Fine Lines on entire Digital Negative

InkjetMall Customer Support Piezography Inks & Printing
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1

I was getting fine lines at the top and bottom of my DN and solved that by using a larger size Pictorico leaving almost 2" clear around the image. Now today, I’m getting light horizontal lines (somewhat larger than the fine ones before) evenly throughout the entire Digital Negative. My nozzle check is almost perfect (two broken lines in the BK channel).

Any ideas what would cause this?

2

can you post photos? What resolution are you printing at?

3

It’s going to be difficult seeing the banding from a scan, [B][I][U]but please follow this link to the files[/U][/I][/B], as they appear to be too large to upload to the forum. I’m also attaching a link to the file showing my nozzle check pattern. I’m printing at 2880 dpi, - UNI Directional - same setting as I printed my other DN’s that did not have this banding problem.

4

You can clearly see the banding on the wall behind the man’s head. This is just a portion of the negative print, but the problem is visible when viewed at 400%.

5

The banding is very clear across the entire image, I have posted your photos below.
Did you not notice the upper/middle section of your nozzle check is wavy in the black and cyan channels (5th + 6th from the left)? Look at the vertical lines between the channels- this is what’s causing your banding. There appears to be some lightness in this “off” section of the black channel… It also looks like the other two channels on the right have a slightly wavy vertical line, but not as bas as black and cyan. Have you tried cleaning the bottom of your print head? Here is some more information, that I hope is helpful: http://www.inkjetmall.com/tech/content.php?167-Evaluate-a-Manual-Nozzle-Check-to-Determine-the-Health-of-Your-Printer

Do you mind if I use your nozzle check an another example on the above page? It’s a good example of nozzles printing, but the vertical lines show serious problems.



6

Dana, thanks. Firstly, yes, you may use my image and nozzle check if you like. I already read the info on the link you sent, but was unsure as to what my next maintenance steps should be. Yes, I did clean the bottom of the print heads, and I did a flush of position 5 because prior to this nozzle check, position 5 was quite broken.

  • should I push some flush through the 5-6-7-8 channels?
  • or, should I just try cleaning the bottom of my print heads again?
7

I would recommend using your Head Cleaning attachment and giving those channels a good flushing. Go ahead and clean your LC, K, C, M & Y with the attachment by following this link for instructions http://www.inkjetmall.com/tech/content.php?138-Small-format-cleaning-kit. Once this is completed, if you have Flush carts, install them and run 3 head cleanings, then evaluate your Nozzle check, if it looks good, then re-install your inks and run the same 3 head cleaning cycles. I find this the best way to determine if the print head is in good working order or it is is plan and simply worn out! Let us know how it goes, good luck- Kelly

8

Kelly, I did everything you suggested:

  1. Flushed the channels you noted with the Head Cleaning kit per the video
  2. Installed flush carts and ran 3 cleaning cycles
  3. I re-installed my ink carts and ran 3 more cleaning cycles
  4. Then printed a Nozzle Check - the scan can be downloaded [B][I]HERE[/I][/B]
  5. And did a manual Head Alignment - the scan can be downloaded [B][I]HERE[/I][/B]

This has been going on for weeks, and the only think I use ink on are Head Cleanings. I need to start printing some Digital Negatives, but even with all I did today, I’m afraid all I’ll end up doing is wasting more ink on a DN that’s unusable.

Oh, one more thing: when I pushed flush into my K channel, quite a bit of ink/flush squirted out the C channel. And when I pushed flush into the M channel, some flush squirted out the C channel as well.

  • What do you think of my Nozzle Check and Head Alignment?
  • What do you suggest next (I’ve done every maintenance procedure suggested)?
  • Is having flush squirt out adjacent channels an issue?

About Ready to Toss My Printer out the Window…Robert

9

I posted your new nozzle check below (which looks worse than before), with red lines at the top and bottom of where I see problems in each channel. From left to right, the color positions are: LLK, LM, LC, LK, K, C, M + Y.
In the upper section marked of the LC channel, I see some darker ink printing between the red lines I marked. In the LK channel, there are three individual nozzles that are printing darker ink. The K channel is bad in the upper-mid section with missing and mis-firing nozzles, the C, M + Y channels are showing some missing and mis-firing nozzles as well, but also the area marked is a bit lighter on those positions. I also posted some close ups for you to see the detail I’m talking about.


(enlarged section of K and C channels below)

(enlarged section of C, M + Y channels below)

Have you had a print head strike on the edge or corner of paper or film, or other print head jam? Have you been experiencing any ink drips on paper while printing? How does the status monitor ink level reading compare to the physical cartridge ink levels? Do you have the fill hole plug IN, and air vent plug OUT on all carts? Do you have other cartridges- either Epson or refillable to try?
Yes, having flush come out a channel when you inject into a neighboring channel means the internal seal between channels is damaged, causing cross-contamination between channels, therefore the head is junk.

Please let me know, thanks~ Dana

10

ANSWERS TO YOUR QUESTIONS:

  1. Have you had a print head strike on the edge or corner of paper or film, or other print head jam? NO
  2. Have you been experiencing any ink drips on paper while printing? YESTERDAY FOR THE FIRST TIME THEN IT WENT AWAY
  3. How does the status monitor ink level reading compare to the physical cartridge ink levels? NOT EVEN CLOSE TO ACCURATE
  4. Do you have the fill hole plug in, and air vent plug out on all carts? YES AND YES
  5. Do you have other cartridges- either epson or refillable to try? YES, I TRIED THEM ALREADY AND I GET THE SAME RESULTS
  6. yes, having flush come out a channel when you inject into a neighboring channel means the internal seal between channels is damaged, causing cross-contamination between channels, therefore the head is junk. - SO, SHOULD IT BE REPLACED?

robert mang

11

Thanks, looks like I’ll have to have the heads replaced. I was going to get a refurbished R3000, but after learning about the cleaning process, I decided against it. Thanks for your help…

12

Thanks for the additional information.

The fact that you have the same results with Epson carts, proves the head is unfortunately worn out/broken…

Keep me posted and let me know if there’s anything else I can help you with.

Best regards~ Dana