Lines in print when reproducing deep blacks

[simon gregory]

quote mark czuba:

Greetings to everyone!

I own a Designjet 2000 cp, I have noticed when I print graphics that have deep blacks in them that the blacks have lines running through them. Can this be from bad printheads? or do I need to re-calibrate my printer? Or is this just the limitations on my machine? The only thing I can additonally say is that the blacks look like they were printed on a bubble jet printer at home, you know with black bands for solid colors.
Can anyone shed some light on this prb.
Thanks in advance.

Mark,

Not sure about your machine but i do know this instance on the JV3 suggests that one of the print heads has had it, 😥 as i said dont take my word for it but thats what we was told by a technician

[Shane Drew]

Hi Mark, welcome to the site.

Are the bands white? Like its not joining together? Is so, a calibration will probably fix this. At worse, it may be a head.

If it’s as I think you are describing, you probably printed in bidirectional. In solid colours, especially black, it will look like different shades of black (or colour) -only way I can think to describe it. This can be overcome by printing unidirectional. That way it only lays ink down in the same direction with each pass, thus, no banding. Its more obvious on canvas though.

Hope that helps.

Welcome again

[Bill McMurtry]

Hi Mark, I have a 2500CP. The sort of banding you describe can be a calibration problem as Shane suggests, or a dodgy print head. Do a full clean and calibration and run test prints on standard media. If the test prints seem OK then it could be a problem with media feed, especially with thicker media like canvas.

Also, try different print settings – unidirectional/bidirectional and different media – roll/sheet feed. You could also try removing and reinstalling the cartridges. Process of elimination will determine the problem so you can fix it.

[Stephen Morriss]

I’ve a 3000cp and if the head has a few blocked nozzles you get banding but it’s more like shades of black and is worse in economy mode.

Steve

[Chris Hooper]

Had a similar problem a while back with an old encad, using pigment inks, solved by changing the colour from 100% black to a mix of 100% black and 30% cyan. Did need to slow the machine down a bit an allow for drying however it did seem to do the trick. Found this was OK for larger areas of black or background.

[mark czuba]

Thank-you all for your input into the problem, It appears that it was a printhead that was shot. I’m wondering why it crapped out, it was only installed a few months ago. Anyway I installed a new black printhead and it resolved the problem.

Im glad I found this forum, I always wondered if there was a thing such as this on the internet and I’m glad I found it, I will be visiting more often.

What is the most common way to prevent printhead damage? How do they get damaged anyway? and also is there anyway to fix these once some of the nozzles stop working?
Thanks in advance