a good suggestion, i shall try with a new roll

    regards
    Peter

  • Peter Yip

    Member
    17 December 2007 at 15:55

    still no luck with this, although rise the print head to position 2 seems to have just about work. manage to get 1 image printed but then the rest is just the same ….

    tried to call Roland for a bit of technical help, so i am still waiting for them to return the call…

    regards
    Peter

  • Peter Yip

    Member
    18 December 2007 at 11:39

    right, just some updates.

    after a lot of re-calibration of the print head i somehow manage to get it printing consistantly on photo mode however all other mode still remain the same.

    the guy at roland is scratching their head hard too ….

    well if there is any engineering near north london / watford area i wouldnt mind getting them in to have a look and do some calibration.

    regards
    Peter

  • Peter Yip

    Member
    19 December 2007 at 23:57

    right after 4 days of head banging and countless amount of call to various technical people in Roland as well as specialist i have finally solve the problem.

    the problem turn out to be the media does not support pigment ink. even though we had been using the same Kodak paper in the pass 2 years without any trouble, only when one of the print specialist from Roland suggest that maybe it was the media. (although we had try with 2 different roll of the same media, one of which was even brand new un-open) so i went out and got a different kodak photo paper locally and it works perfectly again.

    this must be one of the strangest thing ever happened, well at least now i know …..

    i must say many thanks for the tech support team from Roland and they have been very helpful in the pass few days so countless of call and time spent looking into this.

    guess its time for christmas and i better put my legs up and chill for once.

    thanks again for all the members feedback and help as usual. wish you all a happy christmas

    regards
    Peter

  • Chris Wool

    Member
    20 December 2007 at 02:04

    wish you had said paper and pigmented water based ink, silly me thought it was solvent and vinyl. forgot the cj was water based.
    yes pigmented on to dye paper does pool over ink etc.
    there are universal papers that accept dye and pigmented inks,
    AIT do quicksilver the photo satin is very nice. use it in my epson

    chris

  • Peter Yip

    Member
    20 December 2007 at 23:11

    sorry maybe i should have stated more clearly, knowing most people here work on solvent printers .. (although i do wish i can justify upgrading sometimes )

    it is very odd as we have been using the very same media and pigment ink over the last 2 years, and after some what 30 odd roll of media it suddently decided not to take the pigment ink !!!

    many thanks for the suggestion Chris, i shall have a look into those media, always nice to know some alternatively choice.

    regards
    Peter

  • Chris Wool

    Member
    20 December 2007 at 23:19

    i could never understand why the back of the paper was never marked, to show what the paper was, it was not unknown to be wrongly boxed or labeled.

    chris

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