Roland SC500 question

[Frog Man]

Hi Shaun,

I have tried a lot of different types of vinyl on my SC 500 and the one I am most happy with is Oracal 641.
It prints well and is very well priced also it comes in 1260 mm widths so you have a bit more to play with
if you need to print a 1200 sign. As far as questions go I probably have more than you, here’s just a few.

Did you buy the SC 500 new ?
Does your heater go any higher than 50 ?
What software/drivers are you using ?

I have many other questions and perhaps some suggestions for you, feel free to e-mail me directly if you want.

Regards, Paul.

[Shaun Gallaway]

Hi Paul

Thanks for the reply mate. I will give the oracle vinyl a try. Can you recommend an east coast supplier?

Yes I bought my printer new. Got it about two weeks ago.

I can only get 50 out of my heater. I noticed in another thread that people are getting higher temps than this. Might have to ask Roland about this as some more heat may help out with my problem (i’m guessing???)

I have Flexi sign vers 7.5 and Roland Colour choice. I’ve been experimenting with different ICC profiles from the Roland site http://dg4.roland.co.jp/en/icc/ecosol/R … ofile.html

Cheers
Shaun

[Rodney Gold]

Hiya
Graphityp s22p is an excellent vinyl as is starrex 5-7 year (x-film)
50 degrees is the highest , there is not advantage and a lot of disadvantages to going a lot higher. Higher temps flash dry the solvents in the inks and you get WORSE adhesion , the ink NEEDS to be liquid a while so it softens and “penetrates” the vinyls , a higher temp ALSO leads to vinyl creep , buckling , rucking and eventually a head strike or misregistration with cuts.
A post printing heater as an add on might be an option , but if your profiles are right etc , then ink drying times should not be a problem , especially with the 500 as it doesnt really print fast enough to have major problems in this regard.
You should have the Roland Colorip as well as colorchoice. Roland were really p–sed off with me when they announced their expensive Colorchoice on their forum and I asked what was better in it than Colorip which was free , and if it WAS better , then why , when I bought a $30 000 machine 4 or 5 months before, do I have to pay for a “improved” rip.My post was deleted – I got a little too close to the bone and was informed that Colorip was as good if not better.
Essentially Colorip is a WASATCH rip and is exceptional.
Im not sure whether it will work with Flexi tho.
At any rate , getting back to media , get media SPECIFICALLY meant for digital printing , its often cheaper than normal sign vinyl and is generally exactly the same barring the rolls have no surface oils , they are rolled dust free and with constant tension as well as having a stay flat liner. S22P is Grafitaks 181 series but meant for digital.
What do I print with my sc 540 pro II, Well , just about ANYTHING. All the coated materials are suitable , we alos coat stuff like shiny gold and shiny silver and reflective . Then there is a massive range of vinyl , banner material , backlit , blockouts , polyprop , meshes , tyvek ,vellum , various papers , self adhesive papers , acetate , up to 1mm thick abs and styrene , spectrum light tamper proof foils , card , overlamination films etc.
What do we do with ours – well also just about anything : Decals , stickers , printed decals for doming , banners , blinds , plans , architectural model detials , posters , pop ups and roll ups , vehicle graphics , certificate seals (I have a great system , we print on gold reflective , cut and then send the outlines of the image to our lasers and make a male and female die and squash the printed foils between em for an embossed effect – very good profits in that)
At the end of it all , you should be concentrating on high quality , high resolution work with the 500 , it does that best. Its very difficult to compete with guys that have arizonas and the like in the very high volume low profit low rez market.
In terms of printing on “odd” stuff , a good starting point is the high gloss vinyl profile and you can tweak from there , if you can get the ink to stay and grip on the media , it’s workable , you just have to fiddle a while to get the best results.
Go to pantone.com and under support , download the pantone chart EPS file and print it on medias you use a lot , it helps a TON with colour matching etc.

[Rodney Gold]

On another issue as to the ink bleeding , thats a profile issue , not really a media issue
There are 2 settings (not sure what they are in color choice) that need to be tweaked.
1) Total ink laydown (ink limit) must be reduced
and 2ndly the total ink at black point must be reduced (might be under something called separation rule?)
Whacking up the heater temp WONT help with this
There is a test bar somewhere in my rip that actually gos from 0 -400% in terms of ink depositing and you can easily determine the correct % (all the profiles I have got lay down too much ink)
Check on the roland site for firmware updates too for the 500.

[Shaun Gallaway]

Hello Rodney

Thanks very much for your detailed explanation. I see that I have not only a lot of learning to do but also a lot of testing. 😀

Your suggestion regarding the pantone chart seems like a good starting point for me…I’ll give it a go and also try to get hold of some of your preferred vinyl.

Once again thank you for your reply.

Cheers
Shaun

[Frog Man]

Hi Shaun,

I asked my Oracal supplier today for a distributor in Sydney. Now, I’m not sure if I’m
supposed to post suppliers names & numbers but here goes.
Australian Sign Supplies Ph: 02 9771 0455
I have never ordered anything from them but they should stock the Oracal vinyls.
Also I picked up a roll of 1640 White today (1260 mm x 50 m) for A$200 + GST.
It’s a 3-4 yr vinyl but they don’t recommend it for contour cutting just printing
(not sure why) I’ll let you know how I get on with it.

Rodney, when you say Colorip was free do you mean it comes with the printer or is it PD ?
Mine came with ColorChoice but I would like to give Colorip a try.

Regards, Paul.

[Shaun Gallaway]

Hi Paul

Thanks mate I will give them a call.

I look forward to hearing what you think of 1640. The price certainly sounds good.

Cheers
Shaun

[Rodney Gold]

Colorip should be free. HOWEVER my copy only lists the XYZjet x40 PRO II printers and the versacam , so Im not sure if it will work with any of the others. If you didnt get it with your printer , it might not work with it.

[Frog Man]

Hi Shaun,

Did a job with the 1640 Avery today, 1800 x 1200 mm print wet mounted onto a window.
Printed really well and went up even better, i’ts nice and thick so it didn’t stretch or try to fold on itself.
😀 Very happy 😀

Regards, Paul.

[Shaun Gallaway]

Hi Paul

Thanks for the info. Could you tell me what profile/settings you used for the print?

I am getting better results with my roll of Avery 2000 through trial and error. Still not 100% happy though.

Cheers
Shaun

[Frog Man]

Hi Shaun,

I used “SPVC-G (SOL Hi Gloss White Vinyl)” in “SUPER” But… I changed the Ink setting on the machine to “Light”
instead of “Normal” I find it seems to apply way to much ink if I don’t (I’m waiting on the Roland Rep. to upgrade
the firmware to see if that fixes the problem)
Usually on Super I get a bit of banding but with this I didn’t, not sure if it was the vinyl, the weather or maybe just
the print gods smiling on me.

Do you think you could e-mail me directly as I have a few things I would like to discuss (the boards have ears) 😉

Regards, Paul.

[Rodney Gold]

Its pretty easy to apply firmware fixes yourself , just attach the priner to a parrallel port , start the printer in “loading” mode (instructions with the firmware files available from the roland site under support) and copy the files.
Firmware fixes never fixed too much ink for me , I do what you do , start with that profile and use the ink limits (even when that works , there is often too much black , so I use the color seperation rule and limit total ink at black cutoff)
Banding is solved a few ways
1) Do a muanual calibration and turn off the calibration in the profile (software always overrides hardware settings)
2) Do an environmental calibration
3) Do a bi directional calibration
4) slow the heads down
5) Scan the full width of the machine , rather than just the media or graphic
6) Raise the heads
7) roll out the media before printing rather than let the machine pull it off the roll
Frogman , we are all here to share info , I along with others would like to know what issues , tips etc you have as a post rather than a private message – what exactly do you mean by the “boards have ears”?

[Shaun Gallaway]

Hi Paul

I think I’ll try your idea of changing the ink settings on the printer.

I am getting way too much ink as you described (I am using the same profile). Last night I attempted to print and contour cut some images. They printed okay but when the machine began to cut it smeared ink all over the place. I had the heater set at 45 but obviously the ink was nowhere near drying enough or the ink was not penetrating the vinyl correctly I guess.

Unfortunately I can’t contact you off the board as I don’t have access to pm’s at this time due to a lack of funds available to upgrade my membership status 😥

Cheers
Shaun

[Frog Man]

Hi Rodney,

I can’t do the firmware upgrade myself because I haven’t actually said yes to the SC500 I have been
using at my premises for the past 2 months.
I didn’t mean to upset anyone with my “ears” comment but there are a few things I would like to
discuss with Shaun without everyone knowing (It was the Roland sales rep who put me onto this forum)
Don’t get me wrong I have been very happy with the local Roland distributor, how many suppliers
would let you use THEIR machine on YOUR premises so you can make up your mind ?

Regards, Paul.

[Frog Man]

Hi Shaun,

There should be an e-mail icon at the bottom of this post.

Regards, Paul.

[Rodney Gold]

When it comes to machinery salespeople , us the “2” rule , X by 2 or divide by it , if it’s still profitalbe , go for it!!!
300 sq ft per hour is a divide by 2 scenario and 25c a sq meter is a x by 2 scenario. Works for me 😉