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Need Help SG2 300, ROLAND - Grainy Prints - Any suggestions?

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cinr

New Member
We've had this printer for only 3 months. It's brand new and has never produced solid prints.
We are extremely frustrated and are now being told by Roland techs that we are getting 'normal' prints for this machine... I find it extremely hard to believe that these are 'normal' prints.

Yellow is decent at 100% - however, the yellows next to it on the chart are very splotchy with greens/blues.
Mostly all of the lighter colours are spotty and grainy.

We have tried multiple different profile settings.
Nozzle checks are good.
We have adjusted all of the calibration settings (that we have access to).
We've cleaned it many times...

Out of ideas.

Any feedback would be appreciated.
Thanks! 20220201_174923 (1).jpg 20220128_125445.jpg 20220128_125437.jpg
 
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ewded

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Long story short Roland stopped using Epson printheads in low end machines and truvis is the first gen printer that uses a noname low DPI crap. I received 3-4 samples before I bought mine in 2019 and one of them was ok, worse than a 5yo VS but would be ok for me. I thought the other samples were made by newbies or banner setting or such but it turned out that the one I received was worse than yours, it had banding lines as well, on some places the strips were overlaid on some there was a distance, it was totally random. Some colors had very bad "orange peel" effect. 3 different engineers looked at it for 2 weeks before I said enough, give my money back :D then I bought a mimaki which was perfect for me. Later I had a chance to use an epson 60600 and my jaw just dropped, amazing quality, fast as hell and automatic media compensation. (No I'm not an Epson dealer :))
 
balstestrat

balstestrat

Problem Solver
ewded said:
You can laugh as much as you want but ricoh is not a large format printer manufacturer
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I think they are or does someone else make their printers?
And they do also make good printheads (ricoh gen 5), one of most used industrial heads on market.

I wasn't going to comment on this particular printhead that you so much want to bash, that I don't really know, but I'm pretty sure it's 150dpi/line. Not 75.
 
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Zoogee World

Zoogee World

Domed Promotional Product Supplier
Back to the OP, what media are you using, as we have a SG-300, the previous version and have noticed with the TR2 inks, they don't bond nearly as well as the previous TR inks.
 
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cinr

New Member
Zoogee World said:
Back to the OP, what media are you using, as we have a SG-300, the previous version and have noticed with the TR2 inks, they don't bond nearly as well as the previous TR inks.
Click to expand...
Those were printed on the Roland glossy calendered vinyl.
 
C

cinr

New Member
Joe House said:
Can you post your nozzle test print?
Click to expand...

ewded said:
Long story short Roland stopped using Epson printheads in low end machines and truvis is the first gen printer that uses a noname low DPI crap. I received 3-4 samples before I bought mine in 2019 and one of them was ok, worse than a 5yo VS but would be ok for me. I thought the other samples were made by newbies or banner setting or such but it turned out that the one I received was worse than yours, it had banding lines as well, on some places the strips were overlaid on some there was a distance, it was totally random. Some colors had very bad "orange peel" effect. 3 different engineers looked at it for 2 weeks before I said enough, give my money back :D then I bought a mimaki which was perfect for me. Later I had a chance to use an epson 60600 and my jaw just dropped, amazing quality, fast as hell and automatic media compensation. (No I'm not an Epson dealer :))
Click to expand...

netsol said:
What is your inkset?
CMYK?
CMYKlclm?
Click to expand...
CMYK
 
C

ColorCrest

All around shop helper.
cinr said:
We are extremely frustrated and are now being told by Roland techs that we are getting 'normal' prints for this machine
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Unfortunately the Roland tech is correct. You've posted a rather extreme closeup photos of small swatches but want to see more quality than the printer can deliver. Try getting samples from other makes and models of printers which use more inks which include light cyan and light magenta as well as higher resolution options.

Good luck.
 
C

cinr

New Member
ColorCrest said:
Unfortunately the Roland tech is correct. You've posted a rather extreme closeup photos of small swatches but want to see more quality than the printer can deliver. Try getting samples from other makes and models of printers which use more inks which include light cyan and light magenta as well as higher resolution options.

Good luck.
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Thanks for your feedback.. I guess I just expected solid colours. Here is another photo of a recent print. I find it extremely hard to believe that this is an acceptable quality. 20220201_174923 (1).jpg
 
C

ColorCrest

All around shop helper.
cinr said:
I guess I just expected solid colours.
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Try to consider how a printer with the four colors, CMYK, would need to make shades of a color. To make a darker yellow of 100%, the print would require another color(s) to produce more density, and thus a darker yellow. From up-close, you're seeing the other colors dithered in that yellow. Your machine is a large format printer for signs meant to seen from a distance.
 
C

cinr

New Member
ColorCrest said:
Try to consider how a printer with the four colors, CMYK, would need to make shades of a color. To make a darker yellow of 100%, the print would require another color(s) to produce more density, and thus a darker yellow. From up-close, you're seeing the other colors dithered in that yellow. Your machine is a large format printer for signs meant to seen from a distance.
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Well on Rolands website they claim it is suitable for other things as well, such as decals, stickers, labels and wall art. Not just signs to view from a distance.
I have heard from others and have seen test prints from other CMYK printers that are much more solid - this printer should be capable of producing higher quality prints.
 
C

ColorCrest

All around shop helper.
cinr said:
I have heard from others and have seen test prints from other CMYK printers that are much more solid
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The evaluation is for you to see for yourself as opposed to hear from others. Again, get some eyes-on samples from other machines.

I should have mentioned, it's the lighter inks available (not to mention finer resolution) on other printers which help alleviate the artifacts you're seeing.

cinr said:
this printer should be capable of producing higher quality prints.
Click to expand...
With your experience so far, which mechanism can you imagine might produce better prints from your setup? Are you choosing the highest resolution from both print files and printer settings? What does a typical portrait print of a person look like from your setup? Such evaluation files are readily available from the internet.
 
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SignMeUpGraphics

Super Active Member
What are your heat settings like? The dot gain looks weird on some of these photos.

And re-asking as ColorCrest has... what resolution/passes are you printing these samples at?

The black lines and text in the Roland color chart sample doesn't look crisp/clear. Apart from the dithering issues, this would worry me just as much.
 
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