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Solvnet printing on banner material – curling?
hi folks, we have recently started making our own exhibition pop-up display stands, all pretty straight forward, but i noticed on two of them today that down each side the banner seems to curl in slightly? now im exagerating on saying its curling but not sure how to explain without showing.
the banner is decent digital grade but completely covered red. im thinking could this be the solvent still in the banner/not evaporated ?
i had left it 24hrs and it was bone dry… anyway, thought ide ask out of curiosity. the customer picked them up and was delighted, never even mentioned what i was a little annoyed about? infact, wants more… -
14 Replies
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rob, to be honest putting a heavy concentrate of solvent ink onto any thing will make a subrate curl, especially if it has been warmed up. Next time round you may see what is causing it.
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we never trimmed up/finished or anything like that untill next day, even smelling it showed very little solvent in material yet when trimmed it slightly curled. is it just down to the amount of ink on the area or do banners generaly curl n pop-ups?
i have heard of tyvek being sued also, any thoughts? -
i have done a lot of banners but on a fairly heavy grade, but never curly or distorted. Heavy concentrate of ink (like a solid black) should compress the banner a bit, like in Silk Screen, we apply a fair bit of ink onto anything it will curl and also room tempreture can play a bit in that, if cold storage (like overnight) then you should get curls.
They will go away and settle I suspect. -
The curls will get worse over time , always a problem with using banner in popups.
We use Tyvek , block out front lit , meshes and fabrics sometimes . Banner is the cheapest however of them all. Pop ups are highly competitve in our part of the world , some going for less then 70 quid!!!! (880 x 2.2 m + mechanism + bag) so one cant afford to use the good stuff. We have decided not to compete in the low end so use a premium roll up mechansin , top quality printing and the tyvek and come in at about 130 quid for ours.
Most customers arent concerned with the curl much if they price concious.
We have found one problem with banner and some of our customers mechanisms in that they are thick and dont roll in properly. -
rob if it is for pull up disply things i use Kentmere solvent material tried it after 4 other ways and superb .
Chris
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I use Kentmere on the quality PopUp and Banner stands we supply but we have to be price competative and on the lower end banner stands we use a light stop material from Allprint, this says it will not curl but compered to Kentmere it does.
99% of my printing is heavy ink coverage, so can not compere that but when doing banners on 125 Micron but difference I have seen is the tension I use on laminator, I always use the smallest ammount I can and this appears to mnimise curl.
There are a lot of designs of banner stands out there now and some like the X stand tension the graphic such that it does not curl, the price paid on these stand however is they tend to be deeper so stand further away from a wall etc.
I always notice things like this and if you looked at most of the banner stands at say Sign UK you would see some curl. -
Hi Rob,
I used to use kentmere on my grenadier for the roll-up banners, but sometimes found that the colours could be a bit dull, and the same with the uniform stoplight. Dave from Hexis called me and sent a sample of their POP125EC. It gives really good vibrant colours, doesn’t curl and is cheaper than kentmere.
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Darren,
What ink type can you use on the stoplight from Hexis, I have HP 5500PS which uses Dye or UV ink, most stoplights only take Dye inks, in the Kentmere range you chose the “P” range and this is UV compatable, I am looking to print on a stoplight with UV inks, hence the question.
Also do you have Hexis contact details.Regards
Russell.
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thanks for the feedback guys, ill have to check my prices and give them a go. 😉
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Hi Rob
We had the same problem after leaving the prints 48 hours before laminating and then tried moving to 180 micron from Antalis but it still curled over time.
Being picky its a bit annoying when you see it starting to curl but I have never had any rejections.
The biggest problem I have is that the stop light material can be easily scratched before laminating even with solvent inks, when everyone says how durable they are without lamination.
D.
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Hi Russell,
I use the Hexis POP125PI on my epson with UV inks and it works really well and doesn’t curl either. Give Dave a call on 01543 411221.
Darren
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I wonder if someone could give some quick guidance, we have tried to do popup but without sucess.
1st try was on a thick (i think) a Hexis POPUP, turned into river of ink.
2nd try was on a thiner hexis but turned out to be matt looking, however we tried to overlaminate with clear vinyl (wet), it turned into a river of ink. Profile was also provided for the machine and printed fairly well.
So, the solvent JV3-160s, this printer should cope, shouldn’t it?
Also, we don’t have a laminator but it is on our mind, is there an easy way to mount clear or another suggested method?
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Hi Dave,
Hexis used to have a universal product for use on all water based and solvent based printers, however when I used it on my Epson I always got delamination of the coating from the base film. The coating will be why you are getting matt results as it is at present impossible to make a good gloss or coating (I’ve already asked the question).
They have now replaced the universal product with coatings which are specific to the technology that you want to use them on. Kentmere have also done the same.
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If you want to do pop up on banner material without curl or minimize it without lamming it , the Ferrari material works , but tis so expensive you prolly wont be competitive.
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