why am i getting lines 1cm apart while printing with pc60?

[Tim Painter]

Was the unit printing ok previously?
Do you have the most recent drivers for your OS?

Tim.

[beepee]

I’ve recently just bought the printer second hand and still setting up

[Tim Painter]

at a guess if the lines are consisten I would say printer.
Print head maybe ? I don’t have one so can’t comment

shout at someone one here who has a unit

sorry I can’t help more

[Gordon Forbes]

Can you be more specific please. It always prints across the vinyl

eg System set up printer drivers, software etc etc the more info you give the more specific the help can be but what you are telling us is like you have a blue car an it goes forward.

Goop

[Rodney Gold]

There are 2 types of lines , a distinct sharp white line and a less distinct light(white) or dark line.
The 2nd case is whats called pitch alignment , the ribbon is only 8mm wide and the feed of the machine is slightly misaligned either causing an overlap or a slighly unprinted area . This appears as a sort of banding. It can be corrected on the machine.
The first type of sharp white line , almost like a scratch is a blown pin/track on the head. Test for this by printing a 7.5mm wide block and space these about 10 mm from each other , if the line is in the same place on each block , its an indication of this problem, This might or might not be fixable. There should be a cleaning pen for manual cleaning and a cleaning strip for auto cleaning – the cleaning strip is on the right hand side of the machine and is clearly visible , if its dirty , order a new one and replace it. The cleaning pen might or might not remove the problem depending whether its a bit of dirt on the heads or indeed a blown track, If its a blown track , the head needs replacing.(not sure of UK price , proably 300 quid or so) The first thing to do is clean with a cleaning pen. Roland usa has instructions , look at http://www.rolanddga.com under support , select legacy products and have a look for the pc60.
The other cause , however its unlikely , is the little foam roller next to the head that ACTUALLY lays down the resin on the vinyl (the head doesnt) could be graunched , if it looks dodgy , replace it , its cheap.
As far as I know , Dave Stanton has manuals on heads , cleaning etc , perhaps private message him. (Im sure its him that supplies aftermarket ribbons for the printer – but my memory could be fading;)
You HAVE to run this printer in a VERY clean dust free environment , you have to wipe the vinyls down with spirits and clean the heads VERY meticulously.
A tip to inspect the head is put a bit of mirror vinyl on the printing platen (grey rubbery thing) under the heads , shine a flashlight on it to illuminate the heads , see if they are dirt free or check that something on the flexible circuit membrane (thing with lots of thin copper tracks) doesnt look burnt out etc. The actual part that heats up is actually the left hand side of the head (looking at the machine), its sort of on a strip.
Hope this helps.

[beepee]

Sorry should have been a bit more specific. The software I’m using is flexi pro 7, and the lines are a blue, red sort of color. Could this be the line pitch settings you suggested Rodney? if so what are the required offset settings for this particular machine.I think the current setting is Default.

Cheers guys

[Chris Wool]

did you just buy the machine untried or have you seen other pc 60 work to compare or how about posting a small scaned area for us to see.
from what i have read the machine may be ok just a few tweeks required

chris

[beepee]

Rodney

I’ve had a close look at the lines you were talking about and it seems to be the second case. There seems to be some sort of over lapping in the colors. I also printed 4 x 7.5mm boxes all different colors and each color has the lines in a different place. If this is the alignment please tell me how I can correct it.
Thanks, beepee.

[beepee]

Chris,

I sure hope its a fixable problem with out it costing too much money. I bought the machine second hand from America so i couldn’t test it I took the guys word it was in good working order.
Cheers
beepee

[beepee]

I’ve tried everything to get this sorted but no joy, i think the best option is maybe to get a engineer out. does anyone no a good engineer?

[beepee]

Roland engineer came round and found the head to be the problem..reckons it had done about 100,000 meters,anyway £175.00 for a brand new head,well worth it. Thanks anyway for the advise guys.

cheers

beepee

[Bill Dewison]

Thats a lot of metres! 😮

Hope this isn’t too rude a question, but how much did Roland charge in total for the callout and head change? At the moment I seem to have a magical head, it just keeps going and going, but eventually somethings going to pop louder than a tube of Pringles in a vacuum! 😮 Be worth knowing what type of money I’ll be looking at for the replacements etc.

I know you can get replacement heads with the empty carts, but I use refills most of the time so I rarely buy the genuine carts 🙄 I’ll never reach 200 if I don’t keep buying overpriced carts though 😥

Cheers, Dewi

[beepee]

It was about £420.00 inc. VAT. Call out £ 175.00 and the head also £ 175.00. Hopefully I can start getting something back from it!

[Richard Urquhart]

it sounds like a lot of money but you will soon make it back once your printing
😀