Roland Printer not printing colors correctly?

[Designs by Stacy]

Hello,
I have Signlab Print and Cut 7.1 and print with a Roland Versacamm sp300. When I first got the program I printed a color chart using Avery vinyl colors. I have printed out of this for quite some time and my colors have been true to the color chart. They looked beautiful.
Now my machine has been setting alot because I relocated. I am trying to print with it and now my colors are way off. They are not the same as my color chart that I first printed out. My purples are blue and grayish and colors are way off. The colors are no longer vibrant. The prints look fine just not the right colors.
Does anyone know if its my printer thats the problem? I have done several ink testing on my printer and that looks fairly good. My black seems a little wiggly and some places the lines look like its placed on top of one another. The blue was perfect. The magenta has 4 missing spots and repeats the same four missing spots. Yellow as two missing spots. I have done quite a few cleaning along with manual cleanings.
Is there a setting on my versacamm that might of gotten changed. I am not aware of any color settings on the versacamm.

I have tried printing out of versaworks and also Signlab print and cut manager and both programs are not printing the colors right. So thats why I believe its a Printer problem.

Can ink just go old if its not being used up fast?
I have just replaced my capping stations just a few months ago. But like I said the machine doesn't get used often. I try to test print every two to three days to get the ink to stay flowing. I also leave the machine on to have it do its automatic cleaning.

Any help would be appreciated!
Thank you,
Stacy

 

[P Wagner]

Inactivity is a problem with any solvent printer. You want to run at least a test print on a daily basis as possible.

The first thing to do would be to verify the nozzle performance status by printing and posting a scan of the nozzle test print. The Roland SP-series printers have 180 nozzles per color, so the loss of one, or even several nozzles are not necessarily the end of the world.

Mis-directed nozzles on the black channel are very common, and can be tough to fix. That problem normally manifests as banding in dark colors, such as shadows and dark solids.

Bob

 

[Bigdawg]

How does your test print look?

 

[Designs by Stacy]

Thank you Bob for the advise.
I am attaching the "test print" that you asked for.
Not sure if this will help or not?
Thanks again!

 

[Bigdawg]

Couple of things... first not sure if it's the scan or not, but there should be NO black on the magenta and cyan print.

Go to maintenance - cleaning - medium clean. DON'T use the heavy clean... just a waste of ink... run the medium, do a test print.. if it's still not good run medium clean again and run test print.

Let us know.

 

[P Wagner]

The nozzle test looks to exhibit cross contamination on all colors except yellow. That would account for the lack of gamut and color accuracy that you are describing. I would suggest:

1) Run a medium cleaning as suggested by Stacy.
2) Run nozzle test print to evaluate. Use a loupe to check for cross contamination on the K, C, and M channels. If it is present and cannot be cleared up with cleanings, the next step would be to replace the dampers and/or cap tops on the printer.

Bob

 

[Designs by Stacy]

Stacy, It does look like there is some black color in the others. I never noticed it when looking at it but it does pick it up with the scan more.
I am doing more cleanings now to see what happens.
I did 3 more cleaning and I don't really notice it very much now.
I did do a print sample and still not looking right.

I had a tech guy help me change the ink set up to Eco Sol 4 max because originally it only said eco sol. He did this because when I was using versworks I didn't have very many media materials to pick from. After changing this I had a long list of medias to chose from. Do you think this would of changed any color setting profiles??
I am just trying to think what could of cause this to happen.

Maybe it is just black into the other colors. I can't really see it by eye now on the test print. What other way can I clean other than what I just did.
Bob... what is a loupe? Is that the big qtip?

Thanks for your help,
Stacy

 

[Bigdawg]

If there's black in the other colors you have contamination of the inks...

keep cleaning if it's coming out.. you are running the contaminated ink out (I hope for your sake)

and a loupe is a magnifying glass

 

[P Wagner]

I am still seeing contamination in the Cyan and Magenta. Another thing to try is to print out solid rectangles of Cyan and Magenta with all color correction turned off (density control only in VW). This will only use those colors and save ink in the colors that do not appear to be contaminated (Black and Yellow).

Bob

 

[Designs by Stacy]

Thanks everyone!! I am trying all your ideas.

 

[Bigdawg]

Bob's right in doing a density check instead... will save your yellow and black ink

 

[fatdogvw]

That test pattern has to many gaps. Try doing a manual cleaning with the swabs. Don't forget to clean the wipers. Also make sure that you installed the cartridges in the right order. If you still don't get a good test pattern you need to check the damper. Bad damper will effect the pressure and flow of ink to the head. Good Luck.

 

[Designs by Stacy]

Ok I feel pretty stupid but Bob how do I do the density test in VW?
My tech only trained me to print out of Sign lab print and cut so I haven't used VW.
I do have it open now can you just help with the color correction how do i turn that off. I'm not following you on this one.
I will also do more manual cleanings when my husband comes home and take all your suggestions that you gave me fatdogvw.

Thank you again.
Stacy

 

[P Wagner]

The procedure would be as follows:

1. create CMYK vector rectangle(s) of 100% of the colors in question - in this case Cyan and Magenta. Save the file as an EPS file.
2. Bring the EPS file info the RIP software (in this example Versaworks). Double-click on the file to open the Job Settings dialog. Go to the Quality Tab, and change the Color Management Preset listbox to 'Density Control Only'. This action turns off all color profiles for this job only.

Bob

 

[Designs by Stacy]

Great, thank you Bob!

 

[Designs by Stacy]

I just did what you said. Thank you it printed beautiful! Nice colors.
So now what I should do is print with out the Density control on to see if there is black in it now?

 

[Bigdawg]

If you aren't seeing black in those prints... your contamination is (likely) gone. Try another test print... and just print SOMETHING every day LOL!!

 

[Designs by Stacy]

Got it everyone! Have done several test prints they look great. No gaps now and my colors are printing so much better.
Thanks everyone for your time and patience.
Have a nice day,
Stacy

 

[guillermo]

:signs101:Hi Stacy

Looking at your samples, I see that the color are not solid, I've always had the black just like yours but really black, the others color they were normal, what I did one time that the yellow was printing magenta, and last week the black was printing blue is that I did a head wash using the cleaning cartridges, finished the process and refill the lines with ink, and I was back on track, test samples and print were great, of course I did a lot of medium cleans and even powerfull cleans and not luck, I have a SP300V since 2001 and had no other problems than the ones I stated.:signs101:

 

[Pacific Coast Sign]

Leave your printer plugged in so it will perform it's cleaning by itself while you are away. Cleaning swabs (NOT QTips!!!) and Roland's cleaning solvent is your best friend when it comes to keeping your heads in pristine condition.