i have been reading these forums for a while and have found many great tips.
i purchased a HM1 several months ago and am having a few issues with banding and im hoping some of you may be able to help with some suggestions.
nozzle checks seem to all be fine
banding is across all colours
printpro software
1440x720
drop size variable2
bi directional
changing any of the above seetings dosent seem to help in anyway.
i have performed a print head realignment which prints a couple lines of white rectangles. im not sure exactly how this works, but didnt seem to effect it in anyway.
to me it seems to be more of an alignment problem more than anything, but im not sure how to adjust this.
I am not sure what the printhead alignment does on the print pro, but what are you doing as far as maintenance? Are you cleaning your wiper and capping station on a daily basis? Is there any ink buildup on the bottom of your printhead? How is your humidity level? Humidity should be at least 50% to keep your machine from banding. If you dont have one, get a hygrometer to put near your machine to watch the level of humidity. Most often this is a major source of banding. Also putting a few drops of cleaning solution in your capping station each night helps to keep things extra clean also, along with cleaning the wiper and capping station daily.
Let me know the answers to the above questions, and I will try to give you some ideas of how to help. On the printing issues, I put a answer in your other post Hopefully some of this will help you
__________________
Always do right; this will gratify some people and astonish the rest. ~~~Mark Twain BobbieLee
Try cleaning the face of your printhead. Turn the machine off and move the printhead over so you can access the bottom of it. Saturate a pad (like those used to remove makeup) with isopropyl alcohol and press it up against the bottom of the head for several seconds then gently wipe the head. You can do this a couple of times. The condition you are getting is called nozzle deflection and can be caused by a buildup of ink on the face of the printhead causing the ink droplet to fire at an angle.
2 things you might consider. 1st and foremost, pull the back black cover and check your main drive pulley for looseness. I've seen set screws back out on these in the past. Check both pulleys, the one on the motor shaft and the one on the main connecting the Y axis belts. 2nd, remember that Magenta is formulated such that it has next to zero bleed properties. So if your seeing banding and it appears to be only in the reds then it is most likely not the machines fault, but rather the rips fault. Using a heavier dropplet size would fix this issue. I don't know of an easy fix for this other than adjusting the magenta density curve withing rip pro itself. Located under Utilities. EKPrint Studio has 3 different droplet size to choose from, but this software has an abundance of other limitations.
Hey, Fred, can you add this to your list of things to do? Remember that Red Corvette image?
Try cleaning the face of your printhead. Turn the machine off and move the printhead over so you can access the bottom of it. Saturate a pad (like those used to remove makeup) with isopropyl alcohol and press it up against the bottom of the head for several seconds then gently wipe the head. You can do this a couple of times. The condition you are getting is called nozzle deflection and can be caused by a buildup of ink on the face of the printhead causing the ink droplet to fire at an angle.
I hope this helps!
Hello Don I am wondering can I use flushing solution instead of the alcohol or would the alcohol work better? I was told not to touch the bottom of the print head that it was not a good idea, but this is interesting as I am having some issues with my cyan color not getting a great nozzle check, looks something like the red in the above image.
thank you
As Don has stated, using alcohol does work well to get buildup off the face of the printhead. There are vendors that say not to touch the face of the printhead, but I have found unless I do clean it, I have problems with banding. Between ink buildup on the printhead, and low humidity, it can cause a nightmare for a print head. You can also use the cleaning solution. That is what I usually use, unless I think the ink is going towards clogging, then I will use alcholol.
__________________
Always do right; this will gratify some people and astonish the rest. ~~~Mark Twain BobbieLee
As Don has stated, using alcohol does work well to get buildup off the face of the printhead. There are vendors that say not to touch the face of the printhead, but I have found unless I do clean it, I have problems with banding. Between ink buildup on the printhead, and low humidity, it can cause a nightmare for a print head. You can also use the cleaning solution. That is what I usually use, unless I think the ink is going towards clogging, then I will use alcholol.
thank you, so I can use regular alcohol with a soft pad , just make sure its soaked in at and soak up on the print head for a few seconds, then gently wipe or dab it? Just want to try and clean it as best as possible now that I am reading you can actually clean it directly. very useful info on here.
Also is it possible to print with 720 x 360 without getting bandwith?
I have a kiosk and I had a design 12 x 15 today which took me 11 mins at 720 x 720 1 pass not sure if thats normal but I find it very time consuming.
What rip program are you using and what kind of file type? That is a really long print time.
Yes you can clean your printhead directly, in fact I do this at least once every week just to make sure I do not get buildup. You can also get a good clean on your printhead by putting cleaning solution in your capping station, and letting it soak for a good hour. The way I do this is when I am having the machine do a regular head clean, once the printhead goes over to the left hand side to the spit station, I then use a syringe and fill the capping station with cleaning solution, before it comes back over and homes it self in the capping station. Once it comes back over to the capping station and seals itself, I turn the machine off for an hour. This works really well to clear stuff in the printhead that is not yet clogged, but getting there.
As far as that print time, if you let me know what file type you are ripping, and what rip program you are using I might be able to help. Also what graphics program are you using? I know I ask alot of questions haha, but really there is a reason for them all
__________________
Always do right; this will gratify some people and astonish the rest. ~~~Mark Twain BobbieLee
What rip program are you using and what kind of file type? That is a really long print time.
Yes you can clean your printhead directly, in fact I do this at least once every week just to make sure I do not get buildup. You can also get a good clean on your printhead by putting cleaning solution in your capping station, and letting it soak for a good hour. The way I do this is when I am having the machine do a regular head clean, once the printhead goes over to the left hand side to the spit station, I then use a syringe and fill the capping station with cleaning solution, before it comes back over and homes it self in the capping station. Once it comes back over to the capping station and seals itself, I turn the machine off for an hour. This works really well to clear stuff in the printhead that is not yet clogged, but getting there.
As far as that print time, if you let me know what file type you are ripping, and what rip program you are using I might be able to help. Also what graphics program are you using? I know I ask alot of questions haha, but really there is a reason for them all
Ok well I think I kind of answered my own question, but will confirm in the morning when I get to my shop. I think I might have changed the setting to unidirectional as I was trying to get a print at 720 x 360 to check for banding and was told to try unidirectional but dont think I changed it back to bidirectional. I believe that is why it took 11 mins :-) will let you know tomorrow.
As far as program I am printing from photoshop at 200dpi which I was told is what is needed anything over 200dpi will soak up to much on shirt and that 200dpi is all that a t-shirt can handle anything more is excess. (not sure if true or false)
so once a week I should wipe it with cleaning solution or alcohol with a swab? will 2 much alcohol damage anything or should i do the alcohol once a month and the other 3 weeks cleaning solution?
I will also do the cleaning solution in the capping station as well, now do you turn it off once you see it go back over the capping station to seal it? also how much cleaning solution do you put?
alot of questions is always good so do not worry its how i learn and as you can see i also ask many questions.
hm1 horizontal banding 
