Wave pattern banding

[oozawekwun]

I've attached a couple of images that show the banding issues I've been dealing with lately. It really shows up in green and blue saturated color. The banding is a pattern that will produce a good result for 1/4 to 1/2 inch then band for an inch or so then print a good result again. This pattern repeats itself but sometimes it will print fine for more than the 1/4 to 1/2 inch strip.

I'm not sure if I'm dealing with a electronic signal issue, ink starvation issue or print head issue.

I can increase my distance adjust but the banding never seems to go away.

I have a Mutoh Toucan LT, running eco solvent ink, PosterShop 7.

The problem does not happen in all my work, just certain jobs that use saturated blues or greens and sometimes orange.

I've run some tests to check the basics. Nozzle check is fine, head alignment is fine. Nothing seems to be out of place. I have run out of ideas. Can anyone recommend some troubleshooting options?

 

[genericname]

Same problem here, though we run Mimakis with full solvent inks. Onyx is the common denominator, but we saw the same pattern when we used Flexi as well.

Our issues are limited to adhesive vinyl though, and doesn't present itself on banner material. The only solution I've found is to crank the resolution and number of passes to the maximum.

 

[ChicagoGraphics]

Try cleaning your encoder strip and sensor, the sensor should be behind your slider board, it is on my JV3 anyway, I had that same exact problem and a tech told me to clean thoese 2 things and problem was solved.

 

[P Wagner]

Recurring patterns like this are often times related to a dirty rotary encoder disk (not the linear encoder)/ sensor.

 

[401Graphics]

Recurring patterns like this are often times related to a dirty rotary encoder disk (not the linear encoder)/ sensor.

I would also think this would be the problem

 

[oozawekwun]

Cleaned rotary encoder disk and sensor and this seems to have worked. Not sure why it was only happening with one media (canvas) but I was able to get a nice print after the cleaning.

Thanks for all the suggestions.

 

[Jeff South Florida]

I would check the pinch rollers. I have seen them swell up and cause this exact problem on many machines. They become swollen and pinch the sides while turning. I have had customers cut off a little of the cover.