Need Help Visible lines in prints with Mimaki CJV30-100

[joeks]

Hi,

I could really need some help
Bought a Mimaki CJV30-100 beginning of this year and this have been fun, printing things for clients like wallpaper, small contour cut stickers, doorstickers, windowstickers and some other things.

But now I have small visible line in my prints. Can't find a way to fix it.
Checked head height, currently set as "high". But with "low" setting I get the exact same results.
Checked the other setting, forgot the name, the one that prints two large grey row and you have to check that they don't overlap or have a gap in between. I do get a single thicker line in the lower grey row.

I also have quit some trouble keeping the machine up and running nice. Do clean the machine with swaps and cleaning programs, but when I don't use the printer for a couple of days, sometimes a week or more (vacation), I lose almost half of my nozzles at the nozzle test. Takes me about half a day of manual cleaning and automatic cleaning programs to get back to good results.

But the main question for now, how do I sort the "lines in prints" problem.

btw, the Sega Outrun artwork and the UP poster are raster images, hence the lower quality when zoomed in.

I print with the Finecut plugin in Illustrator, which then sends the files to Rasterlink 5.
Images below are printed at 16 pass. In the past, I didn't have these visible lines with the 16 pass setting. Haven't tested it with 8 or 32 pass yet.

Thanks for reading!

IMG_2653 by barrybuise, on Flickr

IMG_2648 by barrybuise, on Flickr

IMG_1619 by barrybuise, on Flickr

IMG_0723 by barrybuise, on Flickr

IMG_0827 by barrybuise, on Flickr

IMG_6203 by barrybuise, on Flickr

IMG_7817 by barrybuise, on Flickr

IMG_8565 by barrybuise, on Flickr

IMG_2956 by barrybuise, on Flickr

IMG_8693 by barrybuise, on Flickr

IMG_9586 by barrybuise, on Flickr

 

[Nismoasfuh]

Sorry I don't have an answer, but I'm here because I have the EXACT same issue on my Roland SP. after a few days like you said the head wouldn't fire, and would actually "dump" a deposit of ink. Takes a good 45mins to a hour to get good test prints. I have a feeling that our heads have just been abused and were probably not cleaned well in the past. I'm hoping there's a easy solution that wouldn't require a seriously deep cleaning of the heads, I can't trust myself to do that.

 

[Solventinkjet]

If it takes more than 2 cleaning cycles to get a good nozzle check, the maintenance parts need to be changed. I would change the cap top especially if it is older than a year. While you are changing that, flush both sides of the pump to see if there are any clogs. Usually you can work them out if there are any. You are missing a few nozzles which usually don't show up too much in prints but can be part of the problem. Also, it looks like the heat may be too low as the ink seems to be sitting on top of the vinyl rather than biting into it. It looks like you need to do the drop position alignment as well. Notice how the cyan slightly peaks out behind the SEGA logo. Overall if you get the maintenance station working and all of the alignments are done properly, you may just have an old worn out head. I would also check the bottom of the head for any ink build up that needs to be cleaned off manually.

 

[joeks]

If it takes more than 2 cleaning cycles to get a good nozzle check, the maintenance parts need to be changed. I would change the cap top especially if it is older than a year. While you are changing that, flush both sides of the pump to see if there are any clogs. Usually you can work them out if there are any. You are missing a few nozzles which usually don't show up too much in prints but can be part of the problem. Also, it looks like the heat may be too low as the ink seems to be sitting on top of the vinyl rather than biting into it. It looks like you need to do the drop position alignment as well. Notice how the cyan slightly peaks out behind the SEGA logo. Overall if you get the maintenance station working and all of the alignments are done properly, you may just have an old worn out head. I would also check the bottom of the head for any ink build up that needs to be cleaned off manually.

Thanks for your comment Nismoasfuh! And thank you for your thorough explanation VanderJ!

I don't really know how old the maintenance parts are, I haven't purchased new parts so far. Only the wiper and the small sponge on the far right.

So the replace the cap top I have to order this?
JV33 / CJV30 Capping Station - M007389 - Spare Parts
or
JV33 Capping Station - M007389 - Spare Parts

And how do I flush both sides of the pump, is that a setting or manual maintenance?

About the heat, I have it setup like this, pre at 40 degrees Celsius, platter at 40 Celsius and post at 50 Celsius.

The drop position alignment, I checked that. But couldn't figure out exactly how it works.
It prints 8 rows (1 - 8) with an arrow at the current setting.
Next I picked the best aligned position for each row. Say, row 1 +8, row 2 +11, row 3 -4 and so on.
Entered that as new values, but the next drop position shows almost identical results. I don't understand, hmm.
I was hoping they would be spot on at the next test.

I clean the bottom of the head (the visible part) with swap and original Mimaki cleaning fluid twice a week.

Today's prints show the lines as well.

I also made a photo of the drop position alignment test from a couple of days ago, see bottom of this post.
Scribbled values on the right are the settings on the machine before I changed them to the newer circled values.

IMG_5279 by barrybuise, on Flickr

IMG_3915 by barrybuise, on Flickr

IMG_2536 by barrybuise, on Flickr

IMG_1858 by barrybuise, on Flickr

IMG_7448 by barrybuise, on Flickr

IMG_1307 by barrybuise, on Flickr

 

[CentralSigns]

Change your wipers more often

 

[joeks]

Thanks CentralSigns, I changed my whipers and the print does seem to improve a bit. But it's not great yet.

I changed the cheap Chinese vinyl media I got with the machine for ImagePerfect gloss sticker vinyl.
Right away I noticed the material sits much flatter on the platter Less prone to headstrikes.
The cheap material always curved a bit wavy at the platter area, probably because of the heat (always 35-35-50).

I did some more tests with uni-direction setting (head in low setting).
Print at 8 pass: colored areas not uniform, big visible lines.
Print at 16 pass: small visible lines.
Print at 32 pass: Best quality but slow.

Tried bi-directional settings, since I have read here that that seems the way to go with most materials except back-lit.
With bi-directional prints I get fuzzy image quality. Layers not aligned properly.
Did the media comp en drop position correction steps. Media comp I can get that spot on, no problem.
But with the drop pos correction whatever values I enter, the print results are always the same!
It does store the values for pattern 1-8, but they have no effect on the following print result.
I assume once I can adjust those values, the bi-directional prints will be a sharp as the uni-direction prints, only faster.

Going to order a new capping station cap top like this one:
2pcs/lot High quality solvent base Mutoh mimaki jv33 jv5 cjv30 print head dx5 capping station dx5 head cap top-in Printer Parts from Computer & Office on Aliexpress.com | Alibaba Group

But will that improve print quality?
I don't really understand what a capping station does, I assume head cleaning?

Thanks so far guys, I really want to fix these issues.


8 pass uni-direction test print
IMG_8192 by barrybuise, on Flickr

16 pass uni-direction test print
IMG_2139 by barrybuise, on Flickr

32 pass uni-direction test print
IMG_7272 by barrybuise, on Flickr

16 pass bi-directional test print, see that the alignment is off
IMG_3467 by barrybuise, on Flickr

16 pass bi-directional test print, see that the alignment is off, for example the hair on her forehead
IMG_9771 by barrybuise, on Flickr

Loosen the two screws holding the head in position, lower head (hold leveler) and tighten screws again.
Press Enter twice and confirm head is in Lower position (Thin?).
IMG_4083 by barrybuise, on Flickr

Drop position correction adjusting for head in Low position.
IMG_0713 by barrybuise, on Flickr

 

[mbaker]

The cap is the thing next to your sponge - looks like a rainbow. I had the EXACT issues you did and had a chat with my local tech. Here is the advice he gave:

Do a nozzle wash. Once nozzle wash starts, turn power switch (in the back not the front power) off and let sit overnight.

Replace cap. I did this first, then did the overnight nozzle wash (I was missing half my nozzles but yours looks good). He said the cap is most likely my problem with the banding I was having (prints looked exactly like yours).

Heat. My shop is cold and printer shouldn't go below 16 degrees (C). He recommended 45/40/45 for heat settings, but basically as high as you can until media wrinkles.

I cannot get my drop pos test to be correct either. Also, some lines in my printing are sharp, and some are not, which led him to believe that my printhead my be a little out of alignment.

This has all been in the past couple of days, so I have replaced the cap, and did the overnight nozzle wash. Test print improved 100%, but I have yet to do more as I had a lot of cutting to do.

 

[ewded]

I have the same problem, but my printer is BRAND NEW (roland sg-540) calibration shows perfect alignment and bi-directional test is perfect too, I have no missing nozzle. I'm expecting a visit from my tech and will let you know the results.

 

[joeks]

mbaker:

Thanks for your reply!

In the mean time, I called a technician.
He told me that I should replace the cap top and clean the encoder strip.
And probably a pump. But before I'll pay €850 and let the tech look at it, I'll try some things myself.

I have replaced my cap top. Looks cleaner now, the older one looked like a black ink puddle, now it looks more like a rainbow ink pattern.
I do notice much better cleaning results after a single nozzle wash.
Printing result stays about the same. Maybe a little better but not perfect.

I have also cleaned the encoder strip with a soft cloth and Windex.

The Drop Position corrections still don't work. Could have to do with a dirty encoder strip (but is now clean).
It saves my numeral settings for each pattern (1-8), but it prints the exact same patterns after the corrections.
Next solution, let the tech come over and check it out. He can also make calibrations in the service menu which is hidden for us users.

Thanks again! Hope to get this sorted out


ewded

Hope the tech can solve your issues! A brand new printer should work flawlessly in my opionion. Good luck!

 

[Hamster]

How long you use this machine? I think problem with madia feeding

 

[ewded]

I guess I found my problem unfortunately I cannot resolve it so I'll just return my printer - the feed axis seems to be bent or have a figure 8 in it, I printet some 10x10 inch squares and the left side is not equal to the right side. It varies between 0.01-0.02 inch sometimes its the left side shorter sometimes its the right one, WIDTH of the squares are perfect.

This is what made calibration impossibe and dots looks like there was too much ink or something, but no its just misplacement of the dots.

 

[zex123]

Have you solved the problem I have the same?

 

[ewded]

Have you solved the problem I have the same?


View attachment 130875

Tech came on Friday and actually found the Y encoder film was not installed straight- turns out the shaft is not bent. We are now waiting the replacement encoder from Roland.

I see the same smooth/rough parts on your print, you should check the encoder - on my printer its on the end of the shaft and it was pretty exposed to dust.

 

[zex123]

Thanks for the answer ... I've cleared encoder and put some old cap top it now is much better...I will definitely buy a new encoder and cap top...

 

[Dangreenst]

Hi,

I could really need some help
Bought a Mimaki CJV30-100 beginning of this year and this have been fun, printing things for clients like wallpaper, small contour cut stickers, doorstickers, windowstickers and some other things.

But now I have small visible line in my prints. Can't find a way to fix it.
Checked head height, currently set as "high". But with "low" setting I get the exact same results.
Checked the other setting, forgot the name, the one that prints two large grey row and you have to check that they don't overlap or have a gap in between. I do get a single thicker line in the lower grey row.

I also have quit some trouble keeping the machine up and running nice. Do clean the machine with swaps and cleaning programs, but when I don't use the printer for a couple of days, sometimes a week or more (vacation), I lose almost half of my nozzles at the nozzle test. Takes me about half a day of manual cleaning and automatic cleaning programs to get back to good results.

But the main question for now, how do I sort the "lines in prints" problem.

btw, the Sega Outrun artwork and the UP poster are raster images, hence the lower quality when zoomed in.

I print with the Finecut plugin in Illustrator, which then sends the files to Rasterlink 5.
Images below are printed at 16 pass. In the past, I didn't have these visible lines with the 16 pass setting. Haven't tested it with 8 or 32 pass yet.

Thanks for reading!

IMG_2653 by barrybuise, on Flickr

IMG_2648 by barrybuise, on Flickr

IMG_1619 by barrybuise, on Flickr

IMG_0723 by barrybuise, on Flickr

IMG_0827 by barrybuise, on Flickr

IMG_6203 by barrybuise, on Flickr

IMG_7817 by barrybuise, on Flickr

IMG_8565 by barrybuise, on Flickr

IMG_2956 by barrybuise, on Flickr

IMG_8693 by barrybuise, on Flickr

IMG_9586 by barrybuise, on Flickr

Your on the right track with the Media Comp adjustment. the thick black bars. Looks like you have thick overlap going on. you can also adjust- this while printing. Use the up down arrows to add space between the passes. Do this until the dark lines get better. it may also be an alignalignment problem.

 

[vivi0512]

hello, i ve the same problem as you on my mimaki cjv30-100 , i m printing most of the time for car's sign so it s not very important, but sometime a customer ask to me small stickers, and in this case, this is not awesome....i ve the same lines in the printed media...

i try many times the media comp setting and i can't have a good result, i was asking if the setting is not too minutious/infime to do it with only my eyes in the media comp adjustement menu.

So i will try to do this during printing with the up and down arrows it could be interessting to set it during printing ( this way i will see in " live " the result)

Have you find the solution on your side ?

 

[Cata]

1. deflecting nozzles..
2. printhead aligment
3.head hight