Warped&Proud
New Member
Hi,
We have a JV3 250SP that has been acting up lately. The heads and pump are fine, with no perceptible drop-out noticeable. In short, print quality is good, with a couple very specific exceptions.
First issue:
Over-all print alignment/registration settings will, on occasion, go completely wonky. After shutting it down (unplugging, etc.) and letting the machine rest for 30 minutes, they come back basically fine.
Second issue:
At a specific distance from the right edge of the printable region, a set of vertical double lines appear in the print, about 1/16th of an inch thick. They are slightly lighter than the over-all color of the print and carry through the entire print (beginning to end). It does not mater if you move the print file around, rotate, whatever, the lines still appear at the exact same distance from the edge of the paper. Measuring from the right, everything after those lines is slightly out of registration.
Three more sets of double lines of the same width appear at a regular distance from the first set, each cast to a different shade (cyan, magenta, yellow). They are the same width as the first set, spaced about 4 inches from each other. After the last set of double lines, everything is BACK in registration.
Again, it does not mater what type of file is printed or where it is located in relation to the over-all printed region.
I've checked the obvious.
a) It is not something left behind by the feeding rollers, as that would be darker - not lighter as is happening in this case.
b) It's not the heads dropping out, as the light lines are in the wrong direction (vertical, against the grain of the print).
c) It's not the paper, as we tried three different rolls with the same exact result in the same exact location.
d) This is a recent issue that has just cropped in yesterday and this morning. It's worse this morning after a cold boot.
Third issue:
The print start location will, depending on the JV3's whim, "creep" to the right or left slightly, at a rate of about 1/8 of an inch per yard.
The paper isn't shifting - we checked. It's like the machine has forgot where to start printing.
This issue goes away with a cold boot of the printer and seems related to out fourth and fifth issues.
Fourth issue (rare, related to very large/long prints):
After printing bidirectional for a short distance (a couple feet to a couple yards), the printer caddy will behave as if it is printing bidirectional, but the ink only comes out on the outgoing pass.
The size of the pass changes from about 1/4" to a full inch in thickness and the over-all ink coverage drops by 50% for a couple passes and then nothing. No ink output at all. Zero, nada, nothing.
These are clean, exact steps with no messy residue - pass thickness change and ink 50% drop, two inches, no ink output after that point.
If you stop it, and do a test drop, the caddy behaves as if it is doing a test drop, but no ink comes out. Zero, nothing at all. Not even a streaky mess. If it was the heads, you would have a little bit of SOMETHING come out.
Again, the heads are FINE! Dampers are full! Lines are not dry! It is as if the heads are not getting a command to actually drop ink.
Cold boot, and everything is back to normal - for a while as long as the print size is not too big.
Fifth issue:
Similar to the prev. issue, an EPS with a lot of white space. A few inches just before is gets to the white space and tries to start advancing past to continue the print, it will stop, Waite and then print at 50% opacity.
It then advances to the start of the next bit it actually needs to lay ink down for and continues to print at 50% opacity for a few inches before it starts laying ink down at full opacity.
Anyway...
I am at my whit's end with this machine. I have effectively declared it off-line until I can figure out what is wrong, and what needs to happen to fix it.
<meek voice> Help...
We have a JV3 250SP that has been acting up lately. The heads and pump are fine, with no perceptible drop-out noticeable. In short, print quality is good, with a couple very specific exceptions.
First issue:
Over-all print alignment/registration settings will, on occasion, go completely wonky. After shutting it down (unplugging, etc.) and letting the machine rest for 30 minutes, they come back basically fine.
Second issue:
At a specific distance from the right edge of the printable region, a set of vertical double lines appear in the print, about 1/16th of an inch thick. They are slightly lighter than the over-all color of the print and carry through the entire print (beginning to end). It does not mater if you move the print file around, rotate, whatever, the lines still appear at the exact same distance from the edge of the paper. Measuring from the right, everything after those lines is slightly out of registration.
Three more sets of double lines of the same width appear at a regular distance from the first set, each cast to a different shade (cyan, magenta, yellow). They are the same width as the first set, spaced about 4 inches from each other. After the last set of double lines, everything is BACK in registration.
Again, it does not mater what type of file is printed or where it is located in relation to the over-all printed region.
I've checked the obvious.
a) It is not something left behind by the feeding rollers, as that would be darker - not lighter as is happening in this case.
b) It's not the heads dropping out, as the light lines are in the wrong direction (vertical, against the grain of the print).
c) It's not the paper, as we tried three different rolls with the same exact result in the same exact location.
d) This is a recent issue that has just cropped in yesterday and this morning. It's worse this morning after a cold boot.
Third issue:
The print start location will, depending on the JV3's whim, "creep" to the right or left slightly, at a rate of about 1/8 of an inch per yard.
The paper isn't shifting - we checked. It's like the machine has forgot where to start printing.
This issue goes away with a cold boot of the printer and seems related to out fourth and fifth issues.
Fourth issue (rare, related to very large/long prints):
After printing bidirectional for a short distance (a couple feet to a couple yards), the printer caddy will behave as if it is printing bidirectional, but the ink only comes out on the outgoing pass.
The size of the pass changes from about 1/4" to a full inch in thickness and the over-all ink coverage drops by 50% for a couple passes and then nothing. No ink output at all. Zero, nada, nothing.
These are clean, exact steps with no messy residue - pass thickness change and ink 50% drop, two inches, no ink output after that point.
If you stop it, and do a test drop, the caddy behaves as if it is doing a test drop, but no ink comes out. Zero, nothing at all. Not even a streaky mess. If it was the heads, you would have a little bit of SOMETHING come out.
Again, the heads are FINE! Dampers are full! Lines are not dry! It is as if the heads are not getting a command to actually drop ink.
Cold boot, and everything is back to normal - for a while as long as the print size is not too big.
Fifth issue:
Similar to the prev. issue, an EPS with a lot of white space. A few inches just before is gets to the white space and tries to start advancing past to continue the print, it will stop, Waite and then print at 50% opacity.
It then advances to the start of the next bit it actually needs to lay ink down for and continues to print at 50% opacity for a few inches before it starts laying ink down at full opacity.
Anyway...
I am at my whit's end with this machine. I have effectively declared it off-line until I can figure out what is wrong, and what needs to happen to fix it.
<meek voice> Help...
