MAPS (Mimaki Advanced Pass System), which is similar to Mutoh's "Intelligent Interweaving" does an excellent job of reducing visible banding in prints, however many people assume that this is only available on the newest Mimaki models such as the JV150 and JV300, not true!

If you've got a JV33 or CJV30 with a few missing nozzles that needs a little help in the banding department, MAPS might be just what you need to regain impeccable print quality.

The images below show a JV33 that was suffering from some media related "soft-banding" (i.e. passes of ink were being laid down faster than the media would accept it.  The results were dramatically improved after updating Firmware and applying the MAPS function.

JV33-160S - 540x1080, 6P, Bi - MAPS OFF	JV33-160S - 540x1080, 6P, Bi - MAPS ON, -15%

Usually resolving banding like this would have been accomplished by increasing the pass count. Changing from 6 pass to 12 pass, effectively reduces print speed by 50%, but with the MAPS setting we applied we only lost 15% of print speed.

To get access to MAPS you will need to update to the Firmware to ver. 5.70 on the JV33 or ver. 3.20 for CJV30. If you need assistance with this, please call our technical support at 855-927-2465. Once you have the required version of Firmware, applying MAPS is as simple as going into the SETUP menu, turning it on and specifying the amount.

The more negative you go with the number, the more banding reduction you will get, but understand that your print speed decreases by the displayed amount. We got great results for this customer with only -15%. Note that if you're running your printer at very low pass counts (i.e. less than 6-pass) the print head may not be overprinting enough times for MAPS to be effective. Full details of the modes that MAPS is available with can be viewed in the links below:

JV33 Supplement to the Operation Manual - MAPS Function 

CJV30 Supplement to the Operation Manual - MAPS Function

As always, feel free to call us at 855-927-2465 or email info@apcink.com if you have questions about this or any other info or product on our website.

Happy Mapping!

-DM