Full Version: Morning Problem #1

From: gt350ed [#1]
27 Apr 2006
To: ALL

Good morning/afternoon to ALL! I've posted this probably more appropriately on the DSSI forum, but I thought some of you cross-platform wise old sages might have some suggestions:

You would think after doing this for so long that I would have it figured out. NOT!!

I'm using a 1280 with Artanium inks. I have a perfect nozzle check. And, typically after a few head cleanings, I print out some CYMK rectangles. My Cyan rectangle has perfectly aligned horizontal fine lines that I can't seem to get rid of. The resulting pattern throughout the test rectangle reminds me of fine corduroy.

This pattern is interferring with some FRP badges that I do routinely in that the pattern shows up in a deeper shade of red used as a background in the logo. Generally, if this happens with black, I seem to get enough "flow" in the transfer process that it does not show up.

But in this case, with magenta and cyan mixing to achieve the shade of red, I'm seeing these fine lines.

Any suggestions?

EDITED: 27 Apr 2006 by DGL

From: Stunt Engraver (DGL) [#2]
27 Apr 2006
To: gt350ed [#1] 27 Apr 2006

Ed,

Are you getting low on a particular color? If you're using a bulk ink system, are the levels up?

I've had occasions, where, even though a nozzle check shows as perfect, colors can become "weak", if the level of ink in a cartridge is low.

That can cause another color, of the colors used in your image, to dominate.

From: gt350ed [#3]
27 Apr 2006
To: Stunt Engraver (DGL) [#2] 27 Apr 2006

All ink levels are fine. I use the MIS clear spongeless self-filling carts. They work great. This problem has occurred before on other printers, pre-dating these carts. I'm confident that it's not the carts or lack of ink.

My colored rectangles (shades of color) are fine except for the lines in the cyan rectangle.

HELP!! Work is piling up.

From: Harvey only (HARVEY-ONLY) [#4]
27 Apr 2006
To: gt350ed [#1] 27 Apr 2006

Sometimes a nozzle check will show up fine yet the colors spit sideways a bit erratically. This is due to the very limited amount of ink used with a nozzle check. Real printing uses a lot bigger drops, which can show the side spitting.

When that happened to me DSSI came through with a suggestion.

Unlock the heads and unplug.
Move the head over and use a few drops of Fantastic in the cup that seals the head when not in use. Let sit for a few minutes. Use a straw or something plastic and soft and gently rub the hard surface inside the cup.
Put a few drops more Fantastic on the cup and gently rub again. Let stand for a few minutes while finishing this procedure.
Clean under the head well. It gets a buildup.
Clean the front side of the head and the rear side of the head also. You will be surprised at the amount of buildup there that transfers to the bottom with all of the jiggling the head takes.
Plug in and you should be set for quite a while.

EDITED: 27 Apr 2006 by HARVEY-ONLY

From: Stunt Engraver (DGL) [#5]
27 Apr 2006
To: gt350ed [#3] 27 Apr 2006

Ed,

Sounds like a simple case of banding, even though the nozzle check shows up as perfect.

It happens.

From: gt350ed [#6]
27 Apr 2006
To: Stunt Engraver (DGL) [#5] 27 Apr 2006

And......???? Your suggestion would be.........???

From: Stunt Engraver (DGL) [#7]
27 Apr 2006
To: gt350ed [#6] 27 Apr 2006

Ed,

As Harvey suggested, a physical head cleaning.

From: gt350ed [#8]
27 Apr 2006
To: Stunt Engraver (DGL) [#7] 27 Apr 2006

Head cleaning has made no difference. Hmmm....

From: Harvey only (HARVEY-ONLY) [#9]
27 Apr 2006
To: gt350ed [#8] 27 Apr 2006

That is a strange one. No ideas.

Can you post a picture of one of the squares so we can see exactly what you are talking about?

From: UncleSteve [#10]
27 Apr 2006
To: gt350ed [#8] 27 Apr 2006

Have you EVER run a head alignment? Most of the Epson Utility software has head alignment as one of the options.

It prints out a set of vertical lines for each color and you select which of 1 through 8, IIRC, lines has the best vertical alignment, as in looks like a straight line.

From: gt350ed [#11]
27 Apr 2006
To: UncleSteve [#10] 27 Apr 2006

Yes, I ran one earlier today, even though I'm of the opinion I did not need one. It has not made a difference.

Here is some clarification which I sent to Mick in response to his email asking about what I was using the FRP for...

quote:

Yes, I have a big badge order I'm trying to finish. I just did some mugs
within the last several days which came out perfect.. But I did my typical
morning nozzle check yesterday, which was fine. Then I ran two name badge transfers and noticed that the deep red background of the logo had fine, perfectly straight horizontal lines. I pressed the FRP anyway but the lines were still visible. This caused me to go back and print my CMYK color rectangles. It was then that I noticed that these same horizontal lines were present in the Cyan color rectangle and, throughout the day today, I am unable to get rid of them so far. The lines are probably 1/32" apart leaving a fine corduroy pattern. I'm thinking maybe there is debris on the bottomside of the printhead...or a partial clog. Otherwise, I'm stumped.

From: Harvey only (HARVEY-ONLY) [#12]
27 Apr 2006
To: gt350ed [#11] 27 Apr 2006

If the manual head cleaning did not do it and the nozzle check is good, it is a real puzzle.

The cup cleaning first should have removed the last possibility. (The cup builds up right under the nozzles and imparts new garbage on the nozzles after a while.)

The only other thing I can think of is a corrupt driver that is not putting out the data properly. Personal opinion, very slim chance.

From: Stunt Engraver (DGL) [#13]
27 Apr 2006
To: gt350ed [#11] 28 Apr 2006

Ed,

Did you clean the bottom of the printhead(s)?

From: RALLYGUY (RALLYGUY1) [#14]
28 Apr 2006
To: gt350ed [#8] 28 Apr 2006

If the lines that you are getting run parralel to the print head movement, it is likely banding....Any way you could post a picture?

Have you switched to a different print resolution? Have you changed anything else like paper, or has nothing else changed? What about the environment. Has the printer environment gone from cool to warm in the last few days? Temperature and humidity can be huge when it comes to banding issues.....cooler and wetter is better...Think of Seattle as being ideal. ;)

Usually you can get the printer clean enough to run a few good prints and then it starts banding...is this what is happneing to you, or is it banding from the get go.....?

Could the rollers be worn, allowing the paper to slip while printing....Allignment would help with this....I know you did a test, but not sure if there is vertical allignment or just horizontal with a desktop.....

Does the allignment take into account the vertical movement of the paper, or just the horizontal movement of the print head?

From: Stunt Engraver (DGL) [#15]
28 Apr 2006
To: RALLYGUY (RALLYGUY1) [#14] 28 Apr 2006

Brian,

Print head alignment -- on the small format printers I use and I would assume most, if not all, ink jet printers -- controls the accuracy of printing in the vertical position.

Example:

Create a single-line border, on an 8.5" x 11" page, with a line width of 4 or 5 pts.

If the printheads are out of alignment, the vertical lines -- lines along the 11" length of the page -- will be fuzzy, while the lines across the 8.5" width will be crisp.

Sometimes, it takes magnification to spot the irregularity, before pressing. After pressing, the malady becomes very noticeable, to the naked eye. >.<

If all lines, across all four sides are fuzzy, it's very likely that dirty printheads are the problem.

From: RALLYGUY (RALLYGUY1) [#16]
28 Apr 2006
To: Stunt Engraver (DGL) [#15] 28 Apr 2006

I agree with your assesment....but was not sure if the utility addressed vertical or just horizontal....Your test would clarify if there was a problem either way.

From: Dave Jones (DAVERJ) [#17]
28 Apr 2006
To: ALL

Print heads are a grid of jets that interleave and if one whole column of jets is not firing you get a set of evenly spaced stripes going side to side. Besides the clogging issues mentioned earlier, there are a few other possibilities. None of which bring good news.

It's possible that the print head is defective. Each column of jets share some electrical traces in the head and if the trace for a column breaks, that set of jets is broken.

It's also possible that one wire in the flexible wire going to the print head is bad. One wire can take out a whole column of jets.

Another possibility is a bad connection where the print head connects to the flex wire. That is usually a gold plated grid of contacts and not too likely to get a bad connection, but anything is possible. It can even happen from a small impurity in the gold mixture when manufactured. If it is a bad contact, it may be possible to remove the print head, clean the contacts, and put it back. I don't know what kind of printer you have and whether that is something that is simple to do.

If it's a bad head, you would need a new head. If it's a bad wire, that may be more difficult to replace than the head. If it's a bad contact, then that's the easiest and cheapest to fix of these three possibilities. Or it might be none of these. It's certainly a lot easier to clean clogged jets than to have to deal with any of the above.

From: Harvey only (HARVEY-ONLY) [#18]
28 Apr 2006
To: RALLYGUY (RALLYGUY1) [#14] 28 Apr 2006

quote:

Could the rollers be worn, allowing the paper to slip while printing....

New food for thought. If something stuck to the driver roller it would increase the amount of paper that is pulled at that instant when the gunk increases the diameter of the roller. Since the heads do not print all of the colors in the appropriate place at the same time, that could cause banding.

Try a sticky printer cleaning sheet from Staples.

One fairly simple sounding problem, too many possible causes.

From: Stunt Engraver (DGL) [#19]
28 Apr 2006
To: Harvey only (HARVEY-ONLY) [#18] 28 Apr 2006

Harvey,

If Ed's seeing banding in the Cyan segment of his purge pattern (separate blocks of his 6 colors) and if paper slippage were the problem, all colors would show evidence of the same type of banding.

From: Harvey only (HARVEY-ONLY) [#20]
28 Apr 2006
To: Stunt Engraver (DGL) [#19] 28 Apr 2006

Duhhhhh on me.

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Full Version: Morning Problem #1

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