Need Help Roland color inconsistency issue - help please

[Sylvia]

Hi Roland users,

I hope someone has come across this issue - and hopefully solved it too. Would you please help me?

situation: I'm trying to print a large area of a single solid color (a purpleish pink). Color has to be quite exact, so I cannot use colored vinyl range.

issue: I'm getting horizontal bands of color variation in the print. Please see attached file.
This is not vertical problem (not about placing panels next to each other and setting "place alternated" in the file) But having say 5 inch horizontal stripe, where my pink is more red than elsewhere.

what have I tried:
- a couple of years ago I had the same problem, a Roland technician spent about two days testing, cleaning, using different materials, color profiles. Ended up changing the head - which did not solve the problem. Eventually we managed to get a few feet long piece with consistent color. As we don't have to print large areas of single colors very often, we kind of lived with the problem, which now I think was never really resolved. Some colors are worse for this than others. But now I need to cover this wall with this color on self adhesive textile and have no idea what to do. No point of getting Roland out again for days, as they could not really solve this first time around.
- the printer (Roland VS-540) is regularly maintained and cleaned.
- printer's built in test print is perfect
- the print on the attached photo is on Photo-tex (with proper profile from the Roland web library), but I have done the same print just now on vinyl and getting the same problem.

I so hope someone has an idea what to do?
Or even just tell me: can this be done? Have you guys tried long strips of a single color? Do you get it consistent?

Thank so much for reading

 

[ewded]

This looks like ink is not absorbed uniformly. I'd turn up heat and try unidirectional printing or add delay between passes. Did you try other media?

 

[ams]

Try a double print, it should be better.

 

[BUCKY]

Long consistent strips of color are difficult for the Roland. We have been down this same path many times with solids and gradients. The best results I have had is printing on Avery films, although we use 3M exclusively.
We just had a tech here a couple weeks ago to cure a similar issue. He was going to put in a print
head.. etc blah.. blah... but the print test is perfect...hmmm.???
So, after 4 hours of him doing nothing but testing I throw in some Avery film, print the exact same
profiles and test prints he has been trying, and they are perfect. (Profiles were not for the Avery film either.) More than likely it is the film causing the issue, not the printer.

 

[KingofProcrasta]

Hi Roland users,

I hope someone has come across this issue - and hopefully solved it too. Would you please help me?

situation: I'm trying to print a large area of a single solid color (a purpleish pink). Color has to be quite exact, so I cannot use colored vinyl range.

issue: I'm getting horizontal bands of color variation in the print. Please see attached file.
This is not vertical problem (not about placing panels next to each other and setting "place alternated" in the file) But having say 5 inch horizontal stripe, where my pink is more red than elsewhere.

what have I tried:
- a couple of years ago I had the same problem, a Roland technician spent about two days testing, cleaning, using different materials, color profiles. Ended up changing the head - which did not solve the problem. Eventually we managed to get a few feet long piece with consistent color. As we don't have to print large areas of single colors very often, we kind of lived with the problem, which now I think was never really resolved. Some colors are worse for this than others. But now I need to cover this wall with this color on self adhesive textile and have no idea what to do. No point of getting Roland out again for days, as they could not really solve this first time around.
- the printer (Roland VS-540) is regularly maintained and cleaned.
- printer's built in test print is perfect
- the print on the attached photo is on Photo-tex (with proper profile from the Roland web library), but I have done the same print just now on vinyl and getting the same problem.

I so hope someone has an idea what to do?
Or even just tell me: can this be done? Have you guys tried long strips of a single color? Do you get it consistent?

Thank so much for reading

Double check your file. I get best results using photoshop RGB files. Adjust as necessary to get your target color. You may find a hidden element in your file that is difficult to see on your monitor. The printer only prints what it's told.
Good luck!

 

[Sylvia]

This looks like ink is not absorbed uniformly. I'd turn up heat and try unidirectional printing or add delay between passes. Did you try other media?

Thanks for getting back to me.
Printing is set at 45 degrees and drying is at 50 (Celcius) which is the maximum.
I will try printing at higher as well. will try unidirectional as well... mind you if Ill have to do this job unidirectional it will be crazy - need to print 103 meters (300 feet)
Yes I also tried a Concept 201 vinyl, same issue.

 

[Sylvia]

Try a double print, it should be better.

Thank you, will give that a go tomorrow morning. (it's midnight now, I'd better go to sleep

 

[Sylvia]

Sylvia, what material are you using?

Thanks for your reply .
I used Photo-tex (on the attached image) but also printed on Concept 201 vinyl. Same issue.

 

[Sylvia]

Double check your file. I get best results using photoshop RGB files. Adjust as necessary to get your target color. You may find a hidden element in your file that is difficult to see on your monitor. The printer only prints what it's told.
Good luck!

Thank you for trying to help.
I'm using an rgb file from illustrator. Converted into and eps. It is a single pink rectangle. nothing else. There is nothing wrong with the actual color, I can match what I need to very very close. But it's not consistent in the print.

 

[NateF]

We run a VS-540i and run into this - usually with dark gray/blacks and sometimes dark reds. Roland first replaced the head (when we were still under warranty), and then blamed it on low humidity. It's a rare intermittent problem for us now, but it does seem to show up more in the cold & dry part of the year. Low humidity causes static; static builds magnetic fields around it, and the lines of the magnetic field can affect where the microscopic drops of ink land. I can't say for sure that's what it is, but that explanation does make sense.

 

[C5 Service&Repair]

clean your grit encoder wheel

 

[Anas]

Hello there,
Did you try to print in CMYK . Clean encoder strip and head, Did you printed in Matt if yes try orajet 3640 matte white.
it difficult to get consistent in print as you are printing long, Try if it help.

 

[CanuckSigns]

I always struggled printing solid colours on any of our past Roland's there was always some type of banding or zebra stripes going on.

We just recently got an Epson s80600 and the solid colours coming off that machine look like solid coloured vinyl.

 

[flyplainsdrifta]

yeahhh solids are tough. especially pinks and light blues. you running dual cmyk?? thats where i have trouble. can be alleviated by jumping to uni for the most part.

 

[Brennen]

whats the temp/humidity in your print room?

 

[Mainframe]

I spent 10 years printing on a VP540 getting grainy greens and many other colors grainy and flat looking, now I print the true vis inks, they are really nice looking colors, the solid colors I print look NO different than cut vinyl, any color I have chosen so far, When Iook at the vinyl on the side of the car, I can't tell the difference between the printed and cut vinyl, BIG difference, nice gradients and very bright colors, I am running dual CMYK, so far the VG 540 keeps on impressing me.

 

[Sylvia]

Thanks so much for all of your ideas.
Here is what happened: encoder strip and print head has been cleaned already.
We tried double path, still stripes (plus we are also getting almost like a moire effect. Tried uni direction, maybe a bit better, but still stripes. Tried two other profiles, color changes of course, but still get stripes.
Humidity... well we are in a very dry place, but today we got a bit of rain and humidity went up to 60% when I checked in the afternoon, but our printer does not care...
I could not locate the grit encoder wheel, just the strip has been cleaned.
other materials... tried vinyl too but getting stripes. But I'll have to print this job on polyester textile, so cant go towards vinyls.

So far not good news...
Wonder if there are any other suggestions out there, or this is the way this printer is and that's it.

We have been thinking getting another printer in the near future, so will check out the couple you guys have suggested. We mainly do feature walls with wallpaper or decals and custom printed window films(on frosts or optically clear). And almost always running the printer on high quality setting.

We just recently got an Epson s80600 and the solid colors coming off that machine look like solid colored vinyl.

What cutter are you using with this machine? And which rip software? Is cutting accurate?

Many thanks again!

 

[CanuckSigns]

What cutter are you using with this machine? And which rip software? Is cutting accurate?

Many thanks again!

We are using a Graphtec cutter, the print cut registration is spot on so far, even cutting longer runs of small 1" diameter decals and it stays accurate throughout.

We run Onyx for a rip, it has been a bit of a learning curve from Versaworks, and i still think there are some things that versaworks does better, but for the most part we are happy with Onyx

 

[Sylvia]

We are using a Graphtec cutter, the print cut registration is spot on so far, even cutting longer runs of small 1" diameter decals and it stays accurate throughout.

We run Onyx for a rip, it has been a bit of a learning curve from Versaworks, and i still think there are some things that versaworks does better, but for the most part we are happy with Onyx

Thank you!