Banner Material without fybers

[paulica]

Hello,

We use a banner material, frontlit flex I think with very good results color wise and quality.

Unfortunatelly the work printing on it is exhausting. Because of the microfibers coming out of the edges, we constantly have fibers stuck to our head. This results in extensive maintenance work, head cleaning and ink wasting.

We don't do large outside banners, mostly small interior or exterior and are now thinking of switching over to materials with less or no fibers.

We looked at the 190gsm PP solvent banner from our supplier, and my guess it is the exact material used for rollups.

Has anyone encountered this issue ? we use an epson sc30600.

Paul

 

[tsgstl]

This kind of sounds crazy but it has worked for us. We have alcohol in cheap spray bottles. We put it on mist and hold a lighter in front of the spray as we shoot it at both ends. It burns off those loose fibers.

 

[Cale Frederick]

This kind of sounds crazy but it has worked for us. We have alcohol in cheap spray bottles. We put it on mist and hold a lighter in front of the spray as we shoot it at both ends. It burns off those loose fibers.

That is nice to know! Now I actually have an excuse to do this instead of just scaring the girls in the front office

 

[SIGNTIME]

i use a lighter and burn the strings on both ends but the alcohol sounds more fun

 

[paulica]

thanks for your replies. Is it just me or could a material have too many fibers ?

I did the lighter trick, but even if I print an A1, after printing the head is filled with fibers.

Are there materials without fibers ? Is PP banner like that ?

 

[Cale Frederick]

I have had problems with certain banners having more fibers than others. We now use Ultraflex Jetflex or Grimco's Key Banner (Both are identical for the most part). They have a few fibers but when we use the media hold down clamps on our Roland xc-540 or our Epson GS6000 they don't cause any issues. If we run without the hold down clamps then they will pick up on the heads and cause problems.

Just tried the alcohol and torch trick!!! Fun and effective!

 

[paulica]

I have had problems with certain banners having more fibers than others. We now use Ultraflex Jetflex or Grimco's Key Banner (Both are identical for the most part). They have a few fibers but when we use the media hold down clamps on our Roland xc-540 or our Epson GS6000 they don't cause any issues. If we run without the hold down clamps then they will pick up on the heads and cause problems.

Just tried the alcohol and torch trick!!! Fun and effective!

Our banner is 440gsm, actually not that thick, was just thinking of printing with the holders, but at the same time epson recommends printing without them when printing banner. Maybe they refer to blokout.

I could print with a crazy high print head, and metal plates, and before that trying the torch trick.

 

[genericname]

This kind of sounds crazy but it has worked for us. We have alcohol in cheap spray bottles. We put it on mist and hold a lighter in front of the spray as we shoot it at both ends. It burns off those loose fibers.

"Sounds" nothing! That just is crazy. :Big Laugh

Use a propane torch, and you can get a nice, precise burn.

When we do this, and banner material is still stubborn, I add a makeshift, oversized media guide, out of display material, that encapsulates the stock media guides. That way any fibres left over go under the guide, and nowhere near the heads.

 

[paulica]

"Sounds" nothing! That just is crazy. :Big Laugh

Use a propane torch, and you can get a nice, precise burn.

When we do this, and banner material is still stubborn, I add a makeshift, oversized media guide, out of display material, that encapsulates the stock media guides. That way any fibres left over go under the guide, and nowhere near the heads.

Can you explain more about the oversized media guide ? I am a bit worried about the head rubbing on them. At the same time I could raise the head very high, as banner printing doesn't require sharpness.

 

[Robert M]

Fibers

If the fibers are synthetic as most are, a heat gun set on high is a safe way to melt them down