DTS image not remaining clean turning blurry

[T Shirt Farmer]

It has to be super frustrating going through these issues with this equipment which has been in production for some time. Crazy thing is no matter what emulsion, mesh or exposure I use my wax machine just chugs along. 2k screens imaged not a single clogged head, banding or any performance issues. I hope you get this all sorted out maybe Rich will chime in and get this all sorted out for you quickly.

[Dottonedan]

Don't get confused. This issue he is having (while frustrating for anyone having it) happens almost never.
There is this instance, and only one other that I am aware of since I left M&R out of all machines out there. So don't use this very rare issue as an opportunity.

[Rockers]

I did ask about this whole ink thing!

Our room is fairly climate controlled.  Its between 65-75 degrees, the room has its own heating/cooling control panel.  We know that the humidity will be around 25% on snowy/dry days and up to 40% during the wet season.  The most I have ever seen it is 45% after reclaiming with the barrier curtains open...

So, with that info, using the T9 for emulsion, it was their opinion that we were sitting pretty with the ink.  If we were in a hotter more humid climate, then we would change inks.... Beyond the info I have read here and what I have gotten from M&R, that's the extent of my real knowledge...

Remember, we are also not getting clean edges.  Its primarily the "Leading Edge" of the image where it happens, so the first nozzle spray on that side..... it usually is cleaner after that - not always and no rhyme or reason we can see.

So, if the ink is reacting to static or a very narrow window of humidity.....  wrawrrr.... so frustrating....

I just want the damn thing running clean again.

We get the same issue but on on a different CTS. The leading edge of the image  looks pretty terrible. It`s mainly because the nozzles don`t start firing proper. We found a way to work around it for now. We add at the very far right hand side of the image a black line 3mm thick that runs the full hight  parallel to the image. That way the nozzles start firing once the print head reaches the main image area. Works fairly often, but still we have to lay a lot of ink down to remedy the nozzle issues. Otherwsie the image would not be opaque enough.

[Dottonedan]

Is this anyone of the M&R machines?  You don't need to tell me who if any other brand. I'm just curious to see if it's an M&R. To hear that there is yet another, would be just so odd to hear about it. If it's more than a few freak happenings, then It's possible that is was something that just started popping up near the end of my working there, but before that, I had only one experience with it and Colin's is the 2nd (almost two years later). This would bug the crap outta me to figure it out again. Perhaps the answer was a head board. (I know I was told to replaced the head board there at that shop. but I don't remember if that solved it or we needed to move on to something else. My thoughts the whole time was that it was related to the firing voltage but I'm human so I could have been wrong and it was a new issues. We didn't really know what direction to go in at the time. So maybe they found what was happening with it after I left. eventually, they would, but again, never heard of it happening again till Colin posted.

[Rockers]

Is this anyone of the M&R machines?  You don't need to tell me who if any other brand. I' just curious to see if it's an M&R. To hear that there is yet another, would be just so odd to hear about it. If it's more than a few freak happenings, then It's possible that is was something that just started popping up near the end of my working there, but before that, I had only one experience with it and Colin's is the 2nd (almost two years later). This would but the crap outta me to figure it out again. Perhaps the answer was a head board. (I know I was told to replaced the head board there at that shop. but I don't remember if that solved it or we needed to move on to something else. My thoughts the whole time was that it was related to the firing voltage but I'm human so I could have been wrong and it was a new issues. We didn't really know what direction to go in at the time. So maybe they found what was happening with it after I left. eventually, they would, but again, never heard of it happening again till Colin posted.

Not sure if this was related to my reply but if it was no we don`t run an M&R.
Now what you are saying about the firing voltage sounds interesting.  I`m curious to know what would effect the firing voltage. I think on our CTS we are talking about 11V DC that`s at least what`s written on the cartridges if I remember it right.

[Dottonedan]

Is this anyone of the M&R machines?  You don't need to tell me who if any other brand. I' just curious to see if it's an M&R. To hear that there is yet another, would be just so odd to hear about it. If it's more than a few freak happenings, then It's possible that is was something that just started popping up near the end of my working there, but before that, I had only one experience with it and Colin's is the 2nd (almost two years later). This would but the crap outta me to figure it out again. Perhaps the answer was a head board. (I know I was told to replaced the head board there at that shop. but I don't remember if that solved it or we needed to move on to something else. My thoughts the whole time was that it was related to the firing voltage but I'm human so I could have been wrong and it was a new issues. We didn't really know what direction to go in at the time. So maybe they found what was happening with it after I left. eventually, they would, but again, never heard of it happening again till Colin posted.

Not sure if this was related to my reply but if it was no we don`t run an M&R.
Now what you are saying about the firing voltage sounds interesting.  I`m curious to know what would effect the firing voltage. I think on our CTS we are talking about 11V DC that`s at least what`s written on the cartridges if I remember it right.

Yes, that reply was pertaining to your post.

The M&R firing voltage is at 17.5 standard install, but they can on occasion, need raised or lowered (but not by much). Like down to 14.5 and up to 19 I think is/was the max and min at the time. (DON"T DO THIS ON YOUR OWN unless instructed by a Tech). EVER. One mistake can lead people down into a rabbit hole. What this whole thread here is talking about, should be evaluated and adjusted by a Tech or instructed by a Tech.

Environment makes a difference. Too dry and you can imagine if voltage is a bit too high for that area, ink can fly a little loose or less controlled and maybe can be affected by static electricity in the air. (not sure there, haven't seen it... just assuming). Keep i mind, raising or lowering the voltage is not something we would need to do. Like hardly ever. For the most part, the setups on the machines as they come are dead on and no tweaking needed. Still there are some extreme situations where you need to adjust the machine a little to a particular need.

[Colin]

Morning Update:

We have replaced the head board and done some tests.  I don't think its done anything to improve our issues.

I have attached a pic that actually is in focus!

[ffokazak]

I have an I image ST and it is showing similarities to Colins machine albeit not as bad.

An M&R tech team viewed our machine and made changes , and it made it a bit worse.

I just checked the voltages they set and it is at 18.5,

While talking to a tech, I did notice that the heater was disabled on one head, and we turned it on and it got noticeably better... So something to check for?

On our machine the effect is slight, and the results do not transfer to press, but I still am interested to see what resolves this and see what we can do to get this machine running optimally again.

*Insert Michael Jackson eating popcorn Giphy*

[blue moon]

Morning Update:

We have replaced the head board and done some tests.  I don't think its done anything to improve our issues.

I have attached a pic that actually is in focus!

did you try the thing Rockers mentioned? Printing a thin line on the side to see if it would do the same. . .

pierre

[Colin]

I have been working with Jon and Alex at M&R all morning on stuff.

Alex did adjust the heat settings on the machine and I just did a sample exposure to see how it's going.

Things are tighter, but I am still having the issues with the leading edge not being crisp enough (and a little blurriness overall which can lead to smaller edge quality issues).  This means that we will have issues with with proper trapping on press and the base white peaking. 

We used to run a .5 trap..... we now run a .75 to 1 point trap to compensate for the issues.  It wasn't *noticeable* all the time at .5 pt, but it happened enough that we made adjustments.

[ZooCity]

Looks like something out of sync with the speed the head is traveling and the speed the jets are firing at.  I say this because this issue is directional and I assume you're printing uni-d.   To get super clean CTS printing the tech needs to really dial this in.  Can't speak for ink but it's a deep settings adjustment on the wax units and you need a high powered loupe and lots of back/forth adjusting settings until it's dialed and you've mitigated the visible effect of those satellites and tails to the image.  You can't eliminate it completely but you can essentially make it go away to your eye.

I'd start by eliminating the leading edge issue, it may also resolve the problem with the image at the ends of the head travel.

Can we see the rip file for this element of the print?  I always like to look there first, sometimes the rip is junking up the image before it gets to the printer.

[DannyGruninger]

I know I mentioned this but has the belt tension that drives the print head been calibrated? We did not have this issue with our m&r but we saw it on our lawson(basically the same machine) and it was a drive belt issue.

[ZooCity]

I think we're barking up the right tree here.  If the controller thinks the head is somewhere it isn't it could cause this, especially at the end of the carriage's travel where it's braking. 

Has M&R not sent a tech out to you?

[Rockers]

I think we're barking up the right tree here.  If the controller thinks the head is somewhere it isn't it could cause this, especially at the end of the carriage's travel where it's braking. 

Has M&R not sent a tech out to you?

The way I understood it is that the edge at the beginning of the image, where the head starts printing each pass is looking not clean. Like I said on our budget CTS it`s down to the nozzles not firing right away. That`s why we put a line down the whole hight of the image so that the nozzles have to fire already before reaching the actual image. What does the nozzle test looks like on his machine anything not firing?

[Colin]

Nozzle check is good. Ripped vector image is very clean.  Danny I dont know if the belt drive is an issue, I was never asked to check and I dont know if the remote check looked at it.

But, Dan pretty much nailed it early on when he was talking about voltage.  It looks like its the left side of the print head that is not in sync, the dots are all over the place on the test print, the right side is very clean.  I can chase it by doing multiple tests where I adjust the voltage going to the print head on the left side.... or just replace the non warantied print head....  The owner loooves that idea.

I will assume chasing voltage does not fix the issue of the leading edge firing at the correct time, but.... I dunno.  I am exhausted from chasing this and doing my reg job these last couple days >.<   I have taken soooo many pics and done so many tests....

Alex W was a big help remoting in to check everything.

No tech in the area Chris.... but we can pay to have one come out...