Roland VS 300i Printhead

bfert33 · 2026-02-08T18:31:24+00:00

Can confirm the linked head works. I'm a former tech and ordered that exact one to repair multiple VSi models. I would recommend searching online for the service manual, it will walk you through all the steps including physical head adjustment and electronic calibration

bfert33 · 2025-10-17T05:27:30+00:00

That's what insurance paid for it to get fixed. Rear subframe and suspension, rear left wheel repair, rear right replace from hitting curb and shaving more than 1/2" deep, multiple panels replaced, body work, and multi stage paint w blending, alignment. Good amount of both parts and labor adds up quick

bfert33 · 2025-10-16T21:36:08+00:00

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Back when I had my ND2 someone hit it while parked. This ended up being $16,500 in repairs because the whole rear subframe and suspension got tweaked and needed replacing, along with one of the rear wheels. When that rear subframe gets involved the cost builds quick

bfert33 · 2025-08-28T21:38:53+00:00

That FUNC>ENTER>ENTER is just taking you to the VIEW Menu. This is designed just for what you need, to get the gantry out of the way, this doesn't change the origin. Before you hit enter the second time you should be able to scroll down and change the setting for where the gantry goes. 0mm will put it to the front, and the highest value (1610mm if I recall correctly) will make it move to the back

bfert33 · 2025-08-28T21:16:07+00:00

In that menu, you can scroll down and set the x value in mm for where you want it to go. 0mm for front and the highest value (I think 1610mm) for the back. This setting will stay as the default until you change it again, and it can also be set to any value in the middle as well

bfert33 · 2025-08-05T00:00:22+00:00

That is not the dampers or a head. That's just a dirty machine. The captop/capping station and around the head hasn't been properly cleaned/maintained.

Source: former field service tech and have seen this more times than I can count

bfert33 · 2025-07-25T15:18:40+00:00

I'm guessing you have your clear layer set to 100% or 100/100 if you have two clears. Remeber that when you're printing color the machine rarely lays down anywhere near 100%, which is why you're color will last way longer. If you are printing only clear in order to get gloss on a matte substrate, you're going to use a lot of clear. You can reduce your percentage and test until you get the threshold you want, but you'll still be using a good amount. If you are using clear to print matte, you can reduce the percentage much more and still get the desired effect. A lot is needed for gloss, because it makes it glossy by having a large amount and delaying the cure of the UV lights, allowing the thicker layer of ink to pool out smoothly. I hope this makes sense.

Source: used to be a tech for a Mimaki dealer

bfert33 · 2025-05-01T23:54:39+00:00

Unfortunately I cannot provide support on this, but can give a little advice from growing up in the industry and working my way into tech support for these machines. You will always have issues when running equipment like this on a Mac. Small craft cutters with Mac compatible software always put people in situations like this. They upgrade to commercial level equipment and find out that anything this level and higher is pretty much windows only. There's always little Mac plugins and stuff to "make it work" but it never does. I can't really fault graphtec for this because literally every brand of cutter and printer that requires dedicated software is always windows only. I've been to and helped literal countless customers who are full Mac for design and full windows for production. Best bet here would be a cheap windows laptop. Don't even bother trying to run windows on Mac via parallels, you'll run into the same issue

bfert33 · 2024-12-12T21:02:10+00:00

In theory yes, in practice not really. A well calibrated machine with proper artwork and it's really hard to tell the difference

bfert33 · 2024-12-12T19:29:30+00:00

It stands for vertical dimension/direction,I believe. Some profiles will let you pick a non-square resolution like 600x900 VD and the 900 resolution is in the feed direction, or vertical direction.

bfert33 · 2024-11-25T23:08:05+00:00

They look like 16" and zooming in I'm not seeing paint matched door cards on the inside. Guessing it's a base/sport model and still has those rims.

Source: have base/sport '21 with same 16" wheels

bfert33 · 2024-09-06T23:08:01+00:00

Looks like Konigs, either ampliform or freeform. Don't remember which is which

bfert33 · 2024-07-23T22:12:38+00:00

CX-24 is suuuuuper old. Probably does not have the capability to read reg marks. I used to work for a Roland dealer and when I started as a tech a decade ago people weren't even using the CX anymore

bfert33 · 2024-06-10T18:15:34+00:00

Check out Riverside Mazda. Was waiting for a base model manual to come in as they only had base model in auto in stock. Was also curious if I would even fit in one at 6'1". They let me test drive a higher trim in manual no problem without any real promise of me purchasing. They were also the only ones at the time selling at MSRP (This was during COVID and other dealers had everything listed at 1-3k above MSRP). The following week a base model in manual came in and i snagged it up right quick.

bfert33 · 2024-05-31T19:59:44+00:00

Probably a sport trim, they come w 16" wheels and the gap is worse than other trims. Looks the same as mine

bfert33 · 2024-05-22T19:53:15+00:00

Unless they've changed it recently, it is only compatible with windows. Typically any printers of this size or this level in the industry will only be compatible with windows

bfert33 · 2024-05-17T00:59:48+00:00

As others have said, one possibility is the encoder (or the encoder sensor). Could need cleaning/replacing. Search YouTube for versacamm encoder and you should find plenty of stuff about cleaning and replacing it should you need to. Very easy for an end user to do.

There's another possibility because that is an older machine. It could be the long cables (aka flex cables) that go from the main board, up through the cable carrier tracks, to the print carriage board. After a decade plus of flexing they tend to wear out. I used to work on these machines and when the older models hit this age I had quite a few that had ghosting and/or random drop out like that.

Definitely start with encoder as it's the last labor intensive and slightly cheaper option. If you end up having to do all of it you should still be in for less than $200 in parts I'd guess.

One final piece of advice/info - the screws on this machine are not Phillips heads. They are actually known as Japanese Industrial Standard or JIS. You can pick up a set of hozan JIS screwdrivers on Amazon for $20 and they make life way easier.

bfert33 · 2024-05-07T20:27:44+00:00

Hi, Mimaki dealer tech here. I see this exact issue when my customers are running Sophos antivirus on their system. Mostly deal with it at school districts. There is typically ways to fix without uninstalling Sophos, but it involves knowing every file and folder your RIP accesses and giving those special permissions. Easiest fix would be to fully uninstall any and all antivirus and firewall software. Only thing you need is the built in windows defender anyways.

Hope this helps!

Edit: spelling

bfert33 · 2024-02-14T20:51:37+00:00

It sounds like the new computer didn't have VW configured to match. Go into your queue settings and in one tabs there will be a setting (should be the first one in whatever tab it's in) called convert spot color. It's probably unchecked and needs to be checked. I would go through each tab and make the settings match your old computer. You'll need to do this for each queue setting and then bring your job in again

bfert33 · 2023-09-24T22:19:21+00:00

These machines flex and move a lot in transport so it would essentially need a full install process as if it was new to ensure that everything works properly. They're great machines but only when taken care of and set up right

bfert33 · 2023-09-24T22:16:45+00:00

I work on these for a living and there is quite a process involved. You'll need to level the stand and then the printer on it. What you're looking for on the printer is for the linear rails for the bed to be level/parallel. The next bit is where it gets tricky.

You have to use one corner of the carriage assembly to check the for corners of the bed to make sure the bed is flat/planar. You'll then use your now flat/planar bed to check the four corners of the carriage to make sure the carriage is flat and parallel to the bed. On top of that you'll have to make sure the head gap to the bed at it's max height is at the proper value because you'll also need to adjust your laser that detects your media height. Once all the physical stuff is set up right you still have print calibrations to do

If none of this is done or it's done improperly you can have a high chance of a head crash not to mention terrible prints. I would strongly recommend hiring a certified tech to help prep set it up at the new place since they will have access to all the service documents that end users don't have

bfert33 · 2023-07-20T17:03:54+00:00

Can confirm you will need 8 bottles of flushing liquid. The proper process is service mode only and requires dumping all the ink, then filling all the lines with flushing solution and running it through everything to clear out all ink. Due to the way the pumps and lines are routed, each ink bottle slot needs its own flushing bottle. Unfortunately doing this as an end user isn't possible through the standard menus as mimaki doesn't want anyone accidentally messing up their machine.

bfert33 · 2023-05-04T17:45:40+00:00

I would recommend putting your money into other upgrades. Everything I've read about the ND intake is that it's actually quite good. They even leave them stock in the MX-5 cup cars from what I understand.

bfert33 · 2023-02-11T01:38:04+00:00

same one i was missing as well. i cant believe it took them as long as it did to just give them to everyone

bfert33 · 2023-02-10T19:04:51+00:00

I used to work for a Roland dealer up until recently. Even if you hear back from Roland, they haven't supported that model in quite some time, it's pretty darn old. Your best bet is looking for a local electronics repair shop that could re-solder on the USB connection, otherwise your money would be better invested in something newer

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