banding on roland rf-640

[PandaPie]

hi, so i have been having some horizontal banding on my prints. and also this drop out. ive tried a head soak, multiple cleanings, etc. nothing seems to help.
any suggestions, or is this all pointing to needing to replace the print head?
thank you

 

[PandaPie]

here is a pic of the banding as well. its really only on cyan and yellow

 

[damonCA21]

The banding on the cyan is pretty obvious from the test print, but you also have nozzles missing on the yellow which is causing it. You can often get rid of it by changing your print options and quality. If you print using the W pass setting in Versaworks this takes more passes and can often hide banding. Also printing in higher quality can help

 

[PandaPie]

The banding on the cyan is pretty obvious from the test print, but you also have nozzles missing on the yellow which is causing it. You can often get rid of it by changing your print options and quality. If you print using the W pass setting in Versaworks this takes more passes and can often hide banding. Also printing in higher quality can help

i have tried high quality, does not alleviate the banding. what is the w pass?

 

[damonCA21]

Are you using versaworks? If you go into the print quality settings there will be two options, The default is CMYK-v and under that will be CMYK w pass. Change to that and see it if improves. You can also try setting the printer to overprint 1 or 2 times, which also helps cut down banding

 

[PandaPie]

Are you using versaworks? If you go into the print quality settings there will be two options, The default is CMYK-v and under that will be CMYK w pass. Change to that and see it if improves. You can also try setting the printer to overprint 1 or 2 times, which also helps cut down banding

thank you for your replies. so i get here but how do i change the mode?

 

[damonCA21]

Set it to high quality, and also change to uni direction, this should let you then set it to W pass

 

[PandaPie]

Set it to high quality, and also change to uni direction, this should let you then set it to W pass

hmm for some reason it still stays grey, where i cant change it. BUT i did *ignore default settings* and changed that to over print 2x and this is my result!
im going to keep trying, but i really want to thank you. i am kind of a beginner when it comes to messing with too many settings, and you really helped me a ton!

 

[garyroy]

How old is the printer? Is it still under warranty?

 

[damonCA21]

That is looking a lot better. Not sure why it is staying greyed out. Try some of the other settings, like setting to generic vinyl 2 etc... If you make a note of all your original settings then you can always go back to them, so you wont damage anything.

Oh also you can play with the specify profile at the bottom as different ones give different amount of ink. I set mine to density control only. This gives better results when printing most of the time. I think if you set to that it may let you change to w pass

You will notice when you use the overprint function you get much richer more solid colours. It does use more ink, but I think it is worth it for the increase in quality you get from it.

 

[damonCA21]

Doh just had a thought! I'm not sure if you can actually use W pass feature on the RF. You can on the SP and VP, but I think some of the newer printers you can't use it, but play with the profile settings at the bottom and see how they look

 

[damonCA21]

Lowering your head speed can also help with overbanding. I tend to run mine at 400

 

[damonCA21]

My settings I use would be :
Generic vinyl 1
High Quality
Uni Directional
Head Speed 400
Profile : Density Control Only
Apart from the W pass the other settings are the same as on yours

 

[PandaPie]

so my boss ordered a new set up, printhead and all. any suggestions on where to find a good video or instructions so i can understand what im going to be doing to fix this?

 

[damonCA21]

If you get the service manual it takes you through it step by step in there, and also the calibrations you will need to do afterwards

 

[PandaPie]

If you get the service manual it takes you through it step by step in there, and also the calibrations you will need to do afterwards

thank you. looking to find one now

 

[garyroy]

Get your boss to install the new print head.
He'll probably call a tech in after about 60 minutes.

 

[PandaPie]

Get your boss to install the new print head.
He'll probably call a tech in after about 60 minutes.

ugh. any advise on what to do first? like first replace the head, then the capping station, then dampers? does the order matter?