Roland black lines misfiring, Please help!

[kinghemp]

Hi All,

It is with desperation that I post this. I have a Roland SP 300V and the black is printing in the wrong place on a test print. On a job the black appears "hairy" or "blurry" for lack of a better word. Most of the lines are right but about 15-20% of them are misaligned. I've read other posts and followed all of the instructions, cleaning etc.

What I have done:

∙ Replaced the sponges
∙ Replaced the wipers
∙ Replaced the wiper wiper
∙ Performed 2 maintenance cleans
∙ Performed 5 normal, 2 medium and 3 powerful cleans
∙ Tried to let the heads soak in the correct solvent from Roland (not sure how to "park" the heads in the solvent) but I think I got it right.

I am now at a loss. I print name badges and other very small stickers, text at 4pt sometimes. The machine used to print beautifully but now...

PLEASE HELP!!!

P.S. I don't have $700 for a new head

 

[vikcho]

Does replacing sponges means replacing the capping?
If yes, hopefully you have tried it all. If still you want to try more dip the head in solvent overnight.

 

[wolf]

Make sure there is no tiny hairs underneath the heads themselves or on the sides of the heads.

You may also want to do some tests using the unidirectional setting and the bi directional setting in your software.

Just so you are aware and this may help.

I have found black ink used by the printer is not created from the black cartridge but a number of other colours that generate black so make sure you are looking at the correct head.

Hope this helps.

Joe

 

[Tiogy]

I had an issue like that with my Mutoh - it ended up being the print head itself that was the cause.

 

[digitaladworks]

I have also experienced this problem with my Mimaki and tries a number of things without resolving the problem. I agree with Tiogy that it might need to be replaced, but maybe try soaking the head in solvent and see what happens. Hope you come right.

 

[Gabriel]

Ink?

What inks do you use? Is ESL Max? You should have not these kind of problems unless the printhead is dying

 

[rmtosh]

I was just recently getting faint black lines in my prints and cleaning the encoder strip corrected my problem. It sounds like you may have more going on, but that is an easy thing that may fix it.

 

[Gabriel]

You can try...

Check out the cap-top. See if it is closing the print head in the capping position.

 

[dsv118]

Bad dampers can also cause this along with bad O-rings .... I didnt see you put those on the list of items replaced! $700 for a new head ... if you can get print heads for $700 get them!!!! I have yet to find them for under $1K!!

 

[Gabriel]

Why don't you buy printheads from Europe? 560 euros on DigiPrint Supplies in Belgium. Original Epson DX4 printheads. That's a good deal!

 

[dsv118]

Why don't you buy printheads from Europe? 560 euros on DigiPrint Supplies in Belgium. Original Epson DX4 printheads. That's a good deal!

I will have to check them out ... Thanks!