I hate printing banners…any advice ?

[Gavin MacMillan]

roll the media out, don’t let the machine pull it off the core. You shouldn’t need to raise the head (or use the longer media clamps, but that’s personal preference) unless using super thick media.

The main reason for media buckling is usually the size of temperature change, do you store the banner in the same place as the printer? We had this with paper the other day and had to pre-feed the media over the heaters to help it adjust.

Basically banners should be no more issue than printing vinyl unless you forget to roll more slack of the core, so keep experimenting till it’s not being a nightmare! We use spandex banner media now.

G

[Stephen Morriss]

Same printer and I find minimal problems so far, I’m using Doro’s D550 banner 1370 wide.

I use normal clamps, (head is always set high) and make sure it’s fitted right before dropping the lever, I then reel out enough to nearly touch the floor and set it off printing and keep checking the material hasn’t gone tight at the back.

The fluff or dust is just a problem you have to overcome if you don’t have a separate clean room for the printer, I hoover all the time near the printer and generally in my work shop to keep the chances of dust or fluff getting on prints or even beneath vinyl

The material is stored in the same room as the printer so it’s not cold.

I’ve done 16 foot banners like this and had few problems other than if I didn’t align the material properly.

Steve

[Dan Osterbery]

Hi,
we have same machine(sorry ours is sp) and not too many problems with banners! We make sure when set up there is enough slack banner to touch the ground so the machine motor doesnt have to pull it off the roll, and we put vinyl backing paper under the printer, so that if the banner material does touch the floor it does not pike up dust,bogeys and hair etc. We have found as long as you keep rolling out at the back it causes no problems striking!

goodluck

Dan

also this is the roll straight on the bars without the silly media holders and also the brake off!

[Peter Dee]

Martin, on my SP300 I turn the heat right down or even off as the thicker banner material just expands too much as it warms causing the material not to be held taught between the pinch rollers any more. I also keep an eye on it and if it starts to ruck up, do a quick pause, lever up a single pinch roller and spread the vinyl flat (keeping the front cover closed). I also increase the vacuum.
Once it reaches the take up reel it helps as well.

[Neil Speirs]

Same machine here Martin & so far not had any problems doing a banner. Using Soyang banner material from Victory always with the heads up & standard clamps. As suggested here we always make sure the material is unwinded from the roll.

[George Elsmore]

same machine and just done a run of 150 banners without one problem????

in fact i could knock banners out all day every day 😕

[Mo Gillis-Coates]

Same here, roughly same machine and same media absolutely no problem….. just a daft question……. how many pinch rollers are you using?

I only use 2 pinch rollers for vinyl printing but when I use a heavy media such as banner material I always put 2 extra pinch rollers in, that keeps everything true…

Sorry if I’m teaching you to suck eggs, but I wouldn’t mind betting thats the problem

BigMo

[David Rowland]

put heaters in the room, its too cold

[Alan Drury]

Can’t help you with printer settings but digitally printed banners seem so cheap to buy I wonder if it is actually worth any of you guys actually doing the job yourselves.
I don’t have a printer and with so many options to buy printed product in cheaply I’m not sure it would ever be worth it. I could see good profit going to an engineer if/when something went wrong. Maybe another topic of conversation.
Alan D

[Mo Gillis-Coates]

quote Alan Drury:

Can’t help you with printer settings but digitally printed banners seem so cheap to buy I wonder if it is actually worth any of you guys actually doing the job yourselves.
I don’t have a printer and with so many options to buy printed product in cheaply I’m not sure it would ever be worth it. I could see good profit going to an engineer if/when something went wrong. Maybe another topic of conversation.
Alan D

Quite agree with you Alan, however I print loads and at a decent price, we know the market really well, so were inclined to think that banner printing isn’t worth it, I still have customers buy 600×2000 full col banners at £60+ a good mark up for me seeing as I only have to start the printer off trim and post (we throw in banner clips these days its so easy)… but your right… another topic 😉

[Warren Beard]

I had my biggest banner yet to print today and this post had me worried as I use the Metamark banner and have also had these odd problems mentioned.

So what I did today was take the brake off and run long strips of masking tape down to the take up so it is under tension from the start. I didn’t roll any off the roll as the brake was off (there was also only about 10m on the roll though)

It was a solid red background and printed off at high speed at a size of 1320mm x 4500mm and ……….

…………. perfecto!

Phew :thumbsup:

[John Parfit]

Get a mimaki… no syringes, no babysitting, take up spool standard, no messing, no (or few) what ifs, no masking tape, no adjusting head heights, no need to turn heaters off which obviously would affect ink adhesion.
Just my opinion, (actually my boss’ opinion since we are sat here discussing this very topic when the post came up).

John

[Kevin Flowers]

quote john parfit:

Get a mimaki… no syringes, no babysitting, take up spool standard, no messing, no (or few) what ifs, no masking tape, no adjusting head heights, no need to turn heaters off which obviously would affect ink adhesion.
Just my opinion, (actually my boss’ opinion since we are sat here discussing this very topic when the post came up).

John

Or buy a Roland pro series, if you are going to compare machines then compare like for like. Not saying the Versacamm is a bad machine it is very easy to run & maintain and providing operators learn the machine & research materials it runs faultlessly. I run both machines & researched the Mimaki. When comparing the Roland Pro against the Mimaki in my opinion they are quite evenly matched with deciding choices down to personal opinions. (i think Versaworks is the easier Rip)

Kev

[John Parfit]

Fair point Kevin, I’m afraid I don’t know the difference between base roland printers and the pro series.

I do know the past difference though in the plotters, there was (15 years ago) a vast difference in the performance of base roland plotters and Mimakis in the same price range, the mimakis completely outclassed the roland camm 1’s , you had to move to roland pro cutters to get a similar performance ; but the roland pro cutters were significantly more expensive than base mimakis.

Perhaps it is still the same with printers, i.e. the versacamms are entry level but same price as the mimakis which have better qualities, similar to roland pro standard.

Difference is comparing like to like you also have to consider price to price and in this, in my own opinion, mimakis win out.

The difference in the rips is an added consideration but I find (albeit as a beginner with printer rips) that the rasterlink is user friendly; never used versaworks has to be said though.

john

[Mo Gillis-Coates]

I have versacamm sp300i and print 3-5 full colour banners a day and have absolutely 0 problems, I have to make sure that the banner doesnt fold on itself when it comes out due to temp in office, but thats about it…..

I print all sizes from 2m to 4 m again I use 4 pinch rollers, so no problems at all

[Martin Oxenham]

Thanks for all the replies….I think most of the kinking problems are down to using the media roller clamps to keep it straight I’ll have to try without them. Also yes I do keep the material in a different place which is colder so maybe I should keep it by the printer. It is annoying though when you get halfway through and there is a mark in the roll, the latest roll had a black mark like a burn mark every three feet for a while. I know Metamark are ok at replacing faulty material but that doesn’t help when you’ve printed half the job. As for pulling material off the roll I normally do this any way as its tight and it sticks as it comes off and causes static.

[Stephen Morriss]

I don’t even have the roll ends so don’t use them, My Summa cutter has them though so I could try them to see if it make any difference.

Again I’ve had no problem with 1370 wide media and only 2 clamps and short guides.

Steve

[Matt Boyd]

we have the vp540i and do alot of banners. we use the media holders and make sure the little clamps on the roller bars at the rear at up against the media holders, this makes sure the material stays true. i know this from experience due to having the banner bunch up on one side at one point and i noticed that i hadn’t put the little clamps up against the media holders on one side when i had changed over media. its never happened again as i learnt that lesson. just make sure the material as you load it in is true, and you’ll be fine! we use the standard heat settings for banner and we also keep the materials in the same room as the printer so they don;t get to cold etc,

[Mo Gillis-Coates]

quote Martin Oxenham:

Thanks for all the replies….I think most of the kinking problems are down to using the media roller clamps to keep it straight I’ll have to try without them. Also yes I do keep the material in a different place which is colder so maybe I should keep it by the printer. It is annoying though when you get halfway through and there is a mark in the roll, the latest roll had a black mark like a burn mark every three feet for a while. I know Metamark are ok at replacing faulty material but that doesn’t help when you’ve printed half the job. As for pulling material off the roll I normally do this any way as its tight and it sticks as it comes off and causes static.

I had that, it was greasy finger marks where someone had touched the media surface when feeding it in to the machine, you have to watch that, i have done it myself loads of times…. wash hands or wear gloves…lol

maybe, could be.. but probably not?