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could someone advise on an ink drying problem?
Hi – i know this is sublimation ink, but with it being on roland wide format i thought this could be a better place to ask.
i am thinking of getting a printer for sublimation, and would like advice on that at some point, but for the past eight months have been subcontracting the work out.
the company i am using has four rolands, the ones which print my work out are an XJ640, and an FJ540 – using (quite an old version) of posterprint to rip.
we have been noticing that there have often been some slight black marks on some of the fabric after transfer, sometimes minor, sometimes critical, and have worked out that what is happening is the ink(dye) is not quite dry when it is going onto the take up spool, and is leaving a small residue on the back of the paper.
It is virtually invisible, until it is heated.
when it goes through the calender machine this residue is transfering through the paper from the back and marking the fabric.
we have put a heater in front, and switched to heavier paper, but it is still happening.the guy that owns the machines has them sited remotely, so he is a hundred miles away, and i am local to them.
the question is, he has now said that the problem is my artwork, and i am ‘laying down too much ink’
i could be wrong but i don’t see what control i have over the amount of ink, as the artwork i produce is created in corel x3, and saved out as a .eps file, which is just a tiff?
i assumed the rip software makes the decision on what percentage of each ink/dye to use and how much to lay down?
the operator at this end relayed a message that i should decrease the percentage of ink in my artwork.i’m not trying to settle an argument, rather find a solution and learn more about the process before i make a large investment, any help would be appreciated, sorry for the long story!
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4 Replies
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quote :assumed the rip software makes the decision on what percentage of each ink/dye to use and how much to lay down?that is normally the case. but over the years i have had a few customer files that beat the system and had to adjust the rip levels to stop it flooding.
could try printing the file on your desk top ink jet to see if there is a problem with the file. or send him a jpeg in case your eps settings are affecting it.is it the same problem if printed on both of his machines or just one of them.
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I’d have to agree with you there, it’s more likely to be the RIP/profile is over inking. However, there are some things that HE should be able to do. I don’t know his particular software but he should be able to use some sort of ‘force black’ option. This will convert all 4 colour black to a single black and that could be your answer.
Another thing worth bearing in mind when using a takeup, is that if you are printing a narrow group of files or a narrow roll, the ink will have less time to dry than if it was a using a wide group of files on a wider roll. This can also be compensated for in most RIP software by using either a ‘scan dry time’ (this may also be a printer function, it certainly is on the Mimaki’s), or a ‘logical seek’.
There may well be more to it but from what I can see, that should sort most of your problems.
Regards
Stafford -
Thanks for the replies, i also spoke to the supplier of the ink and paper who said the rip software for the two machines which print my work via posterprint lays down more ink than the other two which use versa works, but reducing that would weaken the colours.
it only really seems to be a problem with black, which, as it is going on to fabric has to be as black as possible.
are there any good go to resources to learn about wide format printing, i have been thinking of getting a machine for a while now, and now i can justify it i need to know what i am looking for and why?
i know that sounds naive, but the first company i contracted the work out to made a complete mess, and this one is ok when things are going smooth, but not much help if there are any technical difficulties.thanks
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The only printers I’ve seen running dye sublimation inks are Mimaki JV22 and JV33. I believe they now have the DS1800 but I’ve got no experience of it at all I’m afraid. The JV33 was doing a grand job from what I saw.
Stafford
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