Mutoh VJ1304 - horizontal banding issue

[robsonr]

I have been trying to print decals with solid black background, but I couldn't get rid of banding on black. I attached an image of print. It looks awful.
I have done tons of cleaning and head soaking, with intention restoring those two missing nozzles, but I couldn't restore them. I am not sure whether they are the cause of this banding.

The problematic image was printed at 720 dpi 8 passes bi-directional. I tried to print it at 540 dpi 14 passes bi-directional, no improvement. I tried different vinyl, still same issue. Interestingly enough, when I tried to print solid magenta, even I am not missing any nozzle from magenta nozzle print, still some visible banding, but it wasn't as bad as on black. The only acceptable result I got when I printed it at 1440 dpi bi-directional 14 passes.
The problem with that is that it is slow and head must be in low position, where there is a chance of striking vinyl and ruining the print in the middle of long print.

Any suggestions or ideas what could be wrong or how to fix it are welcome.

 

[letterman7]

How is the print set up to print, i.e. "fuzz", "wave", "none"? Try different settings on each of those. I've had luck with "wave & fuzz" when banding like that happens, and I've got several black nozzles out.

 

[heyskull]

I would agree with letterman7
Are the blacks set up as a CMYK with values set to 0,0,0,100?
If so change the values to100,100,100,100 so it is using all colours to create a dense black.
This also could be a PF adjustment issue which aligns the overlaps in passes.
I personally would use the fuzz or wave settings as even a couple of nozzles out on some materials and resolutions can give this effect.

SC

 

[Karen-Kang]

I have been trying to print decals with solid black background, but I couldn't get rid of banding on black. I attached an image of print. It looks awful.
I have done tons of cleaning and head soaking, with intention restoring those two missing nozzles, but I couldn't restore them. I am not sure whether they are the cause of this banding.

The problematic image was printed at 720 dpi 8 passes bi-directional. I tried to print it at 540 dpi 14 passes bi-directional, no improvement. I tried different vinyl, still same issue. Interestingly enough, when I tried to print solid magenta, even I am not missing any nozzle from magenta nozzle print, still some visible banding, but it wasn't as bad as on black. The only acceptable result I got when I printed it at 1440 dpi bi-directional 14 passes.
The problem with that is that it is slow and head must be in low position, where there is a chance of striking vinyl and ruining the print in the middle of long print.

Any suggestions or ideas what could be wrong or how to fix it are welcome.

1. horizontal banding is the ink supply problem. replace new dampers to check.
2. see if your printer can adjust head voltage. Through adjusting the voltage , see the result.
anything unclear, please ask.

 

[robsonr]

How is the print set up to print, i.e. "fuzz", "wave", "none"? Try different settings on each of those. I've had luck with "wave & fuzz" when banding like that happens, and I've got several black nozzles out.

I usually print wave and fine, but I tried couple different setting with no success.

 

[robsonr]

I would agree with letterman7
Are the blacks set up as a CMYK with values set to 0,0,0,100?
If so change the values to100,100,100,100 so it is using all colours to create a dense black.
This also could be a PF adjustment issue which aligns the overlaps in passes.
I personally would use the fuzz or wave settings as even a couple of nozzles out on some materials and resolutions can give this effect.

SC

CMYK 100,100,100,100 it is great idea. I will certainly try it as a workaround.

 

[robsonr]

1. horizontal banding is the ink supply problem. replace new dampers to check.
2. see if your printer can adjust head voltage. Through adjusting the voltage , see the result.
anything unclear, please ask.

Great suggestions. Even myself I was asking myself whether dumpers could be the source of problem. I agree that this is some kind of ink starvation issue. I can see it when the waves are layered over each other.

On that note, would anybody recommend me a supplier who has genuine dumpers for my value jet for good price? I don't buy some after market stuff which will lead just into more issues.

I will also check the head voltage. There is a adjustment, so I will do some test printing and play with that.
Thank you for the tips.

 

[Karen-Kang]

1.exclude the air leak problem in ink supply parts. do it by replacing the dampers on black color and adjust head voltage.
Now the market always have OEM dampers , original one is rare. I am not sure how long your dampers used already, change new one to try .
2. if the above ways cannot improve the printing performance, the problem will be the printhead, like head spray hole clog, head film problem, head electrictiy problem, these three parts reasons, but this process need to the head repair company to solve it.

 

[levi]

VJ1204 Horizontal Jerking

Hi, Sorry didn't know where to post this, but please help. I have a VJ 1204 printer & up until a week ago the prints have been jerking every 70mm leaving a 25mm band across the print. Some days it starts off smooth & then as it gets further into the print it gets worse to a point where it's miss aligning graphics. It's really annoying now when I'm printing big prints & have to tile a graphic because at the end of the job after all the jerking the pieces don't line up & the print is now longer. I have attached some pics. Thanks.

 

[robsonr]

Hi, Sorry didn't know where to post this, but please help. I have a VJ 1204 printer & up until a week ago the prints have been jerking every 70mm leaving a 25mm band across the print. Some days it starts off smooth & then as it gets further into the print it gets worse to a point where it's miss aligning graphics. It's really annoying now when I'm printing big prints & have to tile a graphic because at the end of the job after all the jerking the pieces don't line up & the print is now longer. I have attached some pics. Thanks.

Wouldn't be better to post your question in a separate thread?

 

[levi]

Thanks, I was trying to find how to start a new thread. I've discovered the problem though seems to be work fine for now.

 

[robsonr]

I wanted to update the thread with the progress in my case. I bought new dampers, but it didn't help. I ran from service menu some tests where I realized that I have nozzles blocked, head voltage was set correctly according to test print. I decided to perform head cleaning using flush fluid. It certainly helped with cyan and magenta issues, now they print just fine, but I couldn't unclog the black. It has improved but I still have two nozzles clogged which result in some banding issues on black. I attached text image of black after cleaning.

I am wondering whether anybody has an experience with printhead doctor cleaning. Is it much better than manual cleaning?

I also noticed issue that after strong cleaning, it quite frequently results in more new issues in terms of nozzles not printing nozzle test pattern than economy cleaning. Could it be that my ink is one year over the expiry date and therefore is has slightly different viscosity? Does anybody has an experience with expired inks? I guess I should also mention that I do not use original inks, I use third party inks.

 

[RG]

My printer is a 1204, but I think the heads are the same. I agree with you about strong cleanings. I never do strong cleanings. Like you said, they cause more problems than they fix. Now for those 2, pesky, non-firing nozzles, when all else has failed, try this. Get a piece of thin plastic (like one of those credit card offers you get in the mail) and cut off a piece that is about 1.5" X 2". Get a lint-free cloth and cut it into strips that are about 1.5" X 3.5". I use some blue, Scott Towels--shop towels. Set the head height to "high" and move the carriage to the left giving you access to the cap top. Put the piece of plastic on top of the cap top. Fold down about an inch of the shop towel. This blue shop towel goes on top of the piece of plastic that is on the cap top. The end of the shop towel that is folded down goes downward on the left side of the cap top. Put 3 or 4 cc's of cleaning fluid in a syringe and saturate the piece of shop towel that is setting on top of the piece of plastic. Move the carriage back over the maintenance station and lock it in place. Lower the head height. Wait about 15 minutes. Set the head to the "high" position and move it to the left away from the cap top. Note that the piece of shop towel may be stuck to the head. No problem. When it's over the spit box, grab the shop towel with tweezers and discard it. Be sure to find it and discard it. Do NOT leave it in there. Take the piece of plastic off the cap top, wipe it off, and set it aside for the next time you need to use it. Move the carriage back to its parking position and lower the head. Run an economy cleaning. Print about a square foot of CMYK color bars. Lastly, do a nozzle check and see if there is any improvement. If the nozzles have been clogged for a long time, you might have to do this more than once. Because only 2 nozzles are not firing, it's almost for certain that they are clogged and not electrically failed. Electrically failed = not recoverable. Good luck.