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Test print problem
Posted by Michael Almand on 29 May 2008 at 00:46Hello Folks
Quick question.>>
When i do a test print on my roland SP540 the band of black it seems the nozzles aren’t firing straight. It’s not that the nozzle isn’t firing it’s like deflecting. I tried cleaning it, bi directional set up etc… Just wondering if it is a head problem or what I should do It’s just the black strip that has that problem.
Mike
Russell Huffer replied 17 years, 4 months ago 5 Members · 12 Replies -
12 Replies
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Do you put cleaning fluid in your capping stations to clean the heads?
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Hey Jason
yeah I squirt some in there one thing I noticed is that the black/cyan station drains really fast while the magenta/yellow seems to hold for a bit.
thanks bud
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I’d suggest its a head problem mate. Deflection is not something that cleaning will fix.
Usually the early signs that a head is on the way out.
How old is the machine? Black is, in nearly every instance, the first head to go.
It can be thru lack of use, or extra use.
Depends if you run black as a mixture of cmyk, or run it as k only.
When you print a black against a yellow for instance, is the black edge furry (not crisp?) You might need to look thru a magnifying glass to see what I mean. If you don’t need a glass to see the fuzzy edge, then the head needs replacing..
Also, your capping stations flowing slowly could be a blockage building up in the line, especially if you’ve not used it for a few days, but a quicker flow from them could just be a siphoning effect that can happen if the pump is sitting with the impeller leaving a bigger gap against the outlet, if that makes sense 😕
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Shane side question,
I’ve got defection in my black print as well.
I thought on my machine I only had two heads. Does the cyan come out of a different set of nozzles in the same head?
My deflection isn’t an issue as of yet only if I’m printing really small text under 12pt.
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quote Jason Xuereb:Shane side question,
I’ve got defection in my black print as well.
I thought on my machine I only had two heads. Does the cyan come out of a different set of nozzles in the same head?
My deflection isn’t an issue as of yet only if I’m printing really small text under 12pt.
One head per colour I think you’ll find Jason. Two pumps tho, 2 colours per pump.
My 540ex has 6 colours, and 6 heads.
You should have 4 rests that your heads sit on when not in use.
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Shane when you look at the heads I should see four rectangles if I’ve got four heads? Or are the heads grouped together?
I thought the SP range was two heads and the new VP were four heads.
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quote Jason Xuereb:Shane when you look at the heads I should see four rectangles if I’ve got four heads? Or are the heads grouped together?
I thought the SP range was two heads and the new VP were four heads.
Sorry mate, thought you had a VP.
Not familiar with the SP. Got me thinking now…
The 540 has technically got 12 heads, 2 heads per colour, but each head is a dual head, if that makes sense. Thats why you see two colour pipes going to each head.
The SP may have 2 dual heads, that run a single colour to each half.
Only way I can see it working.
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Yep that makes sense. That’s why I can’t understand why I only have deflection in my black and not the cyan if it comes out of the same physical head. If the deflection is caused by head strikes etc.
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quote Jason Xuereb:Yep that makes sense. That’s why I can’t understand why I only have deflection in my black and not the cyan if it comes out of the same physical head. If the deflection is caused by head strikes etc.
Head strikes are not the main reason for deflection.
A worn out head, or too little use is the main culprit, which is why the cyan is OK, but not the black.
When you replace the black, you’ll get a new cyan though.
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quote Jason:That’s why I can’t understand why I only have deflection in my black and not the cyan if it comes out of the same physical head.
Jason, each head is actually two separate heads within the same physical head. If you take a look at the underside of your black/cyan head you’ll see a row of black nozzles down one side and a row of cyan nozzles down the other side. Depending on the amount of use (do you go through more black ink than cyan ink?), one head colour can wear out more quickly than the other. Also, head strikes are more likely on the head side/colour, that comes into contact with the media first – black.
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Cheers Bill and Shane, learn something every day. We’ve probably gone through more black then anything else with the printer. We go through a fair bit of yellow as well.
The head isn’t causing me any problems as of yet not for normal jobs anyways.
Might change the heads if we get a new printer and put this one on bulk ink.
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This explains the mystery of why my SolJet II 740 has 12 Cartridges, 2 blacks, 2 cyans etc etc
Thought it was just so that i could load up with 880 ml per colour for long runs, learn something new every day.
Regards
Russell.
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