Roland Test Print Problems: Causes and Fixes

A Roland test print (Roland's manuals call it the printing test or nozzle drop-out test) shows whether every nozzle in the print heads is firing. When it comes out with gaps, crooked blocks or faint bands, the fix is usually a cleaning cycle, run in the order Roland's own manuals give. This guide collects those steps for three Roland machines whose manuals we read: the VersaCAMM SP-300 eco-solvent printer and the VersaSTUDIO BY-20 and TY-300 DTF printers. DTF Database has not run these printers; every cause and fix below comes from Roland's user's manuals, cited by model.

What causes a Roland test print to fail?

A failed Roland test print is usually caused by clogged or blocked nozzles, which show up as missing blocks or banding. Other causes are air in the ink lines, a dirty wiper or cap, poorly loaded media and ink hardening after idle time. Run a normal cleaning first, reprint the test, and escalate only if gaps remain.

Roland's BY-20 and TY-300 manuals describe the two failures to look for in the test pattern: "Missing blocks indicate dot drop-out. Collapsed or inclined blocks indicate dot displacement." Not every gap stops a job. The TY-300 manual treats dot drop-out in up to 10 locations in one nozzle row as within standard, as long as the gaps are scattered, and the BY-20 manual says a printer with only a few drop-outs can be used without further cleaning if the print isn't affected.

Roland test print symptoms, causes and first fixes

How to fix a failed Roland test print

Work down this list in order and print the test again after every step. Roland's manuals warn against cleaning more than needed: the BY-20 manual says the heads "are prone to damage if cleaned too frequently," and the SP-300 manual says powerful cleaning "can cause premature head wear."

1. Check the ink. Make sure cartridges or pouches are seated and not empty, and on DTF printers mix the white ink as the daily routine requires (TY-300). Don't pull and reseat cartridges repeatedly; that can let air into the ink tube (SP-300).
2. Run the test print.

- SP-300: hold the [TEST PRINT] key for at least one second. - BY-20: on the home screen, click Cleaning, then Output (Nozzle Drop-out Test). - TY-300: on the home screen, open Nozzle Drop-out Test and click Execute next to Printing Test. The manual suggests reading the pattern in bright light from more than one angle.

1. Run a normal cleaning and test again.

- SP-300: hold the [CLEANING] key for one second, then reprint the test. The manual says to repeat this "several times" if needed. - BY-20: Utility > Cleaning > Head Cleaning, choose Normal Cleaning, Execute. - TY-300: Menu > Cleaning, choose Normal Cleaning and the head group (Group A, Group B or both), Execute.

1. Step up to medium cleaning.

- SP-300: [MENU] > [HEAD CLEANING] > [MEDIUM]. - BY-20: move up if normal cleaning fails several times; the manual moves on to powerful if drop-out persists after medium cleaning "two or three times." - TY-300: repeat medium cleaning several times before moving up.

1. Run a powerful cleaning.

- SP-300: [MENU] > [HEAD CLEANING] > [POWERFUL]. The manual says this uses about 30 cc of ink across all cartridges. - BY-20 and TY-300: Powerful Cleaning, repeated several times. If it still fails, run start-up cleaning.

1. Use the deeper cleaning modes on DTF models. For severe drop-out (several locations in a row), the BY-20 and TY-300 manuals add Light Choke Cleaning (BY-20: Maintenance > Ink > Light Choke Cleaning). The TY-300 manual also lists Ink Renewal.
2. Clean by hand. If cleaning cycles don't clear it, clean the area around the heads with the cleaning kit.

- SP-300: wipe the head frame and the plastic beside the heads, the right-side frame (watch for fibrous dust), the rubber caps and the wiper, using only the included cleaning sticks. Finish within about 30 minutes, because the heads dry out while the caps are off. - TY-300: Menu > Cleaning > Manual Cleaning > Daily shut down cleaning, with the kit's cleaning sticks, cleaning liquid and nozzle refresher. The manual says "Never use any implements other than the included cleaning sticks," and the printer beeps at 30 minutes. - Never touch or rub the nozzle surface.

1. Check the setup. Confirm the media is loaded correctly, the printer is level and out of drafts, and, on the BY-20, that feed correction and the media gap were set after the last media change. The three manuals we read don't include a head-height step in their test-print troubleshooting; if your model has a head-height lever, set it for your media as its manual describes.
2. Keep to the maintenance schedule. The BY-20 manual says a printer left unused for 24 hours or more after shut-down cleaning needs start-up cleaning before the next shut-down cleaning. For breaks longer than a week, it says to switch on the sub power once a week and run start-up and shut-down cleaning. The SP-300 shows a [REPLACE WIPER] message after about 1,500 cleanings; the BY-20 manual notes that replacing the wiper also helps with persistent drop-out.

Our DTF printer maintenance and troubleshooting guides cover daily DTF care across brands.

When to stop and call service

The SP-300 manual says to contact an authorized Roland DG dealer or service center if dot drop-out persists after the cleaning-kit procedure, or when the kit is used up. Signs that cleaning won't solve it:

• The same nozzles stay missing after the full ladder: normal, medium, powerful and manual cleaning.
• Drop-out spreads or gets worse after cleaning instead of better.
• Ink drips, smears or "dragging dirt" continue after a wiper change.

Roland's manuals don't give a fixed number of cleaning cycles before calling service; they say "several times" for each level, and the BY-20 manual gives "two or three times" for medium cleaning. Print heads are consumable parts that a Roland dealer replaces. Each powerful cleaning also uses a lot of ink, so repeated cycles on a head that isn't improving cost money without fixing it.

Which Roland models this guide covers

We didn't find a published troubleshooting section for the newer VersaSTUDIO BY2-20 or for the VersaSTUDIO BN-20, so this page gives no model-specific steps for them; check the manual that shipped with the printer. Our listings for the Roland VersaStudio BY2-20 and Roland TY-300i have specs and pricing, and the DTF printer comparison lists other machines.

Sources

All steps, menu names, quotes and thresholds come from Roland DG's own documentation on downloadcenter.rolanddg.com: the SP-300 User's Manual (R4, PDF) and the online user's manuals for the BY-20 and TY-300, read November 11, 2026. Menu names can differ between firmware versions; when your screen doesn't match, follow the manual that came with your printer.

Written by Darrin DeTorres, DTF Database founder. AI helped research and draft this page; every figure was checked against the named sources before publishing.