MAJOR Magenta overspray no matter what color I print.

[IsItFasst]

See attachment. Been having all kinds of problems trying to get this machine back up (this is the latest). Finally traced the problem down to the board needing repaired.

After the repair the head prints now but magenta is spraying everywhere. The test print shows me printing just a black bar about 1 inch thick by about 12 inches long. Same results for any color I print. The head was new a month or so ago but I never got it to print correctly due to the board issue. Now I'm not sure what is going on. Test print show a bunch of magenta in the black with very faint lines of magenta across the rest of the test print. On less "solid" color prints the magenta lines are faint but still very noticeable. It seems when printing something like a solid block of color the magenta overspray is much thicker.

 

[player]

What does the system test print look like?

 

[kffernandez]

that is not overspray. that is a result of a grounded/shorted connection on/to the head.
turn your printer off immediately. double check your cable connections. if you're lucky, it's just a matter of reseating your cables.

kelly

 

[IsItFasst]

The cables from the carriage board to the head are new. I just checked them to make sure they were okay (unplugged them and plugged them all back in). And the print is still the same. I suppose I could try the old cables to make sure I don't have a bad one but sure that isn't the problem. Possible bad board repair? Or bad (new) head? Attached is a test print.

 

[IsItFasst]

Here is the latest: Sent the board back for repair for what could possibly fix it (D/A converter changed out). That didn't fix it so I bought ANOTHER new head and that didn't fix it either. So I'm on my 3rd head, second carriage board, main board has been repaired twice. Replaced all the cables on the head to carriage board (and went back to the originals to be safe) and still having the same problem. What else could this be? At this point the only thing I can think it could be would be the damage or repairs on the main board are causing an issue and needs to be replaced with a new board. But really hate to spend another few thousand on something else that doesn't fix it. This machine has "broke the bank"....especially since it is my slow season.

 

[IsItFasst]

To make things even more confusing, I just so happen to have an extra, brand new print carriage board laying around (was sent an extra by mistake). So I decided to install it just to make sure the one I just replaced wasn't the problem. Well the print results are different....what the heck?!?!? While it is still printing magenta when it shouldn't be, it is printing it much heavier than the other board did and sharply "cuts off" within the Magenta and Light Cyan (see attachment) in the test print. This was so odd that I put the other board back on just to double check and it went back to printing with the "less" magenta again. And don't worry about the drop out...that is from the new head not being completely primed when these were printed.

 

[IsItFasst]

I guess this machine is going in the dumpster.

 

[Ragnabrok]

you mention sending the boards out for repair... where are they being sent? anytime i get something more than a popped fuse i replace the board, though the board at fault isn't always easy to find.

 

[IsItFasst]

Well my thought was to simply replace the main board but now that I am having different results from two different (brand new) carriage boards I am not confident a new board will will fix the problem. My original plan was to order a new main board last week until these carriage boards started showing different results. Now I figure that will be another few grand down the drain. A place called mac media out of NY does board repair.

 

[bilge]

I couldn't find model?

 

[bilge]

I had 2 RA640, after 3 printheads replacement, 2 print carriage board, flex data cables 3 long, 4 short it turns out faulty crop sensor board.
You would also check the linear encoder board too.

 

[IsItFasst]

It's a Roland VS-640.

Are you saying the crop sensor was causing a color to spray crazy like my samples? Seems kind of odd for that sensor to have anything to do with actually printing but considering that sensor is only about $20 I'd be willing to try it. Still not sure why the 2 different carriage boards are giving different results though.

 

[bilge]

Yes, it was odd. RA640 is identical to VS640 but cutter exempt and only 4 color print. When left Cyan 3rd channel spraying, guys here advised me change flex data cables and carriage board. I did, but it changed to right Cyan 6th Yellow 7th channels. Then I thought I need to change everything connected to the carriage board. I started from crop sensor board from another RA 640 then it worked normally. I'm not engineer, since here no techs I need to dig it by myself. I think, your crop sensor board is connected to the cutter board. I guess there is some short circuit affect your print carriage board performance.

 

[IsItFasst]

That is really odd but it is a cheap thing to try out so I'll order one today. I'll report back with (hopefully good) results.

 

[IsItFasst]

Well I will say unplugging that sensor did nothing to change the test print. But maybe if the sensor is fried it would be the same as unplugging it. As I said, it's a cheap fix so I'll try it anyway (even though it looks like it could be time consuming to change out).

 

[It's A Word Of Art]

This sounds a lot like an issue we had with our SC-545ex. We had random blue lines print all the time. Here is what we replaced to fix it I believe: Main Board, Power board, Head Carriage Board and Head Cables I believe. It was a combo of all that. It came back for a short spurt after that, but knock on wood we haven't had the issue since. Did you try (gently) moving the head cables so that say the cyan cable is in the magenta head? Basically trace to see if the problem follows the cable, or the head?


Edit: And to add, ours also began with Cyan overspray. Make sure to reduce any and all static issues you can with your machine.

 

[bilge]

This sounds a lot like an issue we had with our SC-545ex. We had random blue lines print all the time. Here is what we replaced to fix it I believe: Main Board, Power board, Head Carriage Board and Head Cables I believe. It was a combo of all that. It came back for a short spurt after that, but knock on wood we haven't had the issue since. Did you try (gently) moving the head cables so that say the cyan cable is in the magenta head? Basically trace to see if the problem follows the cable, or the head?


Edit: And to add, ours also began with Cyan overspray. Make sure to reduce any and all static issues you can with your machine.

Yes we all try to help each other. But should be aware what is talking about. Soljet pro II has DX4 printhead vs VS DX7. Finding problem is far more difficult. I changed these things, cost me almost a 10 grand. What does it mean 'the cyan cable is in the magenta head'? It is only one head costs 2000-2500 US$ with 8 channels and 3 x 29 pin cable and 1 x 28 pin cable connected for controlling 4, 6 or 8 colors.
Only one channel is down, have to change the printhead no matter others were perfect.

 

[IsItFasst]

Figured I'd update for reference. I ended up replacing the 3 long ribbon cables from the main board to the carriage board and that fixed it. Not sure why 2 different carriage boards were giving different results but I supposed one fitting on the board may have been slightly different than the other causing the short. I swapped them back and forth several times with the matching results to each board each time which is what was so odd. Oh well...it's working now.