Banner material buckling causing head strikes

[heyskull]

I have a 40'x5' banner to print on our valuejet 1604.
I have never used full size material in this machine(1625mm) but this time because of the depth I have had to.
On printing the material is rising slightly and causing head strikes!!
I have tried adjusting the heaters but nothing helps.
I am on with removing the grip rollers and cleaning to see if this helps.
The material is on the take up device so I would have expected this to help, alos the head is set a high position.


On a further note---- Could this be caused because the banner material is reverse wound, as it seems to be sticking to itself as it comes of the roll?

Can anyone help?

Thanks
SC

 

[HDvinyl]

Tried unwinding the material from the back to relieve some strain?

 

[Solventinkjet]

This is a common issue with the 1604 model unfortunately. I have one customer who puts the pinch roller lever down all the way and then backs it off a little which seems to help. Other than that:

If the pinch rollers are damaged/worn unevenly, which happens more often than not, that can cause the issue. You can clean them with alcohol but it's not something you want to over do due to the possibility of drying out the rubber. If they are damaged you might want to think about replacing them.

Vacuum out the platen. Dust and debris drops through the holes in the platen and builds up over time. This makes the pull of the vacuum weak. Also check your vacuum settings and make sure they are on high.

Level the take up with the platen. A lot of people don't do this because they are never told it is a thing for some reason. You can cut a long strip of banner material and loop it around the take up core. Now pull the material up and through the pinch rollers so that the banner material is nice and flat on the platen. Use a reference point on the platen and mark the banner with a pen. Do this on the left side and right side of the machine to see if the take-up is level with the platen. If ti is not, there is an adjustment screw on the left side of the take-up unit.

Reverse wound banner is the devil.

 

[heyskull]

I am thinking of unwinding the complete 30M roll and forward winding it onto another roll.
All the pinch rollers are under 6 months old and everything is clean.
Why is this a common issue on the 1604 model as I thought the rollers and clampling system is the same on all the valuejet machines?

SC

 

[Solventinkjet]

It only seemed to be a problem on the 1604. Even though the pinch roller system is essentially the same on the newer models, I believe the platen is a different design which helped fix the problem.

 

[GAC05]

When my 1304 does this it happens most times when using a cheap brand of banner material.
Running this stuff I would not use the take up reel. Just let it hit the floor and wind it by hand onto an empty core to keep things clean.
If it was a long run I'd babysit the print keeping a slack loop off the roll in the back so it didn't feed directly from the roll. Worked for me.

What fixed it here was a better brand of banner material. We get the front lit material from these guys: star-flex.com (supplied locally).
Good quality compared to what we were getting. 13oz but seems more like a 15 or 16oz. (54"x50m rolls weigh close to 90lbs). Runs through the printer nice and flat, no fuzzes on the edges or other issues even with the head set low. Has a grey backer so I can stick it back to back for double sided block out banners.
It's all we use now and I hate to go back to the other stuff when we run short.

wayne k
guam usa

 

[300mphGraphics]

I have a 1204 and 1624 and have had the same issue. I turn the heat off on everything but the dryer which I leave at 50. Sometimes I still have issues with 54" material on the 1624 and have to un-roll the material and keep a lot of slack in it. Fairly easy to unroll it until it hits the ground and try and keep it there by unrolling some every time I walk by.

 

[heyskull]

I am back in today to print this banner from hell!!!!!
I have front wound this back onto its roll but buckling is still occurring!!
Just when you think it has sorted itself out it touches again.
I am leaving loads of slack to the rear.
The head strikes are always roughly in the same area which is weird.
I am going to have to baby sit this till it finishes!!!!!
Wish me luck.

SC

 

[blufftonsignguy]

I have this problem with my Roland also. I have found that most banner materials are not straight on the rolls which begins to cause head strike shortly into the print. The only thing I have found to somewhat stop this from happening is to unroll some of the material once you get it set up in the machine. This way the machine is not trying to pull so much weight off the roll. When it starts to get close to feeding directly off the roll again I pull more slack out. The next problem is making sure it runs straight through the machine. Good luck! I am printing some banner today also..

 

[John's Studio]

We always have to turn off all heaters and use a table for it to go on to as it comes off.

 

[rickcurtis]

Besides aligning the take-up reel, I suggest putting a level (or other confirmed straight edge) against the front of the pinch rollers and run them forward and backward. A tech showed me this when we were first setting up the printer. If even one of the rollers is skewed left or right, it will cause major headaches, especially on long runs. Then try the same thing on the top of the rollers. If you leave your fingers lightly on the level, you will also feel if there is any debris. I do this weekly and have found a few things now and then that probably would have messed things up. We have never had a problem with buckling, even on 60" reverse-wound, cheap crap rolls.

 

[CSOCSO]

I think the problem is with the vinyl. I never had any problem before and now i bought a lightweight 8oz arlon banner. It's crap. Headstrikes all the time

 

[myront]

I think the problem is with the vinyl...

Let's not confuse the two. Vinyl is something else altogether. We don't call banner stock vinyl.

We have the same buckling problems with our HP360.

 

[AaronSSsignsKC]

If you are running a Mutoh just slack the banner in the back those machines page feed have issues with heavy material and the static on the rolls it just wants to struggle and bind up therefore the tunneling.

 

[psbc2009]

I use to have this issue on my 1604 and 1614. The first thing I did was switch to FORWARD Wound Banner from Grimco. Also you must make sure you load the media correctly and properly set the tensioners. They must be set and locked or unlocked evenly on both sides. I have found that with Banner material MORE tension is better. Try locking both tensioners making sure they are locked on one of the teeth. I am fairly certain this will resolve your problem. You can feed onto a table or take-up reel either way. I found this link to explain procedure.
Mutoh ValueJet Printers: How to Load Roll Media - YouTube
Good luck and let me know if this helps.