Fixing Printer Problems

[mudmedia]

After you have a print and you see banding, graininess basically a problem in the print etc and need to go back to figure out what the problem is or do basic profiling and calibrating your printer again. What do you do?

Print a new file as a test print? How big do you make the prints to make sure your resolving the issue?

Print the panel over that you see but scale it down to not print full waste of material?

Trying to calibrate my roland but not sure if I open up a file thats 12"x12" will it tell me my problem and if I fix it on that print will it fix it on full scale stuff or do I print full scale art and just tile it down in the rip?

What techniques do you guys use for test prints / calibrating printers?

 

[OlsonSigns601]

I've got a ValueJet 1204. We clean it weekly or when needed.

I don't do any test prints unless my customer questions my color matching capabilities. Pantones print perfectly, color on my screen look very close to what prints.

If I get any banding, its generally going to be a clogged nozzle or something not working right with the media motor. Cleaning a sensor or adjusting the motor may be needed but I have not had to do that in several months.

 

[IronHawk]

On my Seikos, banding usually either signifies a clogged nozzle or a feed issue. After a material has been set up on the printer, graininess is usually feed for me and a slight adjustment normally takes care of it. If it is a new material and the job is a rush and I tried to slip it through on a similar material's settings due to deadline, I might have to try and confirm my bi-di's are accurate and then go back to do a solid calibration before the next run.