Mimaki CJV150. Do I need 2 of each Cartridge to run 2x (Dual) CMYK?

[Myster Enigma]

Hi guys. So I had my Mimaki CJV150-75 for nearly a month now. At the time the tech guy told me that I only need 4 Cartridges (CMYK) to run in dual CMYK setup. At the moment I only have 4 cartridges in and the nozzle tests do show a dual CMYK print. The tech guy said putting in 2 of each colour won't make a difference and 4 cartridges is all I need.

Can someone tell me how true this is? The speed on the website states that the Mimaki is supposed to be way faster than my Roland VS540i but in reality it seems like the Roland is a lot faster. My roland has 2 of each colour in.

Can someone let me know if this is the case.

Thank you

 

[Neil]

The tech is right.
The second cart is just a reserve for when the first one runs out.
They are both joined by a T section.

FWIW, I have a bulk ink system and have been running with only 4 carts for about 4 years now.
The second slots have brand new, empty, refillable carts in them.
I just keep refilling the first cart in each slot. I figure the ink stays fresher this way too.

As far as speed goes - it probably is way faster, when you print with a way faster printmode.
It's whether it's acceptable or not though?

 

[Myster Enigma]

The tech is right.
The second cart is just a reserve for when the first one runs out.
They are both joined by a T section.

FWIW, I have a bulk ink system and have been running with only 4 carts for about 4 years now.
The second slots have brand new, empty, refillable carts in them.
I just keep refilling the first cart in each slot. I figure the ink stays fresher this way too.

As far as speed goes - it probably is way faster, when you print with a way faster printmode.
It's whether it's acceptable or not though?

Hi Neil. Thank you so much for your response as this definitely clears things up for me. I was looking at the Mimaki website and saw that there are 2 of each cartridge in the slots and didn't know whether it was for reserve or if they were both active making the print speeds faster. When you say a way faster printmode can you give me a few examples of what this may be? Right now I am running a profile prints at 540x 720dpi with a 6 pass. The profile I am using is a version 3.5sp which according to Mimaki is part of a high contrast series which prints 58% faster compared to normal profiles. I am pretty sure this means that I am currently using the fastest possible print method. Please correct me if I am wrong as I'm not super familiar with how Mimaki's work.

The results are passable but for some reason my VS540i running at 540x720 dpi at High Speed (Not sure what pass this is as Versaworks doesn't state it) seems to be printing much faster whilst laying down more ink which seems to be less grainy and almost as good as high quality mode. All in all the variation between speed and quality with the Roland seems to be minimal and high speed is the way to go. Whereas with the CJV150 speed really degrades the quality quite a lot.

I thought that the CJV150 would have been way faster than the VS series as it's much newer.

 

[iPrintStuff]

What are the actual physical settings on the printer? I think in setup you can fiddle around with the print quality. How big are the passes? Have you made sure “fast print” is enabled in the print settings on the pc? And bi-directional? Could be a whole host of things

 

[Myster Enigma]

What are the actual physical settings on the printer? I think in setup you can fiddle around with the print quality. How big are the passes? Have you made sure “fast print” is enabled in the print settings on the pc? And bi-directional? Could be a whole host of things

I don't think I've fiddled around with the settings on the actual printer and with the size of the passes I don't have a way of setting this. The detail tab is greyed out on the 6 pass. I'm using Rasterlink 6 so is Scan Speed and "Fast Print" the same thing? It's set to high on Scan Speed. Bi Directional is turned on. I may be making it sound like the printer is a lot slower than you'd think. It's only slow when compared to the Roland VS which I didn't think would be the case. In comparison at the fastest speed, the Roland seems to be printing over half an inch per pass with really good results. If I set the Mimaki to print around half an inch per pass the results will be quite poor.

Does this sound normal as a Mimaki user? I hope I've just got the wrong colour profile and can eventually set the Mimaki to print faster and better than the Roland.

Thanks

 

[iPrintStuff]

If it’s any help. We can run a 54” by 50m roll on a profile that still looks great and takes about 6.5 hours a roll.

 

[Myster Enigma]

If it’s any help. We can run a 54” by 50m roll on a profile that still looks great and takes about 6.5 hours a roll.

It might just be down to the profile I use. It's not really super important I suppose as the speed is still adequate. Thank you for your input. I do have a funny issue that happens from time to time and wonder if it's the same on your end. This has happened to my Mimaki twice so far and it seems quite serious. During printing, the index head (metal one that attaches to cutter and printhead carriage) would become detached and the printhead carriage would just slam right into it causing the media to jam! Is this a known problem because it can easily damage the components if this happens often enough and I think twice in under a month is already too much.

Thanks

 

[iPrintStuff]

Are you sure the media isn’t jamming first, causing the head to detach? I can’t see why those parts being detached would cause a media jam so it’s likely it’s crashing into the media then detaching.

But yeah, that needs to be addressed. If you damage the print head it won’t be a cheap fix lol. Is maybe just make sure the media is in straight, head is set correctly etc. Have you seen it happen? Any consistency between the two occasions? I.e start of a new job etc? Some media’s we need to pull through a bit first if they curl up.

 

[Myster Enigma]

Now that you put it that way I do think that maybe the media is rising up which causes this to happen lol I try to set the origin on the media so that it doesn't waste too much at the beginning of every print which might be the cause of this. However even mid way through a long print head strikes can still occur, even on thin media. Even though I have the vacuum power set to strong it just isn't as strong as it should be lol I think I'm just trying to do everything like the way I am doing with the Roland and that might not be a good idea. Thanks for your kind responses, I still have a lot to learn haha

 

[Neil]

Now that you put it that way I do think that maybe the media is rising up which causes this to happen lol I try to set the origin on the media so that it doesn't waste too much at the beginning of every print which might be the cause of this.

Yes, my CJV30 will do the same thing if I'm not careful to avoid it.
The front edge of the roll media can catch in one of the channels on the platen, causing it to dig in and rise up.
Nasty consequences.

I print everything with the head in high position, to avoid contact when printing.

 

[Myster Enigma]

Yes, my CJV30 will do the same thing if I'm not careful to avoid it.
The front edge of the roll media can catch in one of the channels on the platen, causing it to dig in and rise up.
Nasty consequences.

I print everything with the head in high position, to avoid contact when printing.

Yeah I'm sure it will cause some serious damage if it keeps happening. I traded in my CJV30 for the CJV150 not long ago and remembered there was a switch from thin to thick media on the print head carriage. I'm not sure how to raise the printhead on this one but will look into it. Are there any downsides to having the head in a higher position? All in all my experience with the Mimaki's is split. On one hand the technology and quality of the components are on a high level. On the other hand I seem to be getting a lot more problems than I'd like. I feel the Mimaki is over engineered causing almost every single process to be slower compared to the Roland. For example a simple function like setting the media origin point can take half a minute depending on where the index head was last placed. Having it set each pinch roller pressure is a great feature but it takes so much time especially when it doesn't make a huge difference.

 

[Neil]

Yeah I agree. I wish you could override having it re-set the pinch rollers every time. It's a slow PITA and I never alter them anyway.
You just have to get used to it's quirks. And there's a lot of them!

One thing I'm still not used to - after about 5 years of daily use - is that stupid Local/Remote setting!
So many times I come back after a while and wonder why it's not printing?? Forgot to press that Remote button again!!

 

[Myster Enigma]

Yeah I agree. I wish you could override having it re-set the pinch rollers every time. It's a slow PITA and I never alter them anyway.
You just have to get used to it's quirks. And there's a lot of them!

One thing I'm still not used to - after about 5 years of daily use - is that stupid Local/Remote setting!
So many times I come back after a while and wonder why it's not printing?? Forgot to press that Remote button again!!

Couldn't have said it better myself and that Local/Remote setting is definitely annoying. At the moment I don't feel super confident leaving the machine to print as I'm too paranoid incase something goes wrong. There are too many quirks which slow down the whole process. All in all if I had to do it over again I would have gotten the VS300i instead.

 

[iPrintStuff]

I cannot tell you the amount of times I’ve wandered off after hitting “rip and print” only to return 15 mins later and I’ve forgot to hit remote lol

 

[equippaint]

Couldn't have said it better myself and that Local/Remote setting is definitely annoying. At the moment I don't feel super confident leaving the machine to print as I'm too paranoid incase something goes wrong. There are too many quirks which slow down the whole process. All in all if I had to do it over again I would have gotten the VS300i instead.

My old Roland had plenty of annoyances as well. I leave my Mimaki alone to print all of the time.

 

[Myster Enigma]

My old Roland had plenty of annoyances as well. I leave my Mimaki alone to print all of the time.

I part exchanged my SP540v for the VS540i. I owned the SP540v for just one year but in that time it gave me minimal problems and ran like a tank everyday. I owned the CJV30-60 and I didn't end up using it due to the learning curve. After a whole year of inactivity the Mimaki's Ink lines dried up that's why I part exchanged it for the CJV150 and decided to learn how to use it properly. The Rolands will always be a simpler easier to use machine although not as technically superior. I think once I learn how to get round all the quirks of the Mimaki I will be more confident in it.

 

[JDC]

are you using rasterlink 6?

 

[Stunnar]

Yeah I agree. I wish you could override having it re-set the pinch rollers every time. It's a slow PITA and I never alter them anyway.
You just have to get used to it's quirks. And there's a lot of them!

One thing I'm still not used to - after about 5 years of daily use - is that stupid Local/Remote setting!
So many times I come back after a while and wonder why it's not printing?? Forgot to press that Remote button again!!

Hi Sir,

can you please tell me how is your print and cut alignment on your mimaki? mine is not waht i want or like, its a little off. but from the FC frame layer in illustrator all looks good, but the minute it is in Rasterlink the line seem to shift for some reason. can you please advise what i need to do in this case.