-
Heavy banner material stuffing up HP 335 printer.
I had a bit of a bad day today.
I got 10 meters of 1600mm wide 660gsm avery blockout banner material to do two large logos. All over print mainly yellow, full-width print.
The profile I used was a “generic banner”
I found that the banner was gripping on the hot shiny chrome lip at the end of the heating chamber, making it bunch up, and it caught the head.
I restarted it, and it did the same again.
Finally, I had to sit at the opening, tugging the banner through after every pass of the printhead, to prevent it from touching the roof, or worse, colliding with the head. I turned the heat down a bit and upped the interpass delay to the maximum. Each print took about an hour and a half, and I was there every second of that.I managed to get out one perfect print after a lot of failed attempts but the second one touched the top of the heating chamber about a foot from the end of the print ruining it and wasting all that ink and material, and now I dont have enough to finish the job so I have to order more tomorrow.
All sorts of things are going through my head; smearing talcum powder on the lip to make the banner glide a bit, or putting some masking tape on the edge. but that won’t stand up too well in the heat.Does anybody have any bright ideas to save this job?
Thanks🤔
-
15 Replies
-
Does it do this even when attached to the take-up? I don’t have a latex printer, but have noticed that banner can stick to the heater a bit on our Epsons. Attaching to the take-up usually cures this.
-
Hi Simon, I’ve had latex printers for about 10 years now and lost count of the number of hours I’ve spent manually holding 550gsm banners to prevent this.
The closest we got to ‘success’ was to reduce the heat on the curing module which prevented the sticking and then give the banner a waft with the heat gun to cure. Not ideal obviously.
I believe there are Banner materials with a release paper available for this purpose but haven’t looked into it. We use other machines for banners now. -
I’ve just purchased a 335, and have had similar issues (although with a clear wrap film)
With the machine there should be two ‘blankets’ bits of heavy fabric with an L angle on one edge, and a velcro strip on the other. These clip into the groove after the print bed, and hang over the drier unit, and helps reduce the stickiness.
I also found reducing the vaccuum level helped,
-
I am “guessing here” but…
We use a decent textured roll-up stand material and I cannot fault it. Not that we do tons of roll-ups, but it is the best material we have used in years, so we stick with it.
“However”, when we try and run the heavier grade version of the “same material” but used for Pop-up stands, we get similar issues to what you just described.
This is NOT a banner, but it is a heavier-grade roll material and in my opinion, it is not suitable for our machine. the lad that runs the printer shouted to me when he was getting scuffs on passes etc. similar to you. As soon as saw it I just said “Take that out, do not run anything else on that material”
I am not damaging heads, wasting media and time being late with a job to my customer, trying to get a material to work in my machine.I would change the material. reject the new roll that’s arriving.
Call your supplier and explain what’s happening and that the material is not suitable.
They may have a perfect answer for you, they may tell you something you are doing wrong.
However, if this is the first they have sold you the material, then they should at least be providing you with the correct “profile” for the material they are specifying suitable for your machine.
I am not blaming the supplier, but If a rep is selling me something, they normally ask me what machines do I have and then push materials “they know” are fully compatible with my machine.
If these issues are known to them, then they should have a quick-fix solution, otherwise, the material is not compatible with your machine.
if they cannot give you advice or a quick solution, i would be questioning “Why did they sell you something that is not compatible?!All the above aside.
Take a different roll of banner material. Lace it up, and run a metre of print the full width.
if you have zero issues, then…Load the Avery blackout banner.
lace it up and straight away feed it onto the take-up system, making sure it is taught.
Use your media clips
Use the correct profile.
Make sure the media is “not cool or cold” feeding into a warm machine.
If you have ticked all the boxes, try printing again.
Hands-free, not babysitting the material.
If the issue is exactly the same “STOP”call your supplier and ask for a solution to the problem with their media that is supposed to be compatible with your machine.
-
It turns out that was the last they had in stock, so probably no more in the country. I ordered a much lighter material, so well see how that performs.
I will take your advice and not run anything that heavy through my printer again.
-
-
Offically banner media (all media really..) has to have exited the dryer unit before printing. Heavier grades should be connected to take up reel. (700/800 series will show a warning on screen).
In the real world, get some heavy duty ‘bulldog’ clips and add a weight to these clips – move banner media a couple of inches’ past the dryer unit – clip on weight (1 each side) – POW! your good to go. Problem solved.
We never run any media, without moving it pass the dyer unit, and adding weights, just saves time & stress.
-
Actually its fine coming out of the machine until the weight gets so much it acts as a brake against the lip. IT is even worse when connected up to the take up reel, its the angle it pulls at that really grabs the edge.
-
What is the vacuum set at for this media?
-
The scale is 1-100. This was set at 15.
-
-
-
Agree about it exiting the drier unit. However, I can cross cut the media, then it goes to sleep, when I come to print the next job, or it wakes up then it bloody jams, it doesn’t give me chance to feed it out before it sleeps 😮 Maybe I’m missing something
-
-
Just for context, last year had a rush job to print some posters, but they insisted on a MATT finish.
I only had gloss in stock.
So, thinking laterally, I used the BACK of some gloss paper, which turns out to have a lovely matt surface that only a latex printer can print on successfully.
Now THAT material also stuffed up the machine on exit, it was simply the gloss finish gripping against the glossy shiny lip of the printer, at a high temperature, that put the brakes on. Connecting the takeup reel in this case made the problem worse by pulling it down round the curve, increasing the surface area in contact.When I released it from the take-up reel it took the pressure off and worked fine.
-
If you ever get the same issue in future, Simon, please take a short video clip on your phone if you can mate. it would be interesting to see what’s happening first-hand.
-
-
Here’s a link showing the platen covers, about 2:40 it explains the sticking issue.
https://youtu.be/MInxBR1sTV4?si=onxGuSYFEL_JMZR-
My 335 came with them
-
THat is exactly what I need David! Thanks for that!
I didnt get these with my printer. I will see if I can get some from the dealer.
-
Log in to reply.
