Problem Light Pass Banding/ Ink Starvation???

[Michael Lee]

Hi Everyone
I Have just Joined Signs 101 on the recommendation of a friend as Im to my wits end and i don't know where to go with this problem.
I Have 2 x VG540 roland truevis Machines running the new TR2 Ink set and firmware update these machines are running dual CMYK and for the last few years we have been dealing with light pass band or ink starvation problem and it happens alot on large solid colour images. I Have tried Different profiles, Unidirectional and half head speed options but i cannot get to the bottom of this. We have warranty on the 2 machines and the stance from roland is that because the machines are located on a mezzanine floor they are putting it done to environmental issues ie Heat humidity Static ect. I have recorded our temps around the machine during the day and noted 20 to 22 degrees C.
I Have attached some Pictures of the problem and any feedback would be gratefully appreciated.
Forgot to add this problem was happening with the old inkset too.
Many Thanks Mick

 

[antant77]

Hey Michael!

Welcome to Signs 101!

Where do I begin with this one!....Ok, so I had an older Roland VS640...I had a Roland Tech put a new head in it, new dampers and a new cap top...A few days later I noticed EXACTLY what your showing in my solid prints....I contacted them immediately and ultimately got nowhere as they suggested the same as they suggested for you...some outside factor that is causing it....It was an intermittent issue and was at the mercy of the tech....a year or so passed and it was NOT going away...this time I reached out to Roland directly....my machine was WAY outside of its warranty as it was a older machine...BUT, because I had a tech do the repairs AND the fact that I had MULTIPLE emails as proof over the course of the year and a half proving Ive reached out to my tech at least once a month or so, they entertained my complaint and offered me help even though I was way outside of a warranty on my machine....

They had an engineer from Roland come to my shop for free to look over the printer....it led nowhere however as the engineer said it was a "feed" issue...THIS, after admitting he didnt have any experience with my particular machine...(which I didnt understand to be honestly because Roland knew exactly what machine I had and sent someone that wasnt familiar with my machine?? right...) So, after him admitting that and obviously looking and coming off as puzzled, he said it was a "feed" issue...I countered with one fact...I asked him how it was a feed issue if the print looks perfect in every other regard...meaning there was ZERO issues or areas where there were any noticeable screw ups in the text we printed, even looking at it thru his microscope he had...once I asked that, he said he was going to go back and discuss with his team....

about a month or so later, I reached out to them because they were not getting back to me...Roland then responded that I needed a new printhead and that was their final "diagnosis" about my issue...I then asked....wouldnt that be on my Roland tech to fix being I have emails to them within the first hour after the tech put all new heads in my printer? Roland then said they will contact someone higher up (I thought I was as high as it went at this point) after another month I reached out AGAIN and they sent me a pricing sheet for a new head replacement...as if none of the history or issues to date mattered...

I ultimately fixed the issue by selling my Roland and bought a Epson S60600.... It fixed the starvation issue immediately!

I expressed to my tech and roland how they let their brand become the bottom of the barrel...I also have a BN20 and up until this starvation banding that NOBODY from Roland was able to correct I loved their products and software...I had to learn a whole new brand and software and it has been totally worth it!!!

Heres the ass kicker...My buddy owns a sign shop and owned a Roland TruVis VG....He had the EXACT issues you and I had and his machine was brand new....I even referenced my buddies name when talking to Roland and they knew about his issues and nobody from Roland knows what it is....Roland even sent him a brand new printer, new inks and still had the issues....

My buddy now has an Epson S80600...... after Him and I went to another print shop to take a look at the Epsons they had, we were both sold on switching to Epson....The print shop we went to said they were having issues with their new VG and threatened Roland to come pick it up or they were leaving it in middle of the street....That is after them not being able to get Roland out there for weeks....

To Date...I have yet to hear what actually was causing those starvation bands in mostly solid prints....Roland definitely doesnt know and everything you hear is being blamed on environmental conditions and or bad rolls of vinyl....all of which is not the case...

 

[Michael Lee]

HI Antant77
Many Thanks for your detailed Reply . it helps alot knowing it's not just me or our environment.
Out of interest what inkset config was you running ??? Dual Cmyk or seven colour. As it seems in the uk this problem is around the dual cmyk setup and solid Colours. We Have a Engineer out on thursday to convert our dual cmyk to seven colour to see if that helps.
The Kicker is If this ink set up helps it cannot be environmental.
Must Admit i really do like the machine and software when running correctly. However i cannot afford to continue like this. I will see what this thursday brings with the new Inkset config and i will let you know.
Many Many thanks again for your input
Michael

 

[Billings Sign Pro]

I have the same issue with our VG2-640 and using TR2 inks. It happens more when I am at a lower pass or my ink percentage is lower. Sometimes it happens out of the blue with our normal settings. When we don't have that issue we have the issue with the ink not drying fast enough with darker colors. Since we have only caught it on one material Roland and our service person is blaming it on the vinyl. I hope you were able to get your issue fixed.

 

[Michael Lee]

I have the same issue with our VG2-640 and using TR2 inks. It happens more when I am at a lower pass or my ink percentage is lower. Sometimes it happens out of the blue with our normal settings. When we don't have that issue we have the issue with the ink not drying fast enough with darker colors. Since we have only caught it on one material Roland and our service person is blaming it on the vinyl. I hope you were able to get your issue fixed.

Hi Billings sign pro
We had our vg 540 machines converted to 7 colour and i thought we had cured the problem. but it reared its head again . we did some tests on different settings gen vinyl 1 and gen vinyl2 which seemed to give better results so we made a custom profile based on this. but its happened again today.
This problem has been ongoing for 2 years now on and off on the 2 machines we have. its doing my head in. Going to download caldera on my mac to see if versaworks has something to do with it.
Any thoughts from yourself would be greatly appreciated.
Mick

 

[Billings Sign Pro]

Hi Billings sign pro
We had our vg 540 machines converted to 7 colour and i thought we had cured the problem. but it reared its head again . we did some tests on different settings gen vinyl 1 and gen vinyl2 which seemed to give better results so we made a custom profile based on this. but its happened again today.
This problem has been ongoing for 2 years now on and off on the 2 machines we have. its doing my head in. Going to download caldera on my mac to see if versaworks has something to do with it.
Any thoughts from yourself would be greatly appreciated.
Mick

With ours we usually have issues with ink not drying and coming up on the backer, I turned down the passes from 10 to 9. When I turned it down to 9 we started having the issue that I showed up above. When I changed it back to 10 passes it went away. In order to counter our first issue about ink not drying I made our ink percentage from 100% on all inks to 90% the issue came back with the color difference. We have hit a spot where we have no idea how to fix our issue although this issue with the color difference does happen every once in a while and is rare. Roland has declared it is our material. We use Avery 1105 material.