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Roland VS-300i not printing yellow!?!
- Thread starter Riskok
- Start date
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- Tags
- roland 300 yellow
From the look of the test print and what you have tried so far it looks like it is time for a new head. The test prints show ink is getting to the head fine, so changing the dampers etc... won't make any difference as it's not starvation ( if it is ink starvation then the test prints will be fine 99.9% of the time as they will have enough ink in the head to do them )
There are a few other things you can try first though.
Before trying any of these make sure the printer is turned off, powered down, main cable unplugged and left for 15 mins for any charge to dissipate !!
Look at the face of the printhead and make sure there is nothing physically on there blocking the nozzles like a piece of vinyl etc...
It may be the head cable - the one that runs from the head to the print carriage board above it. Try swapping this with the cable from one of the working heads and see if the fault follows the cable. If it does then order a new cable.
The next option is it may be the print carriage board failing on that one channel, sometimes it can cause the problem you are seeing. The only real way to check this on the VSi is to swap over for known working board ( you can normally find them on ebay but be careful of sellers in china selling the copies, get an original used Roland board )
If neither of these help then it could be a problem with the main board, but I don't think this is likely so the next step would be to replace the head.
There are a few other things you can try first though.
Before trying any of these make sure the printer is turned off, powered down, main cable unplugged and left for 15 mins for any charge to dissipate !!
Look at the face of the printhead and make sure there is nothing physically on there blocking the nozzles like a piece of vinyl etc...
It may be the head cable - the one that runs from the head to the print carriage board above it. Try swapping this with the cable from one of the working heads and see if the fault follows the cable. If it does then order a new cable.
The next option is it may be the print carriage board failing on that one channel, sometimes it can cause the problem you are seeing. The only real way to check this on the VSi is to swap over for known working board ( you can normally find them on ebay but be careful of sellers in china selling the copies, get an original used Roland board )
If neither of these help then it could be a problem with the main board, but I don't think this is likely so the next step would be to replace the head.
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Yesterday we changed to a new printhead. It worked great for 4-5 rolls of material. But in the morning this is happening.
It doesn't
print any yellow. But after a medium clean it prints some yellow but just after a little bit it dies 
So the issue must be after the ink and the head i guess?
It doesn't
So the issue must be after the ink and the head i guess?
OK so if you have a new head, and it is printing ok for part of the job then you can rule that out. There isn't anything after the ink or head to go wrong. If the head is getting the correct supply of ink, then it should be printing ok.
Are the test prints on the new head ok, and did you also change the damper when you changed the head? The seal to the damper can sometimes leak air which will starve the head of ink. It could even be a bad ink cartridge that isn't making a good seal.
What I would do next is swap the yellow and magenta dampers over onto the head, so magenta ink is going to the yellow head, and yellow ink to the magenta.
Run a job printing large squares of just magenta and yellow ( it will take a bit of printing to clear the old ink out of the dampers and ink head ). When the yellow head is putting out magenta ink, print out large blocks of yellow artwork and see if it prints properly with no ink running out, then do the same with large blocks of magenta artwork and see how that works.
If the magenta prints fine then you know the yellow head and all the signals getting to it are fine as the printer thinks it is printing in yellow.
If the yellow prints fine you know the ink supply to the head is ok, and the problem is elsewhere
Are the test prints on the new head ok, and did you also change the damper when you changed the head? The seal to the damper can sometimes leak air which will starve the head of ink. It could even be a bad ink cartridge that isn't making a good seal.
What I would do next is swap the yellow and magenta dampers over onto the head, so magenta ink is going to the yellow head, and yellow ink to the magenta.
Run a job printing large squares of just magenta and yellow ( it will take a bit of printing to clear the old ink out of the dampers and ink head ). When the yellow head is putting out magenta ink, print out large blocks of yellow artwork and see if it prints properly with no ink running out, then do the same with large blocks of magenta artwork and see how that works.
If the magenta prints fine then you know the yellow head and all the signals getting to it are fine as the printer thinks it is printing in yellow.
If the yellow prints fine you know the ink supply to the head is ok, and the problem is elsewhere
We did change all 4 dampers so that shouldn't be it I think. Also, it looks good after a medium clean for about 4-5 inches. But then I will try to get my tech guys here.
Any suggestions on how to do that? I looked and seems that it locks ok over the head. Thanks for the help!
If it looks ok it should be fine, as long as it looks centered under the head
When the printer cleans it sucks the ink more powerfully through the head than during normal operation. This can fill up the damper and head, and give enough ink for a good print for a while, but as the suction is a lot less when printing if there is an ink supply problem ( could even be a partly blocked ink hose ) then the head doesn't get enough ink
You are very lucky they are doing that for you. TBH I'm not sure that will fix the problem or that was what had caused it.
I have used out of date inks on machines plenty of times in the past ( they are spare machines that aren't used for main production ) and never had any problems. Some of the inks were part used and were a couple of years out of date
I have used out of date inks on machines plenty of times in the past ( they are spare machines that aren't used for main production ) and never had any problems. Some of the inks were part used and were a couple of years out of date
Norman1987
New Member
I have a same problem. Have you any solution about that ?
It was old ink. So I hade to change the print head.