SP300v Cyan messed up (PICTURES)

[wwpro]

hi there

Setting up the sp300v after she was sleeping in a crate for 2 months on its way from the US, now I managed to have it printing after having to syringe the ink from the bottom of the cap tops before the pump, and while she's printing, the quality is not something that I'm excited about.

Made several cleans, manual around the head area, wipers replaced, bi-directional adjustment done, but still get some banding and lots of dropouts on the cyan head.

I'm new to printing and to this Roland, so please bear with me. I did all the tests I could based on the info I could gather from here and other forums, so any help would be appreciated.

the CMYK squares were printed in a mactac matte I have for tests, standard quality, bi-directional. I did a nother test (not pictured) in standard quality but uni-directional and it looks the same.

 

[J Hill Designs]

head soak or 3 may clear that up

 

[wwpro]

Thanks for the quick reply

Never done a head soak, I got the basics but not sure if I have to clamp the lines below the captops so the fluid doesn't go to the waste bottle or not.

Also, how do I trick the machine to let me move the head to the left ? Going to change the blade or wipers will do it ? After the solution is on the captops, how the printer let the head rest on the captops for the solution to work ?

Sorry for the basic questions, I've read about this 1000 times but doing it is another thing

 

[wwpro]

I was looking at this thread

http://www.signs101.com/forums/showthread.php?t=93080

and it caught my attention while working on the printer that the cyan captop was a little uneven, so probably not providing a solid seal.

Could that be the culprit here ?

 

[wwpro]

Let the head soaking overnight and did a couple of cleanings today, now the magenta is messed up

Ink is getting low, replacing with new cartridges could help in any way ? Have a new set of 440ml OEM ink but I decided to wait until I was able to have the printer in good shape and printing properly, but I don't want to damage the machine just because I'm cheap

 

[wwpro]

here's the latest test print, looks like crap, and the CMYK squares (no pic) are showing, obviously, a lot of banding and the black is green now.

Kinda want to get this rolling, so any help you guys can provide it would be appreciated

 

[P Wagner]

If cleaning routines are making the problems worse, I would replace the CapTops for both printheads. These are user-replaceable, and run ~$25 ea. Should take just a few minutes to replace - just be careful with the springs.

 

[wwpro]

I just found a couple I brought with me as spares, never thought I was going to be replacing so soon, but glad I have them.

Will report back later to see what happens.
Thanks a lot

 

[wwpro]

Damn it, one of the springs went lost, gotta find a similar one soon.
Captops changed, cleaning as I type, so let see what happens.

DOes the missing spring affects the function of the captop for a little bit ?
Is there a way to move the captops up manually or via the control panel to compensate for the spring ?

 

[ruckusman]

You looked to be close to a good nozzle check, then it went down hill, been there done that.

It seems that the ink that's in there is casuing you problems, though you may have other contributing factors also

It may be worth reverse flushing the lines, including the dampers, with cleaning fluid.

 

[wwpro]

It may be worth reverse flushing the lines, including the dampers, with cleaning fluid.

what's the best way to do it ? As you can see I'm new to this and been doing my best so far, but no idea how to do what you suggest

 

[wwpro]

well, replaced both captops, replaced the missing spring with one from a pen, let the head soak for some more time with some paper towels over the caotops saturated with cleaning fluid. Now is printing much better, a little bit of banding but acceptable in standard quality, so happy overall.

Thanks to the 3 people who helped me posting in this thread.

 

[demandattention]

Just saw this post. I too had a similar issue and it was the cap top. Glad you got it fixed. I was told by a tech that to many head soaks will give you issues as well. After a day or so of printing and normal head cleanings you should be in good shape.

 

[Wingace]

Lolz at the pen spring... excellent MacGyver skillz ... wish i thought of that when i was fishing for same spring for an hour xD