Need Help SP-540i black/cyan head replaced, now prints with a wavy pattern and white "streaks"

[rafargo]

Hi All,
I recently replaced the black/cyan print head on my Roland SP-540i. I input the new head rank and did all alignment and now I am getting a wavy pattern and white "streaks" when I print. Nothing dragging on the media, it only appears in the black. It does cover the wavy pattern on the second pass, but the white streaks don't go away.

I haven't tried printing in cyan only yet, so I'm not sure if it is doing it there also. Jet test looks good. All jets are firing. Pictures attached.

 

[MikePatterson]

That looks like media contamination. In paint we would call it a fisheye. Pull a few feet out of the printer so you have fresh area and try it again.

And that looks like a lot of ink. You might want to check the profile.

 

[rafargo]

Thanks Mike. I have tried several different types of media. Same problem. Using the Generic Vinyl 2 profile, standard, bi-direction. The same thing happens on Generic Vinyl 1.
Short history of recent maintenance:

Replaced captops/wipers about a month ago. Now I don't see any ink in the tubes between the captops and the pump. When I drop cleaning solution into the captops it drains into the tubes. When I do a cleaning, very little ink is being drawn into the tubes.

Replaced the black/cyan head about a week ago because I had deflected/missing jets and black/cyan overspray. All alignment done and looks good. Jet test looks good.

Replaced the pump yesterday because it came with the maintenance kit that I ordered and I thought it might correct the ink not flowing through the tubes when cleaning. Did the pump suction and pump release tests, although I'm not sure how to determine the results (pump ran and didn't give any errors). I even ran the Fill Ink and still didn't see any ink flowing into the tubes.

Here is another picture of a test print that I did. It shows up most in cyan and magenta. It is in the black but harder to see.

 

[Solventinkjet]

Looks like over saturation to me. How's the environment in the room? We just printed on our demo machine and it's hotter and more humid than usual and our prints have a similar look. We don't have a climate controlled demo room so we are at the mercy of the weather but most people running ships should be controlling the environment to get the best quality print.

 

[rafargo]

Its 72F, 67% Humidity

 

[MikePatterson]

What media are you printing on? I might be wrong but that sure looks like contamination to me. It could be static deflecting the nozzles. Your test print looks good?

We keep all our print films in the bag they are delivered in while not being used for this very reason.

 

[rafargo]

Thanks everyone. This is making me crazy. I replaced the dampers also. Could they be causing the saturation? I bought a kit that I think came from China. The new dampers came with plastic nuts, so I used them (probably not the problem). The dampers are half full of ink. I'm am seeing very little ink flowing in the tubes after the dampers. Also, the head doesn't seem to be seated on the cap tops during the entire cleaning cycle. It is seated and I see a little ink flowing during the short pumping cycle. During the longer pumping cycle, the heads are not seated on the cap tops. I have 2 new dampers that came with the new head that I installed. I am going to try installing them on 2 colors to see if it makes a difference.

 

[rafargo]

Also, a tech from Denco asked if the voltage to the head was correct. I don't know how to check that. I only replaced the black/cyan head. The problem is appearing in all colors.

 

[rafargo]

This post is kind of fragmented, sorry. There hasn't been much ink flow between the the cap tops and the pump since I replaced the cap tops. I also cleaned the encoder strip, but that was done recently. I thought it might solve the head not aligning with the cap top during part of the cleaning cycle. It didn't....

Cap tops and dampers were replaced at the same time. The black/cyan head and pump were replaced a few weeks later.