Need Help Color shifted mid print and can’t get it back

[Jharris81]

So I have printed multiple van wraps of this same design so the file I have has been used and has worked well. I printed one run for the first van which was fine. Then a few days later went to print the second van and the gradient started to shift from blue to magenta. Test print is fine (atleast not changed since last run) almost looks like it’s not getting enough ink maybe. Also has vertical banding.

 

[MikePro]

what printer?
looks like ink starvation to me.

sometimes the carts say they have more ink than they actually do, and i've pulled it out to shake & its bone dry.
another ink starvation of mine way on my old mimaki, and the capping station wasn't refreshing ink-siphon of the lines/heads due to combination of bad gasket & cracked lines in the ink wastepump.

 

[Jharris81]

what printer?
looks like ink starvation to me.

sometimes the carts say they have more ink than they actually do, and i've pulled it out to shake & its bone dry.
another ink starvation of mine way on my old mimaki, and the capping station wasn't refreshing ink-siphon of the lines/heads due to combination of bad gasket & cracked lines in the ink wastepump.

It is an xc-540.

 

[Jharris81]

I did make sure all cartridges had ink. I looked at the dampers and they seem to be about 1/3 full on the cyan channel but do have ink in them

 

[netsol]

air bubbles in line?
it couldn't hurt to take a syringe and pull some ink through the appropriate (missing) color(s)
since it started out printing ok

 

[netsol]

shake cartridges before we begin an engineering project

 

[Jharris81]

I have taken a syringe and pulled ink through the print head from the cap top tubing. This head is a new head with new dampers as of a month ago.

 

[Jharris81]

So I was able to run a test print in service mode and this showed up on the more detail print. The light cyan has two missing areas. Why does this not show up on a regular test print. Could this be the problem?

 

[Jim Hancock]

It looks like you are missing the entire cyan channel and the light cyan looks like it has issues. You should print the fill test in service mode. That will tell you a lot more. Look for banding while printing and look at the edges of each color after printing. The edges should be crisp, not soft and no overspray. Service menu - print menu - test pattern - fill test.

 

[Jharris81]

It looks like you are missing the entire cyan channel and the light cyan looks like it has issues. You should print the fill test in service mode. That will tell you a lot more. Look for banding while printing and look at the edges of each color after printing. The edges should be crisp, not soft and no overspray. Service menu - print menu - test pattern - fill test.

oh yes, I had pulled the cyan dampers off to pull ink through them thinking it was the cyan channel and that was right after I did that. The cyan is printing fine with the test print. I will print the fill test and see what it shows.

 

[Jharris81]

So this is the result and of course now I’m missing one side of my black head.

 

[netsol]

it is very easy to crack a nipple on the manifold.
they are fragile like your grandmother's christmas ornaments

 

[Jim Hancock]

Hopefully you kept the old head. If it's a cracked nipple, as suggested by Netsol, you can use the manifold from that head. Also, a tip on filling dampers - hold the damper upside down when filling it, as you can get more ink in the damper. If the ink level in the damper is too close to the filter screen, you run the risk of it dropping enough during printing where the screen is exposed and you start drawing some air into the head, causing drop out.

 

[Jharris81]

Hopefully you kept the old head. If it's a cracked nipple, as suggested by Netsol, you can use the manifold from that head. Also, a tip on filling dampers - hold the damper upside down when filling it, as you can get more ink in the damper. If the ink level in the damper is too close to the filter screen, you run the risk of it dropping enough during printing where the screen is exposed and you start drawing some air into the head, causing drop out.

I do have an old print head that I can grab the manifold off of. I don't throw anything away. lol. I will check that and then I am ordering a new print head the the light cyan to see if that fixes the original problem.

 

[Jharris81]

Well I pulled the black print head apart and gave the manifold a “pressure” test with a syringe and it was not cracked. Put it back in and still missing whole side.

 

[Jim Hancock]

Check the ribbon cables to the head...