Roland 300 Printer problems

[jus.hila]

Hey guys...just wondering if anyone knows what the problem may be with my Roland sv300i.
When it prints red it print solid and half way through a large print the black starts bleeding into the red (see images).
I've tried manual clean and numerous cleans and it goes back to printing well. Half way through the print
the black starts bleeding into the red again. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[damonCA21]

How is your test print looking? Check your cyan damper and see if it is showing any signs of contamination from the black ink.

 

[jus.hila]

Here's a pic of the test print. Doest look too bad.

 

[Jim Hancock]

FYI, you have this thread going in 2 forums. Please pick and use one forum, preferably the Roland forum, so things don't get confused or missed...

 

[jus.hila]

Here's the updated test print. It looks like it's the blue going into the red.

 

[damonCA21]

Check your damper for signs of cyan ink in the magenta. Also check the cap top is sealing properly against the head. My money would be on the cap top needing replacing, but the dampers should also be replaced as a service item anyway. Also look for build ups of ink on the wipers and give them a good clean

 

[Jim Hancock]

My experience with this printing behavior where it starts out fine, then gradually gets this kind of color bleeding, and clears up with numerous cleanings and then gradually comes back again, is you likely had a head crash at some point and your printhead has a micro-crack between the cyan and magenta channels. When printing red, the magenta channel is gradually pulling cyan ink, which isn't being used, through the micro-crack. Cleaning flushes it out. I would hazard a guess if you print a large block of green or cyan, you will see the same kind of gradual bleeding, where magenta is pulled into the cyan channel. Try printing a large block of green or cyan, and if the bleeding shows up, stop the print and do an immediate nozzle check without cleaning. If you see magenta in the cyan, this test will confirm the micro-crack.

Also, I suggest looking closely at the black bleeding in your current prints with this issue with a loupe so you can actually see the dots and see if it is black ink or cyan ink mixing with the magenta and yellow, as a CMY mix can appear to be black to the eye.

I'm not clear on exactly which printer this is. As far as I know, Roland doesn't make an sv300i. Please clarify exactly which model you have please. I am only seeing 6 channels of color.

 

[Terry01]

My experience with this printing behavior where it starts out fine, then gradually gets this kind of color bleeding, and clears up with numerous cleanings and then gradually comes back again, is you likely had a head crash at some point and your printhead has a micro-crack between the cyan and magenta channels. When printing red, the magenta channel is gradually pulling cyan ink, which isn't being used, through the micro-crack. Cleaning flushes it out. I would hazard a guess if you print a large block of green or cyan, you will see the same kind of gradual bleeding, where magenta is pulled into the cyan channel. Try printing a large block of green or cyan, and if the bleeding shows up, stop the print and do an immediate nozzle check without cleaning. If you see magenta in the cyan, this test will confirm the micro-crack.

Also, I suggest looking closely at the black bleeding in your current prints with this issue with a loupe so you can actually see the dots and see if it is black ink or cyan ink mixing with the magenta and yellow, as a CMY mix can appear to be black to the eye.

I'm not clear on exactly which printer this is. As far as I know, Roland doesn't make an sv300i. Please clarify exactly which model you have please. I am only seeing 6 channels of color.

It will be a vs300I with dx6 or dx7 head, 6 color

 

[Jim Hancock]

So, not using channels 7 & 8, which would be Wh & Mt. That makes sense.

 

[jus.hila]

Sorry it's a vs 300i

 

[jus.hila]

I printed green and cyan and you can slightly see the streaks. I've also attached a test print. It's most evident when I print anything red.

 

[jus.hila]

another thing i noticed when I did a manual clean i did notice that i can see little droplets of cyan ink
on the print head. Do you think the dampers can be part of the issue or does that mean theres a micro crack on the head?

 

[Jim Hancock]

Don't see the test prints. I would especially like to see the green and cyan tests. Certainly, you should replace the cyan damper first, as it's the cheapest thing and simplest thing to do. If there is no change after that, then it's likely a micro crack. The ink droplets could be caused either the damper or a micro crack. It's a sign of losing airtight integrity. When you replace the damper, be sure to wet the O-rings, top and bottom, with a touch of cleaning solution, as this makes it easier to install and creates a better seal. I will say that ink on the bottom of the head usually results in banding in that color, due to nozzles being covered by the ink, and also sometimes random droplets of ink of that color on your prints. That's why I would be interested seeing what the cyan test print looks like. Keep us posted!

 

[jus.hila]

Here's the pics. Sorry I thought I attached it in previous post.

 

[jus.hila]

Btw is there instructional video to change the damper? I've been searching high and low on these boards and on YouTube. Can't find anything.

 

[Jim Hancock]

As the sequencing of test prints is important, I would ask if you did a cleaning before doing the green and cyan tests? To properly troubleshoot this issue, print red until you see the streaking get pretty bad, then immediately print the green and cyan tests, without doing a cleaning. To properly evaluate this, the issue needs to be present when doing tests with different colors.

 

[jus.hila]

Slight banding on the first half of color blocks. Test print cyan is all over the magenta

 

[jus.hila]

I redid the test. Printed cyan file until black banding appeared. Printed cyan and green. There was banding at the beginning and then it faded away and started printing solid. Did the test print. Cyan is all over the magenta

 

[Jim Hancock]

My bet is a micro crack. That's the only way you could get that much cyan over into the magenta head. A damper wouldn't do that.

 

[Jim Hancock]

Check your messages...