[Stitch-Up]

Printing 70 shirts today and part of the design has a solid red.

I anticipated banding in this red area and it's bad enough to be unacceptable.

Printing on black shirts using the Black Media HiRes Full White environment.

Any ideas/suggestions?

John

 

[twistinthewick]

I've run across it before on solid red prints. It's probably not the correct fix but I ran 2 passes (720x720)and they were much better.

 

[Stitch-Up]

Solid red is a PITA for banding and when I was sent the image I knew this was gonna cause be some bother!

I might try another print environment to see if I can improve it.

 

[g.lupo]

You could reduce the amount of white underneath just the red, so when it lays the color on top will get less banding. Wont be as bright but works.

There is also a banding function Inthe printer layoit

 

[Stitch-Up]

You could reduce the amount of white underneath just the red, so when it lays the color on top will get less banding. Wont be as bright but works.

There is also a banding function Inthe printer layoit

I need to learn the software RIP a bit more!!

 

[Teez310]

Not sure if you have already but if you go into the settings and switch it to a microweave 8pass the banding should be gone. Helps with heavy solids but the drawback is it takes almost 1.5x longer to print but quality is improved.

 

[23spiderman]

i've had this problem with my AnaJet and with the NeoFlex. technically, it isn't banding if you have a 100% nozzle check (which i'm sure you do). if you watch it print, you will see the yellow lay down before the magenta. in the areas where there are streaks, the magenta doesn't lay down the same as where there are no streaks. also, when i've experienced this, the streaks don't occur at the same place each time. i tried to explain what was happening to the AnaJet techs (years ago) and to the TIGERS, but neither really understood what i was talking about...until...the ISS show in Long Beach. a local NeoOwner came and had some personal art printed on both the new Epson F2000 and the Neo. they had been having problems with this "streaking" in red. (i've also seen it in purple and light blues.) the F2000 printed a PERFECT solid red heart, and the Neo kept having streaks. we tried many different environments and settings, even printing twice at lower res. i told John that THIS is what i was trying to explain.

so here's my extremely uneducated guess. AnaJet and Neo both had the same issue, different printers, different RIPS, same ink. the Epson F2000 uses the same NeoRIP as the NeoFlex, but...different ink. so my guess is it's an issue with DuPont inks. i'm curious if Firebird inks behave any differently, and i've asked some users to test. so i don't have a good answer, but in my simple brain, i've eliminated the printer and the RIP leaving only the ink as the possible culprit. i'm not glad that you are experiencing this, but i am glad that i'm not crazy thinking i was the only one seeing this happen.

i did forget to suggest the microweave 8 pass at the ISS show. and i haven't tried that myself yet, but i will. i used it when i first got my Neo per the suggestion of Justin Walker, but it lengthened the print time quite a bit so i quit using it.

 

[Stitch-Up]

Cheers guys

I guessed I wouldn't be the only one that's experienced it. I'll have to go with the microweave 8pass or not do the job.

Can someone point me where I find that in the settings? Yup, I'm being lazy In return, I'll post a before and after picture

Interesting comment on the inks - that would be something I wouldn't have thought of.

 

[Teez310]

Settings are where you are change the environment such as black shirt setting. It's then in the tab setting where you can change underbase,hightlight, etc. I believe the default is microweave through printer?

As far as the theory on the inks, my guess is it's more on the rip as I believe the f2000 and neoflex are both utilizing the kothari based on the company who is selling the machine but different printhead I believe. The function if you notice on the microweave pass8 is that on each pass back and forth for cmyk printing is not advancing as far than on it's default setting, thus taking longer. In doing so it's creating more bands of cmyk. The print cost is minimally more as the same amount of white gets put on but cmyk is more saturated and more defined. Hope that all makes sense.

 

[Stitch-Up]

Thanks Don & All

I'm having some problem locating the microweave option! Are you able to direct me from the pic, or post a pic showing where to go?

 

[Jinxter]

Layout > Print Setup > xxx base settings

In box that opens

Properties button > Device options tab ..... Microweaving dropdown under Print quality

 

[Smalzstein]

Nozzles are firing a tiny bit in the wrong direction. This happens after some times of use, as you see it never happens on a new printhead. Normal cleaning procedures will not eliminate this contaminations in the nozzles BUT I've experience that amonia solution does wonders.

 

[Stitch-Up]

Thanks Jinxter and everyone else that replied

I'm off to do some printing - may take longer but if it works I get paid

Will report back

 

[Stitch-Up]

Well, today turned into a bit of a Neo nightmare.

To cut a long story short - ended up replacing the printhead, the '0' ribbon cable, 3 dampers a couple of elbow joints, M7 plastic nuts and rubber 'o' ring seals. Then of course thewhite/colour ink alignment followed by the bi-directional alignment etc etc.

With all the faffing about it really did take the day before a perfect print, then to knackered to start the job!.

Placing an order to replace the parts I used + more for the future.

 

[23spiderman]

oh, man! that's a rough day, John!

i just want to touch on a few of the comments. and, please, i am in no way trying to come across as "knowing the answer" because i don't. i really appreciate all the input because we need to isolate what the problem is before we can fix it. i have seen this problem going back to 2008. the reason i don't believe it's the RIP is because i've seen it on the EK Print Studio RIP with AnaJet, and i've seen it with the NeoRIP by Kothari on the NeoFlex. the Epson F2000 sold by AA utilizes the same RIP made by Kothari. so if it was the RIP, then the Neo shouldn't have this problem either. i've also seen this on new/old printheads. the NeoFlex we were using at the ISS Long Beach show was brand new, and we couldn't get rid of the streaks. i wish we would have tried the microweave 8 pass, but i totally forgot about that until i was on my way home. so that is why the only constant remaining is the ink itself. that is the only thing different that the Epson F2000 has. you could argue a different printhead, but it's pretty close to the same as what the R1800, R1900, and 4880 uses. my ignorance may be showing here, but i don't think the head is THAT much different. and, if my understanding is correct, i believe that the new Epson F2000 uses a smaller picoliter size than the other heads i listed.

it's funny that not more people have experienced this, and trust me, if you haven't seen it happen, it's very difficult for those of us who have seen it, to explain it properly. it's a really weird thing.

 

[Stitch-Up]

Oh! And having switched the base off during the work, I remembered why I shouldn't switch it off!! When I switched back on, the printer wouldn't move, I found the LEDs of the drive controller flashing weird parts of the segments grrrrrrrrrrr. So out came the hairdryer and 10 minutes later, it sprang back to life.

I set the microweave eight setting before starting any of the the replacement parts but didn't get the opportunity to do a print. When I eventually got a good nozzle check I printed one of the designs with a block of solid red in it;



The print was perfect and no evidence of banding.

I still have one nagging problem to sort out, it was the main reason I swapped the printhead - the white underbase was getting contaminated by black in the first 2cms of the print after which the black faded away. I thought I had a faulty printehead with black ink creeping into the white, but it was the same on the new head!!! I've seen this before.

When I get a chance, I'll post some shirt pictures and try printing with the microweave set to the default setting.

My deadline to complete this job - the clue's in the artwork!!! I needed these problems like a hole in the head!

Off to work now!

 

[Teez310]

Due to the fact that a setting of microweave 8pass works is the reason I say it's the rip. In digital printing, a lot of companies have been using the same engine for years. The only difference? The rip. My digital printer from 10 years ago has the exact same engine as my current printer. The difference? A different rip they use that tells the machine to print 30 pages faster and they get to charge me 15k more. Once the software totally overpowers the replacement parts, that's when they will switch out heavier and sturdier parts to keep up and make a new generation of models.

Not sure if anyother dtg rip has a micro8pass but it's just the electronics telling how far the machine should advance when laying down bands. With basically any type of printer, better quality equals slower print times. The difference with the 8pass is the electronics are probably telling the machine to advance like a 1440x1440 print but don't actually lay down that amount of ink saturation. My wide format machine had bands all the time till I invested in the rip I was told would eliminate that issue.

Lastly from my experience from using DuPont and firebird ink i have had this banding issue on both and it's the only setting I know that will fix it. Print time does suck though.

Btw john if seen that issue with grayish print too but it's only after a thorough cleaning. Don't know why really but it does go away after first print.

 

[Stitch-Up]

Interesting read Don, thanks.

I've not tried printing with microweave set to the default - printer yet as I want to get this urgent job sorted first, I will try it in a couple of days and report back.

The greying at the start of the first print. I find that if I keep the Neo printing with no delays between prints, I don't get the greying. BUT, if I leave it for 20 mins or so, the first part of the first print will be badly contaminated!

My theory on this is that I might have overfilled the black cartridge bag causing the ink to be under a slight pressure slowly leaking through the printhead. Black ink seems to be used less than others so I might draw some ink out.

I'll be back

 

[allamerican-aeoon]

I like those belly buttons. Pretty big size, lol. UK + USA?
Right side is me. I don't know when I allowed you to use my body on your printing. My belly button is negative not pop out.
Cheers! Keep printing

 

[Stitch-Up]

I like those belly buttons. Pretty big size, lol. UK + USA?
Right side is me. I don't know when I allowed you to use my body on your printing. My belly button is negative not pop out.
Cheers! Keep printing

Belly buttons! Strange isn't it? Both Angie & I think they got the artwork wrong in the belly area

It's supposed to be the bottom hem of the shirt of course!

I just sent you an email Peter.