rnovia80

Is my DX4 printhead gone bad

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i am trying to figure out what is goin on with my Roland SP300i machine. my black prints are looking very fuzzy almost looks like hairs around fonts and prints only on the black ink. I have cleaned and soaked and flushed the head.  Just this morning i printed some logos and changed the black setting in the artwork to just K100 and it seems to print great with minimal fuzziness around objects or fonts and no banding really at all. If i change the setting of the black to a richer CMYK setting  C75 M68 Y67 K90 which is a black black when it prints there is all kinds of banding and fuzziness going on it looks awful.  Please help

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what does your nozzle check look like-   I seemed to replace my dx4 black heads about every 2 years to keep all nozzles acceptable - 

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it looks like crap on the black printout. the other colors are fine. i will post a pic of it give me a sec

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that black/cyan head is long past needing replaced - bite the bullet and if doing it yourself follow the directions very carefully - we have seen people zap $2500 boards not being careful enough and that hurts worse than replacing the head.   Black/cyan is the same head  - - - the black is always the one that has problems.   maint items like heads are just part of owning a printer.  also when you replace the head replace both dampers at the same time

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K thats what i thought. But i just like to try everything before i buy a new one. Have u ever heard of solventinkjet.com they are out of denver colorado. They have the DX4 heads for my machine for $695.00 im pretty sure they are the real epson head. I think i can definitely do it myself it doesnt seem like rocket science but the roland tech will install and calibrate it for $300. Ill prob just have him do it. 

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make sure any dx4 you buy has the solvent manifold installed on it - there are sellers out there with cheaper dx4's that have the water based manifolds on them that solvent will melt.   I always tried to have an afternoon free when I installed mine so I took my time and followed each step carefully - also gave me time to go thru all the calibrations a couple of times so it was dead on - then I would check the alignments again in a couple of weeks just to make sure.  Biggest mistake I have read is people doing the procedure by just turning the secondary power off and not turning the primary off - then they disconnect the ribbon cable and zap the mainboard that the ribbon cables connect to.   then you read a lot of sob stories.   it isn't rocket science if you have the service manual but should not be rushed

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PS that head should have been replaced a LONG time ago - that one deflected nozzle in your magenta isn't a big deal but after I lost a couple of nozzles and deflection started I replaced the head.  I always wanted to put out good work and not just get by.  I also went back to using OEM ink after my first fj500 that came with aftermarket inks - had way less problems with the oem, just got to the point my wife and i go on 3 week vacations and she retires in 14 months so the printer had to go away as much as I loved it.  last one was a sp-300i

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Ya i hear ya. I have roland tech coming out to change the head. I just bought the machine used got a good deal on it and figured i we ould have to change a head sooner or later. Ive cutting vinyl for 13 years now with my OLIOLINE 100 which is a beast. But coming into a printer cutter is a whole new learning curve. Im getting there. I figured id have him come out the first time to do the head so i can see what it entitles and definitely the next time i will do it on my own for sure. I knew the black must have been gone but i just wanted to make sure before i drop money. So after this black head is installed the fuzzy hairy look thats around fonts and logos should be gone ?

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yes when all the nozzles are firing and the rest are not deflected it will print much better - I always budgeted $1000 per year for maint on my solvent printers.  they are not buy em and forget em like plotters and keep it printing all the time when you get it fixed - if they sit around they get  a lot more expensive than if used all the time

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k im back again and i did a new DX4 printhead and it was great at the beginning very sharp and crisp the prints looked great but now its starting to look fuzzy again. i just dont understand how this happens in 6 months. someone please help?

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3 hours ago, rnovia80 said:

k im back again and i did a new DX4 printhead and it was great at the beginning very sharp and crisp the prints looked great but now its starting to look fuzzy again. i just dont understand how this happens in 6 months. someone please help?

do you print with it every couple of days or does it sit?  solvents do not like to sit unused even when they do self cleanings - sets see your latest nozzle check

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it just doesnt make sense that none of the other inks are doing this. its only the black and always the black. the black head shares with Cyan so if i scratched it that Cyan line is maybe a 1/16 next to the black and it is absolutely fine. thats definately not the problem. everything gets used all the time. and if the other colors werent used as much as the black wouldnt they be looking like crap. it just doesnt make sense. there is something else going on.

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4 hours ago, rnovia80 said:

it just doesnt make sense that none of the other inks are doing this. its only the black and always the black. the black head shares with Cyan so if i scratched it that Cyan line is maybe a 1/16 next to the black and it is absolutely fine. thats definately not the problem. everything gets used all the time. and if the other colors werent used as much as the black wouldnt they be looking like crap. it just doesnt make sense. there is something else going on.

90 percent of the time it is the black that goes - I've replaced plenty and most of the time it is the black  - I was once told it had more solids - not sure if that is the case but I know the black has always caused more issues and the reason I always had a spare head on hand - then again printing every day or every other day I went about 2 years without problems - but once I cut back on how much printing I did the heads went faster and the reason I always tell anyone to make sure they have enough business to keep the printers busy

Personally my guess is you bought the "sexy" printer but don't have enough work to really keep it happy. at least that is what I have seen the most of over the past 8 years since I bought my first solvent printer

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