images Troubleshoot

Substrate advance adjustment on the fly

If you are using no more than six passes, you can fine-tune the substrate advance while printing: select the icon, then select Image quality maintenance > Substrate advance calibration > Adjust substrate advance. Select a value of change from –10 mm/m to +10 mm/m (or mils/inch). To correct light banding, decrease the value. To correct dark banding, increase the value.

If you are using eight passes or more, a wrong advance adjustment will not produce banding but graininess, which is harder to assess visually. Therefore, in this case you are recommended to use only the adjustment plot.

When you have chosen a value and pressed OK, the rest of your job will be printed with that value, but it will be reset to zero at the end of the job. Add the value found to the Substrate Advance value in the RIP preset to print all future jobs with the new setting.

A simpler and faster way to adjust the substrate advance while the printer is printing is by pressing the Move Substrate button on the front panel, which then displays the following instructions.

As you modify the setting, the new setting is applied immediately to the current job by the printer. When you press OK to save the value, it is saved in the printer to be used throughout the current job.

Vertical banding

There are several different kinds of vertical banding that may be seen.

Wide vertical bands visible by darkness or graininess, typically seen on vinyl and banner substrates in medium-density area fills such as grays, violets and greens

Align the printheads. See Align the printheads on page 9.

Try the automatic correction for vertical banding provided by the RIP. Depending on your

firmware version, this option may also be provided by the front panel: select the icon, then select Image quality maintenance > Enable vertical correct. (if this option is available).

NOTE: Remember to disable the vertical banding correction when you no longer need it, because it may increase grain.

Thin vertical bands visible by darkness, typically seen in the first 150–200 mm of the print on vinyl and banner glossy substrates in high-density area fills or in backlit applications

Reduce the ink quantity if possible.

Disable the cutter.

Increase the number of passes.

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Chapter 6 Troubleshoot print-quality issues

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