2880 Micro banding

InkjetMall Customer Support Printer Maintenance & Cartridges
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I have been getting a micro banding problem when printing digital negatives. The banding runs parallel to the print head. I have only noticed it in areas of smooth tonal values in the mid to highlights (of the finished print). I have not noticed it when making prints (moab entrada, Canson Rag, Hanh photo rag).

I am printing with a R2880 on pictorico Pro OHP using the P2 selenium inkset using method 3 for my digital negatives. I am using a mac printing from Print tool 1.1 settings Rear feed 2880dpi uni-directional at no color management and 16 bit. For digital negatives I invert and flip the grayscale gamma 2.2 file in photoshop and my curve flatten and save it as a 16bit tiff file sized to output at 300dpi.

A few things I have tried with no noticeable difference . . . bi directional setting changing from default to patten gap wide setting. I have done nozzle checks most often fine but do have issues that seem to move around from nozzle to nozzle. I do see on this one some issues with the black ink but it should not be used for negatives correct? From carefully looking at the nozzzle checks I notice one line in the yellow ink is not in the correct position. Could this be the problem? Any way to correct?

I think i have attached the nozzle check and sample of the lines.

Thanks,
Kurt


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Hi Kurt~

Jon forwarded me emails you sent him (similar to what you posted above, but with a slightly different nozzle check).
I see a is-firing nozzle in your yellow channel (far right) that would cause dark banding due to two nozzles printing top of each other (I labeled the first nozzle check you sent, and attached below for you to see).


Is this banding only in the mid-tone to dark shadow range of your printed negatives? If so, then I suspect this mis-firing Y nozzle is causing the print problems, since black (which has obvious problems in the newer nozzle check you attached above) isn’t used for printing digital negatives, and yellow (shade 2.5) isn’t used for printing with the P2M-PZDN system you’re using.

I also noticed the vertical lines between each ink channel are parallel/next to each other, not overlapping like they should be. Please attach an alignment check (On Pictorico OHP film) for me to examine.

Best~ Dana

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here’s a close up of the Y channel so you can see dot detail:


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If you haven’t already, please read this helpful document about reading your printed nozzle checks to determine the health of your printer: http://www.inkjetmall.com/tech/content.php?167-Evaluate-a-Manual-Nozzle-Check-to-Determine-the-Health-of-Your-Printer

(PS, do you mind if I use your nozzle check to add to the above referenced support document, to show other examples of issues?)

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Hi Dana thanks for your help.

The missing nozzle on the LM ink cleared with a cleaning (the on after you print a nozzle check) and has not been a problem since. The black ink has been doing that interesting printing of half the line at a lighter shade but it seems to move around in the pattern as to where it shows up. The problems with Yellow has been constant.

Yes I only see it in the mid to dark areas on the printed negative. I had noticed the vertical lines were not aligned but was not sure what that ment if anything. Have attached an alignment test. Have done this only a few times always in auto mode. Have not done it much as it indicated it is only used in high speed printing which I did not think I was using? I have not applied any info yet after the alignment test.

Thanks for sharing your knowledge!

Kurt


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Sure go ahead and use it.

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Dana,

Is there a way to fix this? I have done many cleanings. Filled a cart with flush and printed a purge pattern a few time. Let it sit and repeat. Not seeing a change in the yellow nozzle. Have also done manual cleaning head wiper blade and the catch station on the far right.

Thanks,

Kurt

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I recommend flushing the yellow channel of your print head using our print head cleaning kit with PiezoFlush to try cleaning that one mis-firing nozzle. You can get the head cleaning kit here: http://shopping.netsuite.com/s.nl/c.362672/it.A/id.6605/.f?sc=18&category=68412. Written and video instructions can be found on the same page.

I hope this helps!
Best regards~ Dana :slight_smile: