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GERBER PRINTING OFF CENTER!!
Hi all, i’m using an edge fx with a gsx plus plotter and omeger v2 software. basically the problem i’m having is when i print something the colours are printing to far over to the right.
so for example, if i were to print a uk flag with a black boarder what would happen is the flag would print and then there will be a small gap on the left edge with the black boarder. its as if the printer prints the center colours and then when it comes to the boarder it moves over to the left alittle! this happens with everything now and is making printing work impossable as the results are no good!! there always seems to be a gap between the last baorder or edge and the rest of the print on the left. everything looks fine on the preview before i print. i’ve tried looking in the help section of omega but can’t find anything in relation to the problem. can anyone suggest anything at all?? its driving me crazy and is effecting my business now as the prints are no good to give out!!
thanks all. -
19 Replies
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Is it just the black that is printing out of position? If so, try a different black cartridge. It sounds daft, but I have had odd cartridges that wouldn’t print correctly. Also, this could happen if there was a big difference in the amount of foil left on the cartridges. eg 50m on one colour but only 5m on the other….. 😕
Of course, the edge has never been very good at registration. Is this a new problem or have you just not noticed it with other designs?
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sounds like a calibration problem possibly.
how big are the decals you are printing and how big is the movement in the registration?
would it still miss if you printed it as a 250mm square?
are you overlapping the print colours in omega etc?
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hi guys, to be honest i’ve only had the edge for 6 mths and have noticed the odd thing or two when printing but nothing to bad. the prints i’m currently trying to print are quite small flags, around an inch or so. i’ve just put in a new balck 45m cartridge and have only used a few mtrs on it so far. in answer to pauls question, the movement in registration is basically a thin line on these flag prints. it prints the flag and then when it comes to the black outline and boarder its as if the printer or cartrigde moves over to the left alittle making the prints totally useless!! i’m over printing the balck.
is there a setting on the fx that re sets the registration or anything like that! as you can imagine its making life impossable to print at the moment!!!
thanks for your replys guys, its much good to know theres help out there! -
Unfortunately all edge’s have problems with registration you would have thought it would have been sorted out by now, are you applying bleeds and overprints, is it possible to print using cmyk, small runs seem to work best when printing small decals, some times changing the print order can make the effect less noticeable.
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Matt, if it’s literally a hairline gap in the print, then you need to overlap the colours to take that out. Either increase the thickness of the black line to literally ovelap the other colours by half a mil, or do the reverse and put the wider black line down first with the other colours on top and overlapped.
There are methods to overcome this but as with most of this type of work, the smaller the decal the less accuracy you can expect, so you have to compensate for that in your design.
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hi guys thanks for the replys. sorry i didn’t get back to you sooner, my internet went down wednesday evening and i have only just got it up and running again!
paul yes i know what you mean about increasing the width of the black, using a stroke for example. however i tried using cobolt blue instead of the black to see if i would still have a gap and it didn’t!! so its deffo the black at fault! i rang spandex this morning and basically they just asked me to send them the file i’m working on to see what would happen. if not it maybe a job for a tech guy. it doesn’t matter what size the print, the black is always out. when using it as an outline and boarder etc i always have it last in the colour order in omega. seems really strange that only the black is doing this! i’ve actaully had to send 2 black cartridges back this year alone due to spotting on prints. spandex always send out a free replacement but again, its the black! can anyone suggest anything at all??? has anyone else come across this?!?!
thanks for all replys guys. -
ahh well if it’s only the one foil that ever does it then yes, obviously you need to swap it and see if this problem continues.
I’ve personally never had this problem, not specific to just one colour anyway, but then i don’t use spandex foils either… -
hi paul, what foils do you use? i only know of zero 9 foils other than spandex. haven’t used zero 9, maybe i should try them?
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matt, there are actually three or four foil manufacturers other than Gerber, we get ours from print one, they are Renown cartridges i think.
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Oh ok, thanks paul. with me having the edge since jan this year, i’m still getting to grips with everything, including supplies. so the cartridges you use, you think they maybe a better deal than the spandex ones? i might try a different comapny then, if they don’t sort out the black issue. as i said before, twice already i’ve had to send the black back to them due to it spotting very badly on prints which of course mess’s up the whole print!! i have no idea what to do about the black not being aligned now, i’ll send them the files on monday morning as they asked and see what happens i guess. just means i won’t be able to print anything with black now, which is nigh on impossable!!!!!!
cheers for the imput paul. -
I do not understand how the foil can make it print offset, as its the print head that does the printing.
Sometimes the foil will crease and mess it all up.
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hi nick, yeah exactly!! this happens only with the black cartridge. i used cobalt blue instead of the black just to see if that made a difference and it printed perfectly. swapped it back to the black and it printed off center again! i have no idea why this is happening!! it makes no sense at all. how can the black cartridge make the printed print off center?!!??!!??!?!
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Did you change the artwork to cobalt blue or just use it instead of black?
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i agree it doesn’t seem to make sense, but i have had a few issues in the past where the problem has proved to be the most unlikely thing you can think of. sometimes you don’t need to know why it does it you just want it to work!!
by the way, i’ve never had any quality issues with gerber foils in the eleven years we’ve had the edge, but you will find the price of the print one foils a bit more favourable 😉
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Is the black foil more or less used than the others?
There is an issue with registration when different foils have different usage rates (i.e. using a new red foil and a nearly finished black foil), so you might want to check that as well. You mentioned that the cobalt was fine, are the black & cobalt with similar usages or competely different?
When printing in process, the registration is usually spot on (excuse the pun), usually process colours are used the same amount every time.
Regards,
GeoZ
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Hi Geoz,
the black was a new one as i had to swop it with spandex due to spotting, again!!!!!!!! i used one of the old ones which i haven’t sent back yet and all though it had a gap it wasn’t as bad. still a gap though! the colbolt is fairly used, can’t remember how much is on it though. so you thing that due to the black being new, thats the problem? why would this be? doesn’t make alot of sense if thats the case!!!
cheers for the input mate. -
matt, no foil should do that however much it has been used. earlier this year i printed 9000 labels on my edge and you can bet i was ringing every last bit of foil out of those cartridges, on multiple colours so obviously some colours will last a lot longer than others depending on the design. as far as i’m aware there has never been an issue with foils not operating properly just because they are brand new or three quarters used etc, that would render the machine practically useless if that were true. you should be able to pop any foil in your machine whatever the remaining length is and expect it to work perfectly.
just maybe, spandex have had a batch of flawed black foils and it’s not impossible that you might have had a few of them. now i have known this scenario to happen in the past.
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I’m not saying that foils don’t work when new or part used, what I meant is that it’s usually best to use foils that have a similar usage (i.e. a new black with a new red, or a half used cobalt with a half used green).
This issue is something that afflicts more the older edges, as the FX works slightly differently so to improve colour to colour registration. I have both an FX and a 11 year old Edge Trunion, and they both suffer from the same problem to different extents. Matt, the best solution is to learn how to use overlaps & overprint, choke & spread and bleed. These methods will ensure you always get the perfect results.
Regards,
GeoZ
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Hi Matt
I have had this problem with the edge lately, however I am printing onto garment transfer film, which is super stretchy. It has happened when the predominant colour is printed first usually. I am thinking this is happening because there is more heat applied when a lot of colour is transferred and so the vinyl becomes stretched (to the right) as it runs through. Once the second spot colour is placed into the printer, the vinyl has already displaced to the right (and become permanently deformed, hence a new origin), and so the second spot colour then begins at a new origin.
I changed my type of vinyl to another manufacturer, and that seemed to cure the problem.
You could try a different type of vinyl and see if that helps. When im printing onto ordinary vinyl, I use 220 Scotchcal and it seems fine.
That’s £0.02’s worth.
Neil
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