having trouble printing in 4 pass bi

[Print Com]

LOL. yet another problem. I have a mimaki jv3 160. currently running production house 7. My question is when I run 4 pass bi. it seems like it runs good for awhile, then looks like it is starving for ink.If you look at pic. It almost looks like it went to 2 pass. I am not sure why this is. I provided a pic of part of the print where is was running good then. the red starts fading like its starving for ink. Just baffled on why this is. sometimes is starts right away and sometime I can print part or whole job. If anybody could chime in that would be great.

Thanks in advance

 

[97GTB]

Have you checked your test draw? Looks like drop out.

 

[Print Com]

Have you checked your test draw? Looks like drop out.

I ran a test draw and the cyan is misfiring on a couple of nozzles, but everything else is perfect.

oh, what do you mean by drop outs too.

thanks

 

[MikePro]

ink dropout occurs when the siphon effect that feeds the printhead is interrupted and the printer has no ability to tell if it's actually laying down ink so it just keeps printing assuming that it is firing ink when its supposed to.

caused by, but not limited to:
-empty ink cartridge still registering "1" on the ink levels
-air bubble in the ink line
-broken seal at any of the ink line connections
-broken manifold between the damper/printhead
-clogged/damaged damper
-capping station not making proper connection with printhead when it goes to refresh the siphon
-ink pump not properly operating and refreshing the siphon
-gremlins

run a fillupink, and listen carefully... you may hear a hissing noise at the capping station and that will most likely be your answer.
run a fillupink, and watch carefully... you may see an air bubble come down through the lines into your damper

if you've messed with the dampers at all recently, then the manifold is most likely your culprit.
if you've never messed with the dampers, then maybe its time to replace them.

if you're ink cartridge is at "1/10", then you're most likely just out of ink but your machine is mis-reading the levels.

 

[nashvillesigns]

+1

 

[Print Com]

I changed the encoder strip today an now I am getting this. Thought I fixed problem but I guess not. And it also is printing at a diagonal when I went to see if print heads were calibrated. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

 

[vinylbytim]

I would change back the encoder strip and start checking the dampers, manifolds, and lines. I just had one of my Black lines break in the carridge out of no where the other day. I still have the top of my machine apart just to keep an eye on things.

 

[Print Com]

Would be the dampners, manifold causing this. I would thought that would be caused by over ink. The print looks like its it's just out of register a lot. How can you tell if the dampners and manifold are bad.

Thanks

 

[MikePro]

new photos data related.
...which is confusing, since your first post I was almost certain you were just getting ink dropout, but now I think you've got 2 gremlins on your hands:

you changed the encoder strip? did you check the sensor?
I'd bet, that you may still have ink dropout issues but you've now released the can of worms and you've got encoder issues, as well. Assuming you installed the new encoder strip properly, and assuming you have all print modes aligned, I'd bet there's hair/fuzz/ink-dusting on the sensor:
-Find the encoder sensor, its the C-shaped thing on the back of the carriage, held on by 2 gold screws, that cups the encoder strip.
-Remove it, and see if there's a clean/clear LED bulb and an opposing white square and nothing inhibiting the light.
-if there IS ink on it, don't clean it outright with solution... water/isopropyl will do

 

[MikePro]

isolating ink dropout is kinda hard.
pardon the rant, but I don't have any short answers for stuff like this

my first time, I just ran a complete head wash and observed everything:
when one of the lines drained slower than the other, it was an easy catch and then listening to it while it filled back up with solution/fluid I heard a hissing sound above the capping station/printhead & inside the carriage but swapping dampers on the printhead and even replacing the dampers didn't resolve... and then reading about how manifolds can crack easily when you are rough with the dampers, I then realized that ...while trying to fix another problem recently, installing a completely different printhead I had damaged when the cutting blade unscrewed itself and buried itself into my black printhead... I may had done more damage to my printer in the process... So, as a long-shot, I replaced the manifold, and is still printing great today!

 

[particleman]

There is a reason Mimaki started putting high flow dampers on the SPII revision JV3. We could never get this print mode to work without ink starving on the original JV3 160. It was pretty obviously running out of ink, but ran like a champ at 8 pass. Have you used this mode before with this much ink coverage? My first though is you'll need to move up to the high flow dampers or settle for 8 pass.

As far as encoder, yeah something isn't installed right with that. An encoder strip is very simple, it has very tiny ticks you can see if you look close. The sensor simply counts these moving back and forth. If it counts 10,000 ticks moving left then 9,900 the other way you'll effectively have what you're seeing. You possibly don't have the strip properly positioned so it is not reading a chunk of the strip somewhere I'm guessing, hence the large offset in passes. Specifically check the ends for something out of place.

 

[Chipemulator]

Hello

You first picture dated 17/3/2013 apparently shows that machine changes from 4 passes to 2 passes on the middle of job (The LCD still showing 4P)
That problem is extremelly rare but is possible and It´s related with Linear encoder.
All the other pictures are showing problems with linear encoder.
Maybe you have problem on it on on linear encoder reader.


regards
www.chipemulator.com