Vertical banding/streaking

[jbennett]

From looking at attached pics, what do you think is causing the vertical streaky look? It is almost only in the light blues and the pure c m y Kprints great. Since the streaks are isolated to the same spot each time, could it be encoder issues and is there a procedure for cleaning it? How about heat issues? Nozzle print is 100% on C M and Y and almost 100% on the K since doing an ultrasonic cleaning on the head. Any ideas?

All help is greatly appreciated.

jbennett

 

[Intense01]

I always had the same issues with my Mutoh. Only happened with some colors. I tried everything but couldn't get it to really go away. I always thought maybe vacuum issues or heat but changes to both never really seemed to change anything. Hopefully you figure it out.

 

[tsgstl]

Same here, mostly blues and seems worse on dry days. Do a test nozzle check, if there are some missing (especially blacks) then you should most likely change you docking station. Your encoder strip can be cleaned, I have used distilled water and cleaning cartridge solution (told to me by a local mutoh tech)
Please do more research for any of my suggestions, I'm far from a tech just passing along what I have mostly learned from the good people on this site.

I will tell you one thing, usually I freak out much more than needed. These machines seem way easier to tinker with than I first thought and most issues can be resolved easily.

 

[CRD]

Could you place a picture of the Nozzle check? And which machine your using.

Paco

 

[Solventinkjet]

I would start by cleaning the encoder strip with some rubbing alcohol. Although in this case it seems like it is a drop out issue. Take the cover off the head carriage and check the ink line and dampers going to the cyan especially. What you are looking for is a solid color in the ink line and no air bubbles. The damper should be about half full. A little over or under is ok. If the damper has never been changed in 1 to 2 years it is possible that the filter in the damper is clogged up. You can try flushing it with cleaning solution or buying a new one will help the head last longer. If that does't work I have seen some cases where the manifold (where the damper connects to the head) can have partial clogging that will allow a full test print to look good but does not allow the ink to flow fast enough to the head to allow for a solid print during normal full coverage printing. You can flush the head with a syringe and cleaning solution to see if that helps. If not it could be that the head is starting to fail. If you need parts or support give us a try at solventinkjet.com

 

[custom sign center]

I've had a similar problem that looked like that. Don't know if this is the same thing. The media was getting too much heat going into the printer and leaving "pinch roller" marks. It's hard to tell from the photo if the width of those bands match the width of the pinch rollers. I just ended up turning off my pre-heat setting (I use Wasatch RIP) on the media's that had the issue. Hope that helps and I hope you get it figured out.