banding on versacamm

[Mark Candlin]

When you do the test print from the machine it should show on the little “bars” on the print if the heads are misaligned. Another expanation is a head strike on the vinyl if it got caught up in the rolers.It does explain this in the manual I think. It sounds like a blocked head to me though. Roland should replace it for you ASAP, frankly the engineers expanation is wrong,one of the selling points of the machine is its intelligent cleaning and self maintenance. If it is still not working DEMAND that it be fixed regardless of how much printing you have done.

Good luck

[mark jones]

if you do the internal nozzle check print are any nozzles not firing. if all the nozzles are there and you are still getting banding it is because the feed adjustment for that media is wrong.

[jkape]

no there are lines missing when I do a test print, it’s not the feed that is wrong…I am expecting a technician tommorow.
Cleaning has not helped much, quite frankly it is TOO soon to have this kind of problem

Thanks for your help

Iosif

[Mike Antrum]

Hi Iosef

There are many reasons you may be getting banding on your prints. Here is a list of the most common. This list also applies to most injket printers out there. I hope one of these does the trick for you.

1). Missing/Deflected nozzles. When you perform the print test are you missing any nozzles or are they firing out of place ? If so perform a head clean. This is unlikely to be the case as the VersaCamm hardly ever blocks.

2). Media Feed compensation. This setting is a compensation for the different thicknesses of media. (This is covered in the user manual) Go to the menu to print calibration. Perform the test print and the machine will print two grey blocks in the shape of a letter ‘T’. Where the blocks join there should be an even join. If there is a gap you need to decrease the setting, if there is a dark join, you need to decrease the setting. If this setting is not made, you will get banding.
One point to note on this though. If you are using the Roland Colorip, the media feeds are set in the Imaging configuration. If you set the media calibration on the machine, the RIP will still overide these settings. So when you get the correct media set on the machine, you need to set it in the RIP too, otherwise the RIP will just set it back to the original setting. Alternatively you can turn off the media calibration setting in the RIP by unchecking the tick box next to the value. You can find this setting by going to ‘Print Setup’ – ‘Edit’ – ‘Properties’ where can then either set the correct value or turn off the setting in the RIP. I suspect this is your problem.

Remember, you need to set this setting for every different media you use, unless they are of a very similar thickness. If you set it up for vinyl, and the printing is fine, and you then put in banner withou changing the setting, you will almost certainly get banding.

3). If you a printing in a bi-directional mode, have you performed a bi-directional calibration ? This setting converges the dot placement on the left-right and right-left print motion. If you are printing uni-directionally, this will not be causing your problem, but you should still set it up anyway. This is covered in the manual.

4). Media loading. If you media is not loaded straight, this can cause banding. Ensure you have loaded the media accurately by pulling about 1m through the machine, and then winding back on the roll. Then engage the loading lever.

5) Media distortion. Is the media flat on the bed of the printer ? If you media is rippling or not laying flat on the bed of the machine, the printer is not going to be able to place the dots correctly. This can be caused by too much heat, damp media, or plain old rubbish media.

I hope that the above helps you nail down the problem. These are the most likely causes, but there are others. Personally I would concentrate on point 2, particulalry the part about the RIP. Let us know how you get on,

Happy Prunting

Mike Antrum

[jkape]

Well,
The technician was amazed to see how bad my test print was. He advised that it is possibly head strikes that caused the banding on prints, missing/jagged lines on a simple test print. He then performed a cleaning operation on the heads themselves with the cleaning liquid by Roland. (Opened the casing for this) and finally advised me to check the head while printing and not leave it unnatended…(which is what I did to be honest)
So, now print tests are fine, banding is gone. I even put a small stool by the printer to sit down and check the material so that it doesn’t create bubbles, I lowered the temp (always had it max before).
What do other owners think about all this? Do you stand and watch it print ?

Iosif

[Rodney Gold]

It helps a lot to unwind the media from the roll for the length you are going to print , often the media is too tightly wound , especially if you are not using digital printing specific media (like normal vinyl which is not wound in dust free environments to specific tensions). I have an operator that stands bye all the time on my soljet , to stop the machine if there are problems , to see the print quality and to stop material folding on itself. Problems often arise when the temperature gradient between the environment the machine is in and the heaters are to steep as the material rucks as its backing and it expands at the heater Its an idea to warm the area where the Versacam is but NOT with a blow heater (unless you want dust on the media).
The coninuous printing explanation is junk , I closed up for 3 weeks and came back to print perfectly after we opened.
Apart from calibration issues , choice of media plays a big part. I have printed on medias that just band whatever you do , and then using the same settings (apart from feed calibration which is generally the same for the same thickness) print perfectly on another.
The problem with buckling is further aggravated by the fact that media storage is not considered. In damp enviromnents or cold/condensation scenarios , the media backing absorbs water from standing unprotected or uncovered and the heater expells this leading to serious rucking.
We run our machine in an air conditioned environment and store our media in the same .
If you are doing big runs of small print and cut decals , a good strategy is to split the jobs into small chunks , use the print queue to send them multiple times , cos if there is an issue like cut misregistration or buckling , then you lose just a small part of the job. We are currently running 60 000 decals (65mm x 23mm single colour almost full print in high quality mode – about 5 pence each) and split it up into lots of 500 or so in a go.

[Chris Wool]

rodney

interesting whot you say about storing materials i have found apa materials to be very acepable to damp far more so than any other make
i once sent them a photo entitled self reguvinating vinyl which was a shot of the end of a roll that had groun in width by 5 mm to 0 mm about 5 turns in if i was to leave it mounted in the soljet over night i would have to dicard 1 mt before i could use it again other makes not a problem

chris

[Philip Houston]

I have some deflective nossles on my black.
How do I cure them?
Philip

[David Rowland]

how long have they been there?

[Philip Houston]

About 3 weeks now Dave.

Can I do anything about it?

Philip

[David Crocker]

quote Philip Houston:

I have some deflective nossles on my black.
How do I cure them?
Philip

I too had major problems with black banding and mis firing nozzles. I put it down to total ignorance on my behalf when i first got the printer (long story). But i also had a few head strikes on thick canvas media which didnt help.

I managed to salvage some of the nozzles by doing a few head soaks but this was short term and didnt solve the problem over the long haul 🙁 new head was needed.

Im getting banding as well now, but its not the uniform style, it looks more like feed errors i think. anyways…ive started another thread on this.

Hope you sort it mate!

Dave.