Gerber Edge – printing true type fonts

[Jason Davies]

We had the same problem regarding technical support for one of our machines even though we have cover on another, not great customer service. I would just rotate the layout by 90 degrees, should sort it out.

Good luck

Jason

[Andrew Ritchie]

Might sound silly, but can you convert the fonts to outline/ curves??

Andy

[George Zerbino]

What size are the letters?
Did you try rotating the design 90 degrees?
Are you using the 600dpi option?
Using "small text" will give you a better result hence the name so I would stick with that for small fonts.

[Ken Christensen]

We are doing 10- 11 point letters – have been using the small text facility with true type fonts. Have tried at 600 dpi or turning 90° with no better result.
The 600 dpi is 300×600 so turning makes no difference.
Using the gerber fonts seems to make no difference.

[George Zerbino]

At 10 point the letters are approx 2.5mm high, so even at 600dpi that leaves only 59 pixel to define the whole letter, hence why diagonal lines appear jagged.

Unfortunately that is the limit of the Edge 2, so I don’t think you’ll be able to improve on it, you’re already doing all the right things.

My only suggestion would be to try different fonts & weights, as some work better than others. Do you have anyone close with an Edge FX, as this has a print mode of 1200×300.

Sorry I can’t help any more than this.

[Ken Christensen]

Thanks, George for the detailed info on pixels, etc.

My machine is actually a FX and although it will print at 600×1200 it is extremely slow – and whichever way it’s printed/turned there will always be some ragged edges – at least I have now established that I had done settings correct.
Thanks for all the comments/help.

[George Zerbino]

No problem Ken,

Now I know you’re using an FX, there is a little trick you can use to speed things up:
Separate your colours into 2 jobs, one that you can print at full speed then end the job at the beginning of the vinyl, after that you can send the other part of the job at 1200dpi. This needs a bit of experimenting to ensure you get correct registration (I would suggest to have a small shape in each corner of the whole design on both parts of the job).
If it doesn’t make sense you can always send me your file and I’ll prepare it for you so you can see how it works.

Cheers,
George

[Chris Wool]

been following this as interested in a edge and now understand why my mate who had one used to send me files to print on my pc60

[George Zerbino]

Chris,

The Edge is a very powerful printer, but you must know exactly how it works. The results that you obtain from it can be both very good and very bad, it’s all down to experimenting.

I’ve owned them since 1994, and I’m still learning new tricks.
Mine are in use every single day, churning out stickers that even my L25500 would struggle to make. Obviously it also works the other way round, the HP rocks on most other jobs.

The Edge is not a "fit for all jobs" machine, but it has it’s uses – I wouldn’t be without mine.

I’m in a very lucky position having the luxury of owning both an Edge and an Inkjet so I can choose the right machine for the job.

Over the years I’ve done loads of jobs for other fellow signmakers, who have then gone on to buy their own Edges, and then come back to me to teach them how I did their jobs. It’s a case of play play play till you get the right results.

Possible, but not easy!

[Ken Christensen]

George, thanks your valuable input – makes me understand the Edge more than before. The reason we chose the Edge rather than ink was the durability of the print which is important for labels which should last for years.