3164 Printing Splochy Black on SP-300V

[splizaat]

Has anyone else had this problem recently? We have ALWAYS used 3164 with absolutely no problems...nice solid blacks using max impact.

This BRAND NEW roll of 3164 we just bought and the last quarter of the other 3164 roll we had before this just started printing blacks with little white specs showing through....or really splochy looking blacks when using the 3164 profile. I want to believe it's the vinyl and not the printer since we haven't changed anything in the way we print or setup our files.

Has anyone else noticed this as well on 3164? Did they change something? Super frustrating...the only way we can get solid black in the meantime on 3164 is to print using the 3165 profile/max impact...

Matt

 

[CS-SignSupply]

Does your test print/nozzle test look perfect?

Little white specs are probably dust/debris or imperfections in media.

 

[splizaat]

There's two spots of deflection on the test print. Other than that, black nozzle appears fine. Black nozzle has been like that since we got the printer and black has always been nice and solid on 3164 Possibly two bad rolls in a row??

On 3164 Profile it prints splochy and or white specs.
Using 3165 Profile it prints solid black...but uses more ink and time.

I have older prints we did a year ago on 3164 using 3164 profile and they're perfectly solid?

 

[CS-SignSupply]

Can you get us an image of the specks you are referring to?

 

[splizaat]

So I spoke with Oracal who was super helpful on trying to help diagnose but it still isn't fixed. I want to believe it's the vinyl itself and nothing we're doing since we have changed NOTHING in the way we are doing anything...we prep and save files the SAME way we always have, use the same settings in versaworks and same profile but are still having this issue.

It was suggested maybe the humidity had something to do with it which Oracal was pretty confident in... we're printing at 72degrees F room temp 39% humidity. Heaters at same temps they have ALWAYS been 102/112F. (We've even tried 112/112 and nothing changed).

I've also redownloaded the profile and reinstalled into versaworks.

THis is frustrating Picture to follow in a few minutes.

 

[splizaat]

Just to make sure I'm not crazy, we printed a copy of an older sticker that I have sitting on our billboard that has perfect black using same file/media/print settings and the problem is still there so it's nothing to do with the file setup...

I've attached a couple photos to show you what the problem is. The Dots appear white in room light, but when I take them out into the sun they're actually light blue dots, etc.

I will say it SEEMS like this problem came around the same time our printer started cutting things out of order (see my other thread)...is it possible the latest versaworks screwed things up? v4.6.1

 

[splizaat]

Any one have anymore ideas? Seems everyone is stumped on this one?

 

[401Graphics]

seems like the vinyl is the problem. how far into the roll are you? Sometimes i pull off about 4-8 feet before it looks good.

 

[splizaat]

I am about 1/5 through the roll at this point...going to try a sample roll and see if the problem disappears. ugh!

 

[petepaz]

do you have some other vinyl to print and compare it with?
if you did a cleaning and the test print looks as it always does good chance it's the vinyl
how are your heaters? i have had printing issues when using different materials that i had to change the temps and forgot to change it back.
is it heating up properly?

 

[splizaat]

Pete -- I've compared against another sample we printed about a year and a half ago on 3164 using 3164 profile and the black on that sample is very clearly solid black compared to what we are getting with this roll.

I've tried upping the settings of heat from 102/112 to 112/112 with no change.

3165 on 3165 Profile prints nice solid black, banner prints nice solid black...but 3164 on 3164 profile does no longer work. Which makes me think it's the roll...3164 using 3165 profile prints solid black, but I think that's because it doesn't have a choice - theres so much ink there it's gotta be black hahaha

 

[tomence]

I would not say it's the vinyl, probably your file or the profile you are using is messed up somehow. Why don't you try a different profile and see how it works. Also print just 100%K and or C=10%, M=10%, Y=10% and K=100%.

 

[splizaat]

As of now we're using the 3164 profile from the actual site (we redownloaded it and reloaded into versa works) and are currently setting our files up using 0-0-0-100

 

[splizaat]

This is the ONLY issue we've ever had with oracal...I'm still convinced they changed something in the top coat on their 3164 stock...the only way for us to get solid black now is 3165 profile and even then there's slight pin holes of white. NOTHING changed on our end I'm looking at prints we did a year ago on 3164, using 3164 profile and they're flawless

I don't mind running 3165 profile to get solid blacks...but we can't cut right away because the extra ink is causing slight curling.