LEJ-640 FT UV Flatbed problems. Ending my silence

[Brian27]

What will the Roland Europe specialists say now???

Exactly. Roland is just completely full of **** and won't admit there is a glaring flaw with their design. Two different Roland techs tried two different RIPs on mine and the results were identical. They will literally tell you anything to blow you off for even one more day.

I feel like I have to keep reminding people who don't fully read this thread that Roland was completely unable to resolve our banding and when we demanded a replacement they said their in house demo did the same thing so a replacement wouldn't do us any good.

 

[WitWolfy]

Exactly. Roland is just completely full of **** and won't admit there is a glaring flaw with their design. Two different Roland techs tried two different RIPs on mine and the results were identical. They will literally tell you anything to blow you off for even one more day.

I feel like I have to keep reminding people who don't fully read this thread that Roland was completely unable to resolve our banding and when we demanded a replacement they said their in house demo did the same thing so a replacement wouldn't do us any good.

Funny thing is when I print black.. like 100% black it looks awesome, no banding, no nothing.. but give me light grays or blues and it all goes to Hell. You can see every finger print and ever scratch, blows my mind!!!

 

[BullDog613]

I've been putting off writing this for a couple months now due to the fact that Roland will definitely read it and probably provide even crappier customer service than they have been, but at this point I'm realizing it doesn't get much worse so to hell with it. This will however be the ultra condensed short version just to see if anyone out there can help me where Roland has failed spectacularly.

There are a number of issues with this printer, but the main one is that it produces really bad vertical banding and bizarre horizontal lines every 5" or so. It's most noticeable with solid colors but it's always there regardless of what is printed. There have been 3 Denco techs and 2 Roland techs fly out to try and figure it out. One of which was the lead product manager for the FT series. None have been able to figure out the problem or improve the result in any way. They've replaced some of the heads, dampers, caps as well as the belt pulleys because they thought it was related to some sort of vibration in the belt.

I personally have tried literally everything since I got the printer in August and have gone well beyond what any normal person would do to try and help find the problem including hundreds of hours of test prints and thousands in wasted ink/media. Since the last Roland tech came out on the 22nd of November and couldn't fix it, they essentially ignored all communications from myself and Denco until they finally came up with a "solution" a month later that supposedly worked for another customer with a brand new 640 who had the same issue. This was merely unplugging one of the uv lamps which is something I already tried moths ago and doesn't work. Plus it requires you to always be in service mode. The banding and defects are still present, they're just masked because the print becomes more glossy because it isn't cured properly.

I detailed all of this in an email to them the same day along with pictures. They then, finally, decided it was time for replacement. They said last week they we're going to send me samples from the printer they'd be replacing it with (their demo) and if I approved them they would move forward. However, yesterday they sent a Denco tech out here to run some test prints to send to Roland. Turns out these tests are simply the same test I ran two weeks ago with the lamp unplugged. Do they not believe it doesnt work? Do they think I'm just an idiot? Does it really matter how my FT prints with their rigged solution? I don't get it.

At this point I fear this printer simply isn't capable of printing without banding. They say this issue is isolated to mine, and one other guy's, but if that was the case, then why not simply replace the printer without making me jump through 4 months of ridiculous hoops for a brand new $80,000 printer? If it's just mine, then why do they need samples of their ghetto rigged solution unless theirs produces the same defects?

I'm at a loss at this point. I would have preferred if they'd just fixed this one considering the ordeal it's going to be setting up a new one and getting rid of this one but I honestly don't think they have a clue as to what is causing it or if can even be fixed at all.

What are your guys' thoughts, ideas, input?

I've been putting off writing this for a couple months now due to the fact that Roland will definitely read it and probably provide even crappier customer service than they have been, but at this point I'm realizing it doesn't get much worse so to hell with it. This will however be the ultra condensed short version just to see if anyone out there can help me where Roland has failed spectacularly.

There are a number of issues with this printer, but the main one is that it produces really bad vertical banding and bizarre horizontal lines every 5" or so. It's most noticeable with solid colors but it's always there regardless of what is printed. There have been 3 Denco techs and 2 Roland techs fly out to try and figure it out. One of which was the lead product manager for the FT series. None have been able to figure out the problem or improve the result in any way. They've replaced some of the heads, dampers, caps as well as the belt pulleys because they thought it was related to some sort of vibration in the belt.

I personally have tried literally everything since I got the printer in August and have gone well beyond what any normal person would do to try and help find the problem including hundreds of hours of test prints and thousands in wasted ink/media. Since the last Roland tech came out on the 22nd of November and couldn't fix it, they essentially ignored all communications from myself and Denco until they finally came up with a "solution" a month later that supposedly worked for another customer with a brand new 640 who had the same issue. This was merely unplugging one of the uv lamps which is something I already tried moths ago and doesn't work. Plus it requires you to always be in service mode. The banding and defects are still present, they're just masked because the print becomes more glossy because it isn't cured properly.

I detailed all of this in an email to them the same day along with pictures. They then, finally, decided it was time for replacement. They said last week they we're going to send me samples from the printer they'd be replacing it with (their demo) and if I approved them they would move forward. However, yesterday they sent a Denco tech out here to run some test prints to send to Roland. Turns out these tests are simply the same test I ran two weeks ago with the lamp unplugged. Do they not believe it doesnt work? Do they think I'm just an idiot? Does it really matter how my FT prints with their rigged solution? I don't get it.

At this point I fear this printer simply isn't capable of printing without banding. They say this issue is isolated to mine, and one other guy's, but if that was the case, then why not simply replace the printer without making me jump through 4 months of ridiculous hoops for a brand new $80,000 printer? If it's just mine, then why do they need samples of their ghetto rigged solution unless theirs produces the same defects?

I'm at a loss at this point. I would have preferred if they'd just fixed this one considering the ordeal it's going to be setting up a new one and getting rid of this one but I honestly don't think they have a clue as to what is causing it or if can even be fixed at all.

What are your guys' thoughts, ideas, input?

 

[BullDog613]

Do you still have this machine? Did they resolve the issue. I have the same machine with similar problems and more

 

[ProColorGraphics]

Wish I could help. This post really makes me glad I went with the Fuji LED1600!

 

[mleg1972]

Yellow trouble



If you haven't already done it, flush the ink lines before you change the dampers.

In my cases, the problems started with EcoUV2 ink lot# 5A19D1B101 exp. Oct/18 2016

If you are very unlucky, the filter in the printhead manifold can also be clogged.

After using ink from different lots, the problem doesn't seem to return.

The UV4 inks clear this up

Sent from my Moto Z (2) using Tapatalk

 

[daplemac]

Hi everyone, I RESOLVED IT, I know the post is old but I want to report my experience to help someone who still has these problems.

I recently bought a used Roland LEJ-640 Hybrid with ECOUV2 ink, from 2018 but ideal for my work and for the spaces I have, and I immediately had the exact same problems as Brian27, I'm using it with onyx but the technician who installed it immediately configured it with the same resolutions proposed by Roland, for example 360x720 - 720x1080 - 720x1440dpi, therefore resolutions with a non-square point.

Reading the various comments here, Maravac comment made me suppose that the problem is in the print resolution and so I created a new 720x720dpi profile from scratch with a head speed of 760 mm/s in onyx (in versaworks it is not possible) and finally all the problems have disappeared, now any background of any color is perfect, the print is slightly more grainy but the quality is still excellent, small characters are perfect even negatives, I also made a 1440x1440 profile but the machine becomes too slow and the difference in quality compared is really minimal so I will not use it.

Also the problem of lines caused by the pressure of the pinch rollers that is seen especially on pvc forex, I understood that the printing environment must necessarily have a fairly high humidity above 60% and for this reason I mounted a humidifier above the machine that I turn on on dry days, the problem has disappeared.
Also, before printing, I clean all the panels with a spray bottle with water and diluted in isopropyl alcohol and even the problems of light electrostatic charge have disappeared.

I hope to help someone who still has this machine, which in my opinion works well if you do not need to do large productions.