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Printing Issues with mimaki jv3
Afternoon all
I have had an issue with mimaki jv3 130 printer, its been like this for a while.
We have had the engineers out and they couldnt find the fault.
At first we used to print high speed bi directional 4 pass and the print as flawless. Then we had to replace all four heads about a year ago as the machine was stood idle and some turned it off causing the heads to clog up and it didnt print.
Since we had the heads replaced all was well till last year when we saw there was a massive issue printing at high speed bi directional.
We called the engineer mimaki engineer out and he couldnt find the fault, we tried all different methods to make it print correctly and the best result was to print uni directional 16pass which uses so much ink and takes so long to print any job.
today we have been printing a small job at 16pass uni directional and have found the print quality so poor.
ive uploaded some pic which i hope you can see.
the images show that the colour is fading as its printing, almost as if the ink not being laid down properly, the end result is poor for a machine of this standard and we are really unhappy giving customers poor quality print.
The test print shows all heads are firing and no distortion. ink is original jv3 and media is metamark md3
just wondering is someone has had an issue like this before.
I hope everyone can see what i mean
cheers
T
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12 Replies
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Have you cleaned the encoder strip recently?
Peter
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It could be ink starvation when printing in bi directional mode, try replacing the dampers as the internal filters may be slighty clogged.
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Morning all
Wheres the encoder strip located peter?
Ink starvation was what one of the mimaki engineers said it could be, he couldnt find the fault so went back with test prints….
I think mimaki want to change the heads, but I have a feeling its not the heads as the test print shows perfect…
Merry Christmas to you all and happy new year…..
All the best for 2011….fingers crossed…
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i think the problem is because ur printing at 16pass… u must have nozzle-outs or deflection to make u do this in kinda how you have explained it.
I think with the cold weather you going to get some strange results until we warm up and the stored media is at good temp, presuming it is cold at your place throughout the night.
I would like to know if MD5 also has the same problem as a number of Print engineer swear it’s the best vinyl around and is used to calibrate machines with for colour.
Can you post you temperatures, I am wondering if your overcooking too. Mine would be in the 40s for that media.
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Hi Dave
these pictures were taken over 4 months ago, when i was in my old place, which was relativly warm….
The new place has the same print results…..and its freezing in here over night..
Sorry i dont have temps to post up,
md3 and md5 are better products i find, and the service from metamark is better than ive found from other suppliers, just wish they did other products so i dont need to buy from any where else really…
any other ideas what the issue may be
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to me from the photos it look reasonably ok for 16 pass for that solid blue
mine does the same thing.
edit: i know if u cook the material too hot it will cause ink banding as its drying it too much
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the encoder strip is the clear plastic strip just behind and above the drive belt for the carriage.
it can get dirty, and from time to time needs a clean to remove any ink film build up.
use a small ammount of cleaning fluid on a lint free cloth after turning the machine off at the mains so you can move the carriage. be VERY careful not to move the strip from the plastic guides at the bottom, and take care you do not move the carriage
The srtrip passes through a sensor behind the carriage so do not move the carriage unless the strip is located properly or you will scratch itPeter
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cleaning fluid? soapy water for that strip or u could melt it.
i see banding from the photos which will come from the way the printer makes up the bands, however if they are not going down very well which could be caused by many things then you end up with stripes. Tbh 16 pass doesn’t always print well with some colours, especially purples, browns and greens and if your printing over and over like on 16pass you could very well be over heating the print area. Our JV3 will also make the same pattern as I see in the photo, but I would never print that at 16 pass, more like 8 pass and bi-directional is likely.
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no dave it does not melt it, and like I said the main reason it needs cleaning is that it can get a mist of ink in on it which water will not remove.
I had a similar problem on 8pass and cleaning the strip improved the situation.
dont take my word though, I was given this advice by my service company.
Peter -
the cleaner that comes in the little bottle, will melt the case of machine if you spill it, also never try cleaning the JV3 with it as it fuzzes up and I was advised this by AIT not to use it on the encoder but just water, maybe soapy water.
The encoder strip dirt causes positional problems only along the printers head axis, should just be slight alignment issues or random drops
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I agree with Dave Rowland about the AIT cleaning fluid… it appears to be quite aggresive.
Just another thought… could it be a worn feed motor or its encoder ?
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That looks to me like a calibration problem. Check the head slants and Y-base through a scope, they need to be perfect!! ‘That’ll do’ just doesn’t cut it.
A couple of other pointers, regardless of whether you’re using 2 passes or 32 passes, uni or bi, the printer will use the same amount of ink. It just determines how quickly and in what order the ink is introduced to the media face. The only thing that adjusts the amount of ink put down is the resolution. 1440dpi will use more than 720, which uses more than 540….. If you’re getting overinking, it’s more like to be heat or profile related in my experience. MD3 is a good cheap vinyl, but a cheap vinyl. If you’re outputting for quality, use their MD5 of even 7 range.
As Dave says, try and avoid using anything harmful on the encoder strip, it will wipe all the markers off. Although having said that, I have used a VERY small amount of it on occasion to ‘rid those really stubborn stains’.
Our cleaning solution is quite aggressive, but apparently less harmful than OEM flush 🙄
I hope that’s of use.
Stafford
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