# Issue with residue on printer rollers



## prezzz (May 9, 2008)

Hello everyone,

I'm fairly new in the sublimation field, but I have managed to figure out how to get great results through series of tests.

I use Ricoh 3110DN printer with Sawgrass SubliJet-R inks. I've tested the whole range of papers and I found out that one "Hybrid" paper from a local supplier gives the best results. Superior to any other paper, including the popular TexPrint-R. So I'll stick with the local supplier.

That said, I have one serious problem which you can see on the attached photos. After only 1-2 sheets of paper printed, I start having issues with contaminated prints on my mugs (see photo no. 3). After careful inspection, I found out that the problem is caused by a residue that accumulated on the rollers and is then transferred to the printer's "belt" (see photos no. 1 and 2).

I clean it up with alcohol, both the rollers and the "belt". Yet after only couple next prints the problem is back and once again, the residue picks up some tiny particles of wet ink which are then transferred to ceramics.

I try to keep the printer clean. It's usually covered when not used (and I take care of the humidity as well). I am not able to find the issue so maybe someone else had the same issue? Do you think it's some kind of dirt accumulated in places that I cannot reach to clean up? Or can it be pieces of the thick paper I use that are somehow ripped from the sheets? I'm clueless here and getting desperate a bit as I can never be sure if the product comes out fine or not...

Thanks,
Prez


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## Graphicsforme (Oct 29, 2016)

Looks like you have head strikes on the paper caused by a couple of things. 

*Head strikes- When the print-head comes into contact with the media being printed. This appears as smeared ink in a particular spot on the print.*
Head strikes can be caused by several things. To understand what a head strike is, let’s first address what causes this to happen. 
If the head height (or platen gap) is not set properly to accommodate thicker media, this could cause a head strike. 
If there is a strong curl to the media you are printing on, this could also cause a head strike as the media surface may be raised inside the printer. 
Though more common on a solvent printer, if the media is not loaded correctly the pinch rollers can cause the media to skew or create waves in the media. 
These waves could come in contact with the print-head causing a head strike.
To combat these issues, a simply approach can be made to avoid/eliminate head strikes:


Check the thickness of your media and raise the platen gap/head height accordingly.
If the media has a strong curl to it, feed the first few inches to avoid the curled leading edge.
On a solvent printer, be sure to adjust the heaters according to the needs of the media. Too much heat in the earlier stages of the print may cause the media to buckle. This is especially true with adhesive vinyl and heat sensitive materials.
 Could also be 

*Banding- When print head passes don’t line up properly and create lines in the print. When the passes overlap this creates dark lines. When there is a gap between the passes this creates white lines.*
There are 3 main types of banding that one might see in a print. Most people refer to lines in the print as banding. But the appearance of the lines will tell you not only what is causing the banding but also how to fix it. 
First off, these lines typically appear left to right when standing in front of the printer. Dark lines or white lines are caused by inaccurate feeding of the media being loaded. A standard print-head pass covers 1 inch (8 pass=8 print-head passes to cover 1 inch of media). 
If the media is not fed properly the head passes could be overlapping each other or be too wide to line up properly. When the passes are overlapping, this causes dark lines going across the media. 
When the passes have a gap between them, you will see white lines in the print. This is actually an absence of color! To adjust this quickly and easily, run a paper feed adjustment on your printer. 
This function comes standard on almost every Epson, Canon and HP printer and is typically performed on the printer console itself


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## Dekzion (May 18, 2015)

after cleaning the rollers etc, does this still happen with the tex-print paper?


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## WalkingZombie (Mar 15, 2014)

prezzz said:


> ... That said, I have one serious problem which you can see on the attached photos. After only 1-2 sheets of paper printed, I start having issues with contaminated prints on my mugs (see photo no. 3). After careful inspection, I found out that the problem is caused by a residue that accumulated on the rollers and is then transferred to the printer's "belt" (see photos no. 1 and 2).....


Keep trying to use the TexPrint-R for a while and see if it prints clean. That paper is made for Ricoh's, specifically, due to Ricoh's fast print speed and the paper's ability to "dry" the ink fast enough to keep up with printing. Looks like your newly found paper is not soaking up the ink fast enough and wet ink is getting onto the rollers on its way out.

Your new paper may be better suited for Epsons rather than Ricohs.


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## prezzz (May 9, 2008)

Thanks to everyone for your replies. Your questions lead me to doing some further tests and at this point I think I can say that the paper does not seem to be the culprit here.

I loaded 5 sheets of TexPrint-R paper into the tray and did 5 consecutive Nozzle Check printouts on that paper. To my surprise, the effect was the same - dirty belt and dirty rollers. Also, I haven't mentioned it before but it's accumulating almost exclusively on the edge parts of the belt. Most of it seems to be clean and only the edges carry the narrow (2 milimeters wide) smudges of residue. At this point I think it might be the ink residue as it leaves dark marks on the cleaning cloth.

I'm clueless here. Of course I think I'll need to bring the printer to the authorized service but before I do that, any further suggestions?

Best,
Prez


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## prezzz (May 9, 2008)

I've tried to do a nearly dry run of paper through the printer (one small dot to be printed) and it keeps picking up the residue. This and the fact that is on the edges suggests that maybe the paper picks up some dust that resides somewhere deeper in the printer, maybe on the 'sponge' that cleans up the belt. I have no other idea on what may be causing this to happen.

I think that there's not much more I can do myself here, will bring the printer to the service tomorrow.

Thanks everyone for your help!


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