black in spots and overspray

[Msrae]

I have read up on a few posts about overspray.

I have done 2 manual cleans, also took an led light and checked for lint. I did happen to find two stray teeny tiny pieces of fiber. I removed all that I could see and printed again. Still getting this bad black print. Does it still look like it could be lint? I am also getting what almost appears to be "drag" marks where the ink is dragging in lines across the vinyl.

It was printing fine on this media with this profile about 2 weeks ago.

Any ideas on what to try next? I know I also have some black drop out. The test print has looked like this since I purchased the machine.

(ps - yes, I know the magenta is out on the second test print, it ran out on the last full clean I ran).

 

[Msrae]

Well, I brought my test print into my local supplier (Regional Supply) and they were pretty helpful. They suggest this is not lint but rather a print head issue. Figured I would post up the outcome for anyone else who might want to know.

Their suggestion:

Do a manual clean, take the swab and saturate it with cleaning fluid and dab/hold it on the print head (do not rub the head ) bring it back to park mode and let it sit for a bit, then do a few powerful cleans.

Going to try this and let you know the outcome. Hopefully my black printhead isn't just dying

 

[rjssigns]

Whose ink are you using? I only ask because some inks don't have real swift quality control and oversize pigment particles can cause what you are experiencing. Ask me how I know.

 

[Msrae]

I have the Roland eco-sol inks (at least the black is). I have been slowly changing them out as I run out of inks. The new brand I have been switching to is Solaris Max-Live Genesis. However, both of my black cartridges are still the original Roland brand. Which brand did you have issues with?

 

[walters signs]

did the ink head swabbing work?

 

[Msrae]

In the long run, I got if fixed. The best fix was actually the suggestion of taking a bright led light and shining it on the heads. I found a teeny tiny thread there. I think that may have been the culprit. I did another head swab, and another cleaning. The print looks great now.

 

[DRamm76]

I have the Roland eco-sol inks (at least the black is). I have been slowly changing them out as I run out of inks. The new brand I have been switching to is Solaris Max-Live Genesis. However, both of my black cartridges are still the original Roland brand. Which brand did you have issues with?

So you're not actually flushing the machine properly when switching to the 3rd party inks but rather just pulling the empty cartridge out and replacing it with something else and mixing? That's worse than using 3rd party alone.

Are the heads capped properly? I would do medium cleanings over a powerful any time. You're going to be wasting a ton of ink with powerful cleanings. But then again, since 3rd party ink is so much cheaper it won't matter right?

 

[Msrae]

So you're not actually flushing the machine properly when switching to the 3rd party inks but rather just pulling the empty cartridge out and replacing it with something else and mixing? That's worse than using 3rd party alone.

Are the heads capped properly? I would do medium cleanings over a powerful any time. You're going to be wasting a ton of ink with powerful cleanings. But then again, since 3rd party ink is so much cheaper it won't matter right?

Actually, I am going back to OEM inks. I did a little research and decided this was a better way to go for me.

Yes, the heads are capped properly. The print now looks just fine. Thanks for your help.

My supplier never said a thing to me about not mixing inks, so I was unaware that this would be a problem. Thanks for the heads up. I will keep that in mind if I ever decide to go 3rd party ink again.