Roland Soljet ProIII XC-540

[Extreme540]

I recently picked up this Xc-540 from a 1 owner business. It's in great condition and has been well taken care of. The problems I'm having is Black seems to be printing on thick like double printing... and you can see around the edges its leaving a offset shadow? The owner said she did install a new black head... not sure if that's the problem Print test is ok for the most part, a couple light cyan nozzles seem out of place but other then that it's perfect. I have cleaned the encoder strip, tried both uni-and bi direction printing, set all the feed, and direction tests to a fine line.. I'm at a lost and very frustrated! Any ideas? Thank you

 

[rjssigns]

It's not registering the colors correctly. Encoder strip and board are consumables. Start by replacing the encoder strip. You can flip them but honestly it's the same amount of work to put in brand new. Generic strips are about 10 bucks.

 

[Extreme540]

It's not registering the colors correctly. Encoder strip and board are consumables. Start by replacing the encoder strip. You can flip them but honestly it's the same amount of work to put in brand new. Generic strips are about 10 bucks.

I was kinda think bad encoder strip since all the other test come out perfect ... will that solve the printing heavy black? The black is actually raised up it prints so much.. or is it just the fact the black is printing over the other color? Thanks for the help..

 

[Solventinkjet]

The bi-directional alignment and horizontal alignment is off.

 

[Jim Hancock]

Before you replace any parts, you should do a complete head alignment in service mode. Your print heads are seriuosly out of alignment. This will include bias - which insures the heads are straight and parallel to each other, then the vertical - which lines all the heads up with each other. Think of a squad of soldiers getting all squared up. These are both mechanical alignments, and you should go back and forth between the 2 until you don't need to make any adjustments. After these are done, you do the horizontal - which sets the head firing timing so all the heads fire at the same reference point as the first head. This is only done once. After this, you will do the bidirectional alignment, which insures the heads fire in the correct spot on both outward and return head movement, also only once. After these are done, you also need to do the user bidirectional alignment in regular mode.

The encoder strip can cause fuzzy printing and also shifting of the print between passes, creating a look similar to JPEG jaggies. It will not cause the color misregistration that I am seeing in your pics.

Do you have the service manual for this printer? All the alignments are clearly explained in the manual. It isn't a very difficult process.

Your heavy black issue sounds like a profile issue. You might want to try some other profiles and see if you get different results with the black coverage.

Let me know need some more guidance.

Jim Hancock

 

[Extreme540]

The bi-directional alignment and horizontal alignment is off.

Both Bi-directional and horizontal are spot on. They only needed minor adjustments and even after that I'm getting these prints....

 

[Solventinkjet]

Both Bi-directional and horizontal are spot on. They only needed minor adjustments and even after that I'm getting these prints....

Like Jim Hancock said, you'll need to do all the alignments then. That's not an encoder issue in my opinion.

 

[hand851]

I agree it is not the encode. Did you go into service mode and do all the alignments? Bias, vertical and bi-directional's. What is your head height set to?

 

[Extreme540]

Before you replace any parts, you should do a complete head alignment in service mode. Your print heads are seriuosly out of alignment. This will include bias - which insures the heads are straight and parallel to each other, then the vertical - which lines all the heads up with each other. Think of a squad of soldiers getting all squared up. These are both mechanical alignments, and you should go back and forth between the 2 until you don't need to make any adjustments. After these are done, you do the horizontal - which sets the head firing timing so all the heads fire at the same reference point as the first head. This is only done once. After this, you will do the bidirectional alignment, which insures the heads fire in the correct spot on both outward and return head movement, also only once. After these are done, you also need to do the user bidirectional alignment in regular mode.

The encoder strip can cause fuzzy printing and also shifting of the print between passes, creating a look similar to JPEG jaggies. It will not cause the color misregistration that I am seeing in your pics.

Do you have the service manual for this printer? All the alignments are clearly explained in the manual. It isn't a very difficult process.

Your heavy black issue sounds like a profile issue. You might want to try some other profiles and see if you get different results with the black coverage.

Let me know need some more guidance.

Jim Hancock

 

[Extreme540]

Thanks for the info! I will put it in Service mode this afternoon and do the proper adjustments. I'm guessing the black head was never aligned when the other owner installed it. I do have the manual it came with and code to get it in service mode. I'm excited to get it up and printing good!

 

[Extreme540]

I do not have the Service Manual, just the user manual. I see I can purchase a pdf version online.

 

[Greg Kelm]

A few years back, we had a similar issue and it ended up being a pinch roller that was worn and not feeding the material in straight. Ended up replacing all the rollers, but just remember the end rollers are tapered, so pay attention to which way they are sloped if you take them off.

 

[Solventinkjet]

I do not have the Service Manual, just the user manual. I see I can purchase a pdf version online.

Anywhere online you see them selling service manuals they are selling something that is not theirs to sell in the first place. Do a search here on Signs101 and you will find a bunch of posts where people give them away for free.

 

[Extreme540]

Well just a update on the machine, I received the service manual and set all the heads, did all the proper adjustments and it prints crisp lines! ...... The only question I have now is do these machines print a thicker black? My black seems raised up more then the other color? I tried different media profiles and it does the same... Is there something i'm doing wrong in VersaWorks?

 

[kanini]

About the thick black, you have of course tried another file with only 100% K on the black? Do you have for example MAX Impact set on in Versaworks?

 

[Extreme540]

Before you replace any parts, you should do a complete head alignment in service mode. Your print heads are seriuosly out of alignment. This will include bias - which insures the heads are straight and parallel to each other, then the vertical - which lines all the heads up with each other. Think of a squad of soldiers getting all squared up. These are both mechanical alignments, and you should go back and forth between the 2 until you don't need to make any adjustments. After these are done, you do the horizontal - which sets the head firing timing so all the heads fire at the same reference point as the first head. This is only done once. After this, you will do the bidirectional alignment, which insures the heads fire in the correct spot on both outward and return head movement, also only once. After these are done, you also need to do the user bidirectional alignment in regular mode.

The encoder strip can cause fuzzy printing and also shifting of the print between passes, creating a look similar to JPEG jaggies. It will not cause the color misregistration that I am seeing in your pics.

Do you have the service manual for this printer? All the alignments are clearly explained in the manual. It isn't a very difficult process.

Your heavy black issue sounds like a profile issue. You might want to try some other profiles and see if you get different results with the black coverage.

Let me know need some more guidance.

Jim Hancock

Thank you Jim for the advise. The heads were misaligned and going through all the settings got me printing with sharp lines again! Good thing i'm crafty when it comes to working on these machines. Was time consuming but well worth it.... Thanks again.

 

[Extreme540]

About the thick black, you have of course tried another file with only 100% K on the black? Do you have for example MAX Impact set on in Versaworks?

It's set at pre-press U.S. in versaWorks....... When I print the 100%k it looks nice, but seems thick? Is this normal for the XC-540? My VS-540 did not do that and i'm using the same file.. Is there a black you recommend? Or is this normal printing for this machine? The black just takes longer to dry because it goes on thick....

 

[Jim Hancock]

Glad to be of assistance! On your heavy black, some questions. What ink brand are you using? Have you tried other profile settings? Does it do it on all your materials?
Regards,
Jim

 

[Boyanski]

Your heads look brand new, i have same printer and i wish i have the same test print. I also notice when i print text that black ink is kind of thicker. like a bit raised. It gives nice effect. No problem whatsoever with the black head