HP Scitex FB550 Tips for improving printing quality - Page 5

I. Main contributors to Horizontal Banding There are two primary contributors to unacceptable levels of horizontal banding; the first can be classified as Application Limitations, the second falls under Printer Calibrations. Once all Application Limitations and Printer Calibrations are addressed, an additional Troubleshooting of subsystems may be required. Please, call an HP service personnel or reseller technician if no improvement in Horizontal Banding is achieved after following this guide. II. Types of Horizontal Banding II.1 Swath Edge Horizontal Banding Swath edge horizontal banding can be identified by a dark edge or "ridge" between media advances where ink appears to build up and shows a visible band which may be objectionable. This type of banding is usually associated with an Application Limitation, but could be related to a printer related issue. * Not to scale II.2 Media Feed Media feed horizontal banding describes any type of movement where the media is not fed accurately through the printer. The root causes of this can range from a media that is not flat to problems with the media drive system, tables or media supply and take-up system. This type of horizontal banding will generally require troubleshooting and correction by a field engineer. II.3 Steering Similar to media feed horizontal banding, this describes media that is not fed accurately through the printer, but in this case, the movement of the material varies or is inconsistent from one side of the material to the other. Normally, this is related to alignment pins, media type, short media, setup of tables or Roll to Roll system. II.4 Jet Dropout This type of banding is associated with the Ink Delivery System (IDS), where a jet or complete section of jets drops out. The IDS is comprised of everything from the ink cartridge to the printhead including the Vacuum pressure system which assists in servicing the heads and holds proper vacuum meniscus. II.5 Missing Jets Missing Jets describes a jet that is not firing because of a blocked or incorrectly operating nozzle and is not associated with Jet Dropout. Proper cleaning and maintenance, and avoiding head strikes or head rubs is recommended to prevent this failure. Refer to the HP Scitex FB550 and FB750 Printers - Cleaning Instructions for specific guidelines. 5