xR640 more issues

[JoshLoring]

I don't even want to get into the mess I've encountered with the xR640 over the years but I need some input. Hoping someone has seen this because I need this printer operational asap and my tech is having no luck. I'm on my 2nd or maybe 3rd replacement printer. I can't even remember anymore.. I believe the 4th or 5th set of heads, countless cap tops and dampers. All under warranty and now extended warranty. I'm getting ink dropout which is causing crazy "banding" like the attached images. Tech just replaced both cap tops and dampers today. Any ideas on what this could be?

Edit: Room is self contained, temp controlled to 72-78 degrees, 40-48% humidity.

 

[Ragnabrok]

tried different profiles? even the wrong ones, like a default Roland profile? I can't imagine any other issue that would span across multiple machines. Media, power source, ground, RIP, RIP PC, network? I haven't seen a print problem that wasn't fixed by replacing the printer.

 

[JoshLoring]

tried different profiles? even the wrong ones, like a default Roland profile? I can't imagine any other issue that would span across multiple machines. Media, power source, ground, RIP, RIP PC, network? I haven't seen a print problem that wasn't fixed by replacing the printer.

Same machine unfortunately. Mostly problems with the XR640. My other Roland's run fine. Custom profile that's printed 10+ of this same exact wrap file within a month of this issue. Power source and network all good. I can take the same material and move it over 10' to another printer on the same rip and it prints great.

 

[rjssigns]

Middle pic looks like starvation. Might be some junk floating around in one or more of the lines. I'd start with a full flush while watching the lines to see what comes out. Make sure the ink train is fully functional and work forward from there.

Hmm...have the ribbon cables been replaced yet? So much mucking about in there could have done something.

 

[JoshLoring]

Looks like my tech figured it out. One of the plastic holders is missing the tab that holds the dampers in place. This could cause air intake. Now that I'm aware of this, it makes me think of the countless panels I've reprinted over the last years that had random white lines through a middle of a print. Well, now I know why I always have to reprint and pay out the *** for extra material.

 

[JoshLoring]

Update:

Plastic piece replaced, tech says fuses were popping. Next day replace fuses. Tech says head causing fuses to pop. This was Friday/sat

It's now Tuesday. Hopefully head here soon.
This is week #2 of having the XR-640 down. Loosing money daily.

 

[JoshLoring]

Update:
It's weds. New head and parts did not fix. Tech ordering a head board.

Also- I have a friend less than 20 miles from me is having major problems with their XR-640. Sad.

 

[Jack Knight1979]

I'm so sorry to see you're still having problems with this machine.

 

[JoshLoring]

Update:
Thursday- still not working. More parts ordered. Friday will be 2 solid weeks of no prints through that printer.
As a small shop this is now stressing me to the point of loosing sleep. F* I guess if it gets fixed this week I can spend time away from my family all weekend and run the Jobs I need to run.. Because it won't run unattended.... That take up roll is a mess.

 

[bulldozer]

that sucks, i guess i'm the only one who got a good one. had it almost 2 years now, and i haven't had any issues.

 

[JoshLoring]

You are a lucky one. Do you run a lot of media through it? 100-150' a day?
I know at least 5 direct contacts that I've went back and forth with on the issues with owning this particular printer.

that sucks, i guess i'm the only one who got a good one. had it almost 2 years now, and i haven't had any issues.

 

[reQ]

Well... and i was looking at this model to add to the production. Now i am not so sure.

 

[ImpactSignCo]

Been running an XR-640 for about a year and a half now, and we run anywhere from 50'-150' daily with little to no problems on the print side, most of which is fixed with a profile change. We run weekly cleanings and everything has been running smooth. I will say that we rarely cut with the XR-640, as we have a GX-640 for the bulk of our cutting, but we will run the occasional di-cut if we are backed up.
I'm sorry you have had bad luck with this machine. Ours is a complete workhorse. Sounds like you just got a lemon...

 

[JoshLoring]

Been running an XR-640 for about a year and a half now, and we run anywhere from 50'-150' daily with little to no problems on the print side, most of which is fixed with a profile change. We run weekly cleanings and everything has been running smooth. I will say that we rarely cut with the XR-640, as we have a GX-640 for the bulk of our cutting, but we will run the occasional di-cut if we are backed up. I'm sorry you have had bad luck with this machine. Ours is a complete workhorse. Sounds like you just got a lemon...

Are you guys able to run wraps clearly in 720? We used to be able to until about the 4th head change. Now we are stuck in 1440 no matter what wrap media we use.

I haven't had good luck. This isn't my first XR640 either. It's been replaced before and I feel like this one is worse than my first. The first one just couldn't take up straight but at least I could print in 720 without ink fallout.

 

[qmr55]

http://www8.hp.com/us/en/commercial-printers/latex-printers/360.html

 

[iraney]

huh we have had banding like that on our XR-640 for 6 months now and the techs have no clue we now have roland coming in to see what is going on and so far no fix yet they keep making changes and the print looks great and when they leave and we print the next day is all back to what it was banding everywhere. so far I am not happy with the XR-640.

 

[JoshLoring]

huh we have had banding like that on our XR-640 for 6 months now and the techs have no clue we now have roland coming in to see what is going on and so far no fix yet they keep making changes and the print looks great and when they leave and we print the next day is all back to what it was banding everywhere. so far I am not happy with the XR-640.

That really sucks. What they don't seem to get is that every time it leaves a single line of drop out or banding, it's out of our pocket to reprint. I've lost more money in material in the last two years than my wallet can afford. I keep giving them the benefit of the doubt but it's out of my pocket and it's not right. Time to reprint/material/ink/labor gone.

Keep me posted. I've heard this is a problem from many users but Roland will say something like "it's your profile" or "it's your media" or "your humidity is wrong causing static" blah blah. When there another Roland next to it that works perfectly fine, it's hard to blame it on the environment or media. The printer is to blame.

 

[oksigns]

I had banding and was about to go the service tech route; however, I made sure the profiles I was using really were legit for all instances on the vinyl I was using.. black & white, biased red prints, blue prints, etc.. and in the end it was my profiles under versaworks. I could never get color accurate grayscale images yet the rest of the color gamut was flawless. So in the end my solution was to print with 12 passes on a custom PVC profile from Oracal.

I would recommend looking at ink limits and even explore the Calibration and Ink Limits under the Quality tab. If you can make the banding go away with ink limits, it might just be the profile

 

[toomeycustoms]

We have had our XR for a little over a year. We had one head go bad right at the 1 year mark. During that first visit, the tech used up 6 cartridges of ink doing cleanings and flushes to try to get the nozzles back. This was on a Friday afternoon and of course the tech did not come with a replacement head. Finally gave up and came to the conclusion the head needed to be replaced. Asked to get some of that ink replaced, since 6 cartridges of ink to go through is absurd, but my dealer nor Roland has done or offered any resolution. So that "warranty" visit cost us $700+ in ink.

 

[JoshLoring]

I had banding and was about to go the service tech route; however, I made sure the profiles I was using really were legit for all instances on the vinyl I was using.. black & white, biased red prints, blue prints, etc.. and in the end it was my profiles under versaworks. I could never get color accurate grayscale images yet the rest of the color gamut was flawless. So in the end my solution was to print with 12 passes on a custom PVC profile from Oracal. I would recommend looking at ink limits and even explore the Calibration and Ink Limits under the Quality tab. If you can make the banding go away with ink limits, it might just be the profile

We have custom profiles and linearized Limits with an eye one machine for all media. If your solution is to print in 12 pass then your wasting unnecessary ink and print time. These printers should be capable of printing with zero banding at 8 pass.

I'm sorry that your solution is 12 pass. You should be demanding that printer to print clear at 8 pass and below. One year ago we ran over 20k sf of media at 720 flawlessly. Then.. The banding kicked in so they replaced the heads. Roland was still never able to fix it. Their solution was custom 1440 profiles. Yup.. More passes to cover up the problem. Fast forward 1 year.. Still can't print in 720 even with perfect media feed calibration and excellent profiles.