Banding Issues

[UVPrinter]

Anyone have an Anapurna M2540 with banding issues. The machine has been checked for mechanics top to bottom. I have profiles ranging from very low ink to high ink restrictions. I get a very distinctive banding pattern when my CMYK values are above 70% in the info out of Onyx RIP.

 

[SOS Digital Printing]

This doesn't necessarily have to do with the printer. There are a couple factors you may want to consider:
1.) What is the humidity levels where your at? We like about 35-40% here.
2.) Indoor temps? Below 65F and you may have issues with thickening inks.
3.) Material. Have you recently switched materials or vendors for materials? That could be your culprit.
* food for thought.

 

[stu]

Is it it printing banding or curing banding. If you print uni directional with only 1 lamp on do you get the same problem?

 

[UVPrinter]

I'm printing everything unidirectional with trailing lamp at 720x1440. We regulate our heat and humidity because we're running 6 latex printers also. My best result have is with Gracol profile saturation, other profiles increase banding. Dyne levels on PVC substrates are all aboute 40, though I get banding results on gator, and plexi too.

 

[Seeking Knowledge]

Can you take a pic and upload it?

 

[UVPrinter]

Here is a picture of my black. I only get this if my CMYK values show 70% or higher in preview RIP

 

[UVPrinter]

I think it's a head, but all step, and alignments are right on and been gone over by Agfa techs.

 

[Seeking Knowledge]

That picture is not the greatest but I think you might be right. Do you have a nozzle test print? How do the nozzles look?

 

[UVPrinter]

Every day nozzle check pattern is perfect. Machine is 6 months old and I haven't lost a nozzle yet. All registration tests are right on. I think it may be a faulty head that has a possible board issue when interpreting data, with no way to test this without actually purchasing a new head and fitting it. Techs have combed the machine over mechanically and profiles with very low inks to high inks have been tested.

 

[Seeking Knowledge]

Has the machine done this since the day it was installed? Has Agfa offered to replace the heads? Your machine should still be under warranty, I would be screaming at people.

 

[UVPrinter]

As I understand it, heads are not covered under warranty. I can't figure out how to prove that a couple of heads are faulty. Agfra has sent their top set-up guy in the states and their top profiler, but never made any mention of a possible head problem, like it isn't even a posibility because the nozzle patterns test correct with no nozzles out. I believe that they CAN fire correct and still have board issues causing the banding that I get.

 

[Seeking Knowledge]

We have seen a strange issue with one of our machines, not an Agfa. A head test looks good when a nozzle test is printed, but we follow that up with a density test, which is essentially one head getting all of its nozzles in a singe swath along the width of the material or printer. The head would start out fine but as it went on nozzles would drop out. The first check would be to make sure the ink flow is good. Sometimes a head can be starved for ink maybe the pump not pumping ink fast enough to replenish it. Or if there is contaminates in the ink line themselves and possibly filters. The head is the generally the last place they want to look as it is, most of the time the costliest to replace. I hope this gets resolved for you, I know how FRUSTRATING this can be. FWIW most printer manufactures will cover print heads for the first year as long as it is determined that a head strike is not causing the issue.

 

[UVPrinter]

thanks for the info!

 

[Criminy]

I once had banding and pin striping the plates coming out of my imagesetter. The cause was attributed to a faulty cable connection. Once the cable was secured, the banding issue was resolved. Is your printer driver up to date? Could a software issue be the culprit?

 

[Armya Inc]

Anyone have an Anapurna M2540 with banding issues. The machine has been checked for mechanics top to bottom. I have profiles ranging from very low ink to high ink restrictions. I get a very distinctive banding pattern when my CMYK values are above 70% in the info out of Onyx RIP.

I have seen this kind of banding before. Although, the picture isn't clear, but my observation and experience tells me there is nothing wrong with the laser or processor. The problem is the plates or Chemistry. Have you tried different batch of plates?