-
SP300 Printing
Hi,
I was wondering if anyone has ever come across printing that shows faint grey/black hairlines that seem to follow the print just after the head has printed. I have tried cleaning around the heads as it suggests in the manual but to no avail. I thought that the problem was some fibres and dust that the machine had picked up but after cleaning the problem still persisted. 😥 I would be very grateful for any help on this matter as I need to get the printer going ASAP.
Cheers
Marcus O’Neill -
8 Replies
-
If you print a black square, are the edges ‘clean’ or fuzzy?
How old is the machine?
-
Hi Shane,
I am not at work at the moment but the print quality was fine yesterday. It just seemed to leave a series of trailing (smoke like) hairlines behind it, and after cleaning it was still there. I Thought that it was some how happening just after the main part of the print was printed.
Still confused. 😥
Marcus -
Sorry,
I forgot to say, the machine is about 3 years old or so. I bought it second hand but it has just been fully serviced twice, the latest just a month ago which cost around £400.
I don’t do a lot of heavy printing so it certainly isn’t wear and tear.
Marcus -
Hi Marcus
sounds like a misfire on one of the heads to me. Is it just the black, or is it made up of all colours? If it is a single colour, it points to a misfire, if its all colours, it could be an alignment issue
Had a similar thing with my 540 last year. Could be a blockage in the head thru lack of use, or just wear. Hard to say without seeing a test print tho, sorry.
-
Cheers Shane
I will try and get it sorted tomorrow thanks for your help.Marcus
-
This is where I’m at now…
I’m using a SP-300 Roland Printer/Cutter. Recently I’ve been getting poor quality of digital prints. Whenever I print onto Digital Vinyl media (e.g. labels for client), light wavy dark lines appear over the print. The effect is worse on darker or black colours.
I’ve cleaned the heads, capping station, wipers and deposit sponges. The effect only occurs over what is to be printed and within a few inches around that. That is to say that if the head moves beyond this distance and is not printing, the effect is not there. The wavy lines are not parallel but random.
I’ve also checked the inks, but seem fine. The profiles and media are the same as usual and I also adjusted the alignment of the heads on the printer’s firmware.
I do not know what is wrong and have looked at the manual but did all the cleaning and still no joy. I think now maybe it is the head. I’ve cleaned around this area and visually it looks OK. Any help with this issue would be greatly appreciated.
-
Marcus
I have seen this a few times before. If the lines follow the direction of the print head it normally can 1 of 2 things
1. Faulty Electronics on the head itself
2. Linear encoder needs cleaning and resetting.number 2 being the easiest.
Looking at the carriage wire that drives the head left and right just above that should a piece of plastic the full width of the machine. Get a small piece of softy toilet roll and a couple of drips of warm water and then CAREFULLY wipe both sides of the scale. You will need to do the Environmental match again.
Any issues let me know and I can certainly e-mail the relevant part of the service manual over
Steve
-
I’ve taken a pic on my phone…
http://www.creativesignwork.com/wavy.htm
It’s not a great pic but you can make out the black lines.
Log in to reply.