Are you noticing unwanted horizontal lines, white streaks, or bands appearing across your printed designs?
This issue, commonly known as horizontal banding, can affect print quality and may be caused by blocked printhead nozzles, incorrect paper feed settings, or print quality settings.
This guide explains how to identify horizontal banding on your Sawgrass SG500 or SG1000 printer and provides step-by-step troubleshooting instructions to help restore consistent print quality.
What Is Horizontal Banding?
Horizontal banding refers to unwanted lines or bands that appear across a printed image, typically running perpendicular to the direction in which the paper travels through the printer.
These lines may appear as:
- Thin white lines across certain colors.
- Repeated light or dark bands throughout the image.
- Thick horizontal gaps or missing sections of color.
- Uneven color density across the printed design.
Important: Horizontal banding is identified by the direction of the lines relative to the paper feed, not by whether your artwork is printed in portrait or landscape orientation.
Example of Horizontal Banding
If your prints show similar symptoms, follow the troubleshooting steps below.
Check for Missing or Blocked Printhead Nozzles
One of the most common causes of horizontal banding is blocked printhead nozzles.
When individual nozzles are not firing correctly, ink may not be deposited evenly onto the paper, resulting in visible lines or missing colors.
Step 1: Print a Nozzle Check
A nozzle check allows you to evaluate whether all printhead nozzles are functioning correctly.
Follow the instructions in the following article: How to Print a Nozzle Check
Step 2: Examine the Nozzle Check Pattern
Carefully inspect the printed pattern for:
- Missing dashes or gaps.
- Broken or incomplete lines.
- Missing sections of individual colors.
If the nozzle check contains missing dashes or gaps:
This indicates that some printhead nozzles may not be functioning correctly. To help restore normal print quality, we recommend performing the following maintenance steps:
- Head Clean: Perform 2–3 Head Cleans, printing a Nozzle Check after each cycle to monitor progress and check for improvements. How-To: Perform a Head Clean (SG500/1000)
- Head Flush: If the issue persists, perform up to 5 Head Flushes, printing a Nozzle Check after each cycle to monitor progress. How-To: Perform a Head Flush (SG500/1000)
- Capping Station Clean: If the issue persists, perform a Capping Station Clean to remove any ink residue that may be affecting printhead performance. Print another Nozzle Check afterwards to check for improvements. How-To: Capping Station Clean
Important: Head Flushes consume a significant amount of ink. If the nozzle check returns to normal at any stage, no further maintenance is necessary.
If the nozzle check is complete:
If all colors are present and there are no missing dashes, proceed to the next section.
Nozzle Check Is Perfect, but Lines Still Appear in Certain Colors
If your nozzle check is complete but horizontal lines are still visible in your printed designs, the next step is to print a Primary Chart.
A Primary Chart prints individual color blocks of Black, Cyan, Magenta and Yellow, allowing you to identify whether banding is affecting specific ink channels.
Step 1: Print a Primary Chart
Follow the instructions below to print a Primary Chart using Sawgrass Print Utility: How to Print a Primary Chart in Sawgrass Print Utility
Step 2: Examine the Primary Chart
Inspect each color block for visible horizontal lines or uneven color density.
If banding is visible in specific colors, a Head Flush may help resolve the issue.
Step 3: Perform a Head Flush
A Head Flush performs a more intensive printhead maintenance cycle that may help resolve persistent print quality issues.
Depending on which colors are affected, you can select the appropriate printhead:
- Head 1: Black and Cyan
- Head 2: Magenta and Yellow
- All Heads: All four colors
Recommendation: Select only the printhead associated with the affected colors whenever possible. This helps minimize unnecessary ink consumption.
Follow the instructions below: How to Perform a Head Flush
You may perform up to five Head Flushes if necessary, checking the print quality between maintenance cycles.
Important: Head Flushes consume a significant amount of ink. Avoid performing unnecessary maintenance cycles, and allow each cycle to complete before evaluating the results.
Step 4: Clean the Capping Station
If horizontal banding persists after performing the recommended Head Flushes, the next step may be to clean the printer's Capping Station.
Over time, ink residue can accumulate around the Capping Station and suction cup assembly, potentially restricting ink flow and reducing the effectiveness of the printer's cleaning cycles. This can contribute to persistent print quality issues, including horizontal banding, that do not improve after standard maintenance procedures.
We recommend performing a Capping Station Clean to remove any accumulated ink residue and help restore normal printhead performance.
After cleaning the Capping Station, perform a head flush and print another Primary Chart to check whether the print quality has improved.
Horizontal Lines Appear Across All Colors
If horizontal banding is visible across multiple or all colors, particularly when the nozzle check is complete, the issue may be related to the printer's Paper Feed Adjustment.
The Paper Feed Adjustment controls how far the paper advances between each pass of the printhead.
If the paper advances too far or not far enough, the printed passes may not align correctly, resulting in visible horizontal lines.
Perform a Paper Feed Adjustment
- Print the Paper Feed Adjustment test pattern.
- Examine the printed pattern to determine whether an adjustment is required.
- If necessary, adjust the paper feed setting according to the test results.
- Print the Paper Feed Adjustment test pattern again to confirm it is correct
- Repeat the adjustment if necessary.
For detailed instructions, refer to: How to Perform a Paper Feed Adjustment
After completing the adjustment, print your design again to determine whether the issue has been resolved.
Check Sawgrass Print Utility and Print Quality Settings
Printing directly through the standard Sawgrass printer driver, rather than Sawgrass Print Utility, may result in reduced print quality, incorrect colors, or horizontal banding.
Sawgrass Print Utility applies the appropriate print quality, speed, color management, and paper settings for your selected printer and substrate.
If Sawgrass Print Utility is not installed, you can download it here: Download Sawgrass Print Utility
Adjust the Print Quality if Banding Persists
If you are already printing through Sawgrass Print Utility and both your Nozzle Check and Primary Chart are clear, but horizontal lines remain visible in your printed designs, the issue may be related to the print speed.
In some cases, reducing the print speed can improve print consistency and minimize horizontal banding.
Higher print quality settings may increase printing time but can help improve print consistency when your Nozzle Check and Primary Chart show no signs of missing nozzles or banding.
To adjust the print quality:
- Open your design in Sawgrass Print Utility.
- Locate the Print Quality setting in your print job tab.
- Select one of the following options:
- Advanced Photo: Uses a slower printing process that may help reduce horizontal banding and improve print quality.
- Ultra Fine: Uses a higher-quality printing mode with a slower print speed, which may help further reduce visible lines.
- Print your design again and check whether the horizontal banding has improved.
Try Advanced Photo first. If horizontal banding remains visible, select Ultra Fine to determine whether the higher-quality printing mode resolves the issue.