# freejet 290 : banding problems



## ozstockman (Dec 23, 2010)

Hi guys,

can anybody help with banding problems in my Freejet 290.

See attached image.
Bands appear in the same location(relative to the bed) on all prints all the time with some places having small bands and one having(see the capital T letter on the print) a lot of them. The nozzle check is perfect. The encoder strip has been cleaned and I have lubricated all X and Y axes just to make sure they run smooth. I guess there is something in Y axis that delays or speed ups movement but I cannot see anything wrong with its belt or gears.

It did not start happening today. I actually can remember seeing something like this on my printer before. However I did notice it first when I was printing light in color signs on white background and they were hardly noticeable.


----------



## allamerican-aeoon (Aug 14, 2007)

Humidity or capping station 90%. Best bet is call who you bought from.
Cheers! Beers are on me always.


----------



## ozstockman (Dec 23, 2010)

allamerican said:


> Humidity or capping station 90%. Best bet is call who you bought from.
> Cheers! Beers are on me always.


I am in Melbourne(Australia), there is no much humidity in there. but anyway how it can explain that these banding lines are always at the same place on the bed? Can humidity affect only limited and exact place in my room? Re the capping station, the nozzle check is perfect.

Unfortunately there is no support in Australia to call and ask. Nobody sells Freejets in there and I have bought mine second hand.


----------



## allamerican-aeoon (Aug 14, 2007)

Do nozzle check. If missing lots. Flush Printhead. Not work? Change Printhead.
Cheers! Have some beers. Cool you down.


----------



## ozstockman (Dec 23, 2010)

allamerican said:


> Do nozzle check. If missing lots. Flush Printhead. Not work? Change Printhead.
> Cheers! Have some beers. Cool you down.


mate, it seems you are not reading my posts  I have perfect nozzle check with nothing missing/clogging at all. I would not ask what to do if there were anything missing in nozzle check. 

I'd wish the problem was with the clogged head because at least there is always option to clean or flush but it seems it has nothing to do with the print head.
I have done some extra lubrication on rails and some banding are gone or at least not as noticeable as before. However even with much smother moving on lubricated rails some banding is still there.

What else should I check apart from nozzles, rails, encoder strip and the print head belt? That all have been checked and cleaned. 

I have even tried to find what happening during printing where the worst banding appears on the print but I cannot see anything wrong.

The other problem with working out what's wrong is that I can only see this banding when I print on wood specifically coated to accept solvent ink without ink running. It's not that easy to coat because it is fast drying stuff. When I print on uncoated material including paper inks are bleeding and they cover this banding completely.


----------



## BQChris (Aug 16, 2012)

It seems like there is an issue with the Y-axis being out of step with the X-axis. I am not 100% sure about the 1290 but the problem may lie in the Paper Feed. My knowledge of the 1290 is limited but you may want to seek the advice of a guy named german13. He is extremely knowledgeable in many different Epson models and might be able to shed some light on this. 

The only other advice I can offer is if there is a rotary encoder(again, not sure if the 1290 utilizes one) try cleaning it with Windex. 

Sorry I couldn't be more help but I am sure there is someone in here with the experience to help you solve the problem.

Best of luck to you!


----------



## kevrokr (Feb 26, 2007)

Is the top of the print at the bottom of the picture?


----------



## ozstockman (Dec 23, 2010)

BQChris said:


> It seems like there is an issue with the Y-axis being out of step with the X-axis. I am not 100% sure about the 1290 but the problem may lie in the Paper Feed. My knowledge of the 1290 is limited but you may want to seek the advice of a guy named german13. He is extremely knowledgeable in many different Epson models and might be able to shed some light on this.
> 
> The only other advice I can offer is if there is a rotary encoder(again, not sure if the 1290 utilizes one) try cleaning it with Windex.


Thank you Chris. I actually have forgotten about that other encoder for Y axis. !290 utilizes one and I should have checked it at the first place considering the problem I am having. I will check and clean it today and I hope it will help.


----------



## ozstockman (Dec 23, 2010)

kevrokr said:


> Is the top of the print at the bottom of the picture?


no. I am printing in portrait orientation and the top of the print is on the left side of the picture.


----------



## kevrokr (Feb 26, 2007)

Seems like you could be getting some ink starvation. Does the FreeJet use Dampers or Cartridges in the Carriage?


----------



## JohnL (Nov 23, 2010)

Hey Mike!

Your issue has nothing to do with the stepping or Y axis because the problem is not consistent all the way through. 

i'm 99% sure it is a ink starvation issue. You want to check your ink levels make sure that all parts of your printer are flowing properly ie: dampers, any ink line connections, ink cartridge connections. 

If all is fine and it does not help it may help to increase the resolution of the print. Make sure to lower your ink output as it will increase the amount of ink that is being jetted. For example going from 720x720 to 1440x720 is doubling your ink output. 

If it is an airlock issue where there is excess air in your dampers you may need to purge the air via power clean.

Hopefully this helps! Gluck!


----------



## ozstockman (Dec 23, 2010)

JohnL said:


> Hey Mike!
> 
> Your issue has nothing to do with the stepping or Y axis because the problem is not consistent all the way through.


I do know if you can call it consistent but I cannot understand how the problem with ink flowing can create a problem in one place of the printing bed only. It does not matter what I am printing(what colour or what size) these banding appears always in one particular place of the printing bed.




> i'm 99% sure it is a ink starvation issue. You want to check your ink levels make sure that all parts of your printer are flowing properly ie: dampers, any ink line connections, ink cartridge connections.


All connection seem to be ok. Since I am using dampers I can see the ink flowing well inside them during cleaning or ink charging. 



> If all is fine and it does not help it may help to increase the resolution of the print. Make sure to lower your ink output as it will increase the amount of ink that is being jetted. For example going from 720x720 to 1440x720 is doubling your ink output.


I am afraid it is not going to solve the problem for me. Sure there is less banding in higher resolution but at the same time I am dropping the speed of printing. That means I will have to sell my products for more to cover extra time and that's not a good idea in terms of competition. 



> If it is an airlock issue where there is excess air in your dampers you may need to purge the air via power clean.


I have done cleaning and charging a few times since I noticed banding. So it's either no air inside and it's not helping to get rid of it.


----------



## ozstockman (Dec 23, 2010)

kevrokr said:


> Seems like you could be getting some ink starvation. Does the FreeJet use Dampers or Cartridges in the Carriage?


I am using dampers in my printer.


----------



## JohnL (Nov 23, 2010)

Hey Mike,

Have you physically checked or changed the dampers. 

Also upon further inspection of the image it seems the banding is occurring in other colors as well at the exact same time. This is a little troublesome as it probably is indicating more than a damper. It could actually be physically touching something as it is printing.

I just assumed that the streaking is occurring with the stroke of the print head please verify this is true. 

If the banding were to go away with a higher resolution you could finish a job and determine a more permanent resolution with the manufacturer. It would be a bit slower at that resolution but the results would be very similar at the end of an hour instead of 50 shirts or so you may see around 42-44 and hour. It would be a bit slower but it is better than having streaking in your image which actually impacts your pricing or your profit considerably more. Again this may have to be in images with large areas of a specific color not for every job.

Nothing is perfect learning the ins and outs of your machine is very important, this will improve your efficiency as a whole and make it possible to have less misprints. 

Ink starvation may not be the issue but if it is you need to understand why it happens and more specifically which of the reasons it is happening to your machine. 

If it is ink starvation I do not think that you have gone to the proper steps to determine if it is occurring or not. Because the machine will go through a cleaning properly does not mean the feed of ink is proper. There is a very delicate balance that if thrown off can cause many things. The dampers themselves are a integral part, they help form what is called an meniscus in the print head. If that is not properly formed you can get improper jetting of the print head such as crooked jetting of the print head, wrong droplet sizes or even no jetting of the print head. 

As I am not completely familiar with the freejet system I recommend contacting your manufacturer on the fix to the issue. What we are here to do is offer you advice on what is causing it so you can maybe get your machine temporarily working, fixing the issue is up to you and the manufacturer.


----------



## ywane (Jun 18, 2011)

period of time when white ink sit on caping station,do head cleaning can't help band image, you must suck with syringe from ABOVE capping station,drop little cleaning solution before suck,repeat until clean


----------



## BQChris (Aug 16, 2012)

This is obviously not a run-of-the -mill banding issue as banding would be consistent throughout the image. There is something wrong with how this machine is stepping. 

There is no way that multiple channels are failing so badly in one area of the image, yet so consistent in other areas. Not the way it works. Multiple channels don't just drop out for a 1/2 inch area and then, simultaneously, all correct themselves.


I am searching for the service manual for a 1290 now. If anyone has access to one, please let me know. Would definitely help in finding a solution.


----------



## ozstockman (Dec 23, 2010)

It was my first thought that the head is scratching the print but I checked its clearance at the point where banding appears and there is a always 2-3mm distance between the bottom of the head and printed area.

I have just cleaned the encoder for Y-axis and some of the micro banding has gone but the biggest one is still there.

I have a service manual for Epson 1290. I will see if I can find something there. If anybody want to have a look at it I can email it. Freejet 290 manual is useless for this problem.

I do believe that problem I am having caused by stepping based on the multiple prints in different colors and widths. I just cannot understand how anything else including any problems with ink can affect exactly the same place where banding happens every time I print.


----------



## ozstockman (Dec 23, 2010)

It seems that I could fix it. At least I cannot see anything at 720dpi. Even though there is a lot of banding when I print at 360DPI but I can just print always with at least 720DPI. 

I also checked FreeJet 290 manual, they say it should be set to 720DPI. They do not mention that it cannot print without banding at 360DPI and .720dpi settings it is just a step in their setup guide. However may be there was a reason for recommending 720dpi setting.

I guess it was the Y axis encoder problem. It seemed to be clean but when I wiped it out with alcohol there was some dirty spots left on a wipe.


----------



## Belquette (Sep 12, 2005)

ozstockman said:


> It seems that I could fix it. At least I cannot see anything at 720dpi. Even though there is a lot of banding when I print at 360DPI but I can just print always with at least 720DPI.
> 
> I also checked FreeJet 290 manual, they say it should be set to 720DPI. They do not mention that it cannot print without banding at 360DPI and .720dpi settings it is just a step in their setup guide. However may be there was a reason for recommending 720dpi setting.
> 
> I guess it was the Y axis encoder problem. It seemed to be clean but when I wiped it out with alcohol there was some dirty spots left on a wipe.


Glad you got it fixed, your instincts where correct from the start.
It's quite interesting how misdirected one can be get by using this forum as a trouble shooting aid.
_ Glad you did not buy a new print-head as someone suggested._
This does bring up a very important question that one would not normally ask or even know that there is such a thing as an rotary encoder or where it is and why would it get contaminated in the first place.


----------



## JohnL (Nov 23, 2010)

ozstockman said:


> It was my first thought that the head is scratching the print but I checked its clearance at the point where banding appears and there is a always 2-3mm distance between the bottom of the head and printed area.
> 
> I have just cleaned the encoder for Y-axis and some of the micro banding has gone but the biggest one is still there.
> 
> ...


Printing at 360DPI will cause banding with any Epson based printer using Dupont inks.


----------



## kevrokr (Feb 26, 2007)

JohnL said:


> Printing at 360DPI will cause banding with any Epson based printer using Dupont inks.


Although not optimal, direct to garment machines that are based on the Epson 48X0 series using DuPont inks can print at 360x360 without banding.


----------

