Basic mechanics of the HP Latex 800

[Kemble]

We are printing panels for a wrap. My production team is sending the entire job from ONYX to the printer at one time, therefore the printer prints 12-15 panels at a time. We are noticing some droplets of ink in random spots on the prints. My personal educated guess is it is because they sent multiple panels all at the same time. I suggested they send 1 panel at a time so that the printer can reset itself after each panel. They disagree with me that it will help. Can someone please chime in and let me know based on your experience, will sending panels one at a time correct the issue were having? What is actually happening during initializing process that the printer does between prints? Does it even matter if they send 1 at a time or multiple panels at a time?

Thanks for your expert feedback !

 

[victor bogdanov]

I don't know about the HP specifically but all other printers I've used will not clean in the middle of a job (now that I think about it maybe the my roland will clean in middle of job) so sending multiple jobs will allow the printer to clean between jobs if it needs to. Sending one panel at a time will give the printer an opportunity to clean between panels if it needs to which might help your problem

 

[balstestrat]

I don't see any correlation between the tiling and ink drops. It's unusual to have ink drops on latex. I guess they allow like 1 drop/m2 but I don't even remember last time I saw a drop.

Its wiping the heads every 6(?) passes, no matter if it's tiled or not.

I would inspect the maintenance cartridge, maybe swap a new one in. There was a design change but that was like 6 months ago. The cloth could get stuck and something like this could happen.

Check the bottom of the carriage while you are at it.

 

[Joe House]

If there is one color dripping, check those print heads - it may be time to replace them. If it's all colors then I'd look at the maintenance cartridge like balstestrat said.

Good Luck

 

[JBurton]

All that is going to change if you send one by one is you'll either start having quality issues with the beginning of the following print, as the area has already been heated once while the rest of the previous print was curing, you'll also tie someone up to hit print every 30 minutes or however long. Is the an extra ph cleaning option on the quality section?
I'd also swap in a new maintenance cart like bals suggested.

 

[balstestrat]

All that is going to change if you send one by one is you'll either start having quality issues with the beginning of the following print, as the area has already been heated once while the rest of the previous print was curing, you'll also tie someone up to hit print every 30 minutes or however long. Is the an extra ph cleaning option on the quality section?
I'd also swap in a new maintenance cart like bals suggested.

You know talking about your L560, you don't need anyone hitting print, you can send individual jobs from RIP automatically.

 

[JBurton]

You know talking about your L560, you don't need anyone hitting print, you can send individual jobs from RIP automatically. Cool thing for full roll of contour jobs that's split for shorter cut jobs.

I don't follow. I was under the impression they wanted to make 10 files, preflight 10 files, but hold them all but one at a time, so the printer reinitializes every print. Was this more of a 'should we rip 10 panels in one file vs 10 files' question?
Or was that more of a dig, yeah I know there is no 'print' button on the printer, nobody needs to babysit this thing between prints, but somebody needs to remote in and hit print on the rip, or in some way interact with it between the completed print and the start of the next, lest the printer be sitting idle when everybody thought it was running.

 

[balstestrat]

I don't follow. I was under the impression they wanted to make 10 files, preflight 10 files, but hold them all but one at a time, so the printer reinitializes every print. Was this more of a 'should we rip 10 panels in one file vs 10 files' question?

Yeah that's what I was talking about. You can disable "continuous print" from RIP and that's what you get. It will print one job, cool down, clean, stop for 0,1 seconds, start heating up again, run the full cleaning cycle etc. You can still load your 10 jobs in the RIP but it will only send one at a time.
Which doesn't make any sense unless you want it to cut sheets.

(I was actually mixing up "individual jobs" in my previous comment, so forget the last part. That can be done in continuous mode=normal mode)

 

[greysquirrel]

This platform was designed for paneled wall coverings along with "normal" sign needs. No reason to send individually. If your heads are failing prematurely, HP will replace for free. I personally would have onyx submit tiles as individual pages then have it "auto print" from the rip queue. Now droplets of ink, if your file allows for it you can turn gutters on and this will force each printhead to fire some ink every pass to create a color bar to help you isolate what nozzles are failing. But I would check under the carriage and inside the cabinet to make sure there is not and debris causing irregular droplets. I would also make sure the cleaning assembly is clean and any foam pads that needs replacement from time to time are not requiring attention.

 

[Shred_signs]

Yeah that's what I was talking about. You can disable "continuous print" from RIP and that's what you get. It will print one job, cool down, clean, stop for 0,1 seconds, start heating up again, run the full cleaning cycle etc. You can still load your 10 jobs in the RIP but it will only send one at a time.
Which doesn't make any sense unless you want it to cut sheets.

(I was actually mixing up "individual jobs" in my previous comment, so forget the last part. That can be done in continuous mode=normal mode)

is the lost production time worth it?

 

[balstestrat]

is the lost production time worth it?

No no of course not.

 

[cornholio]

Yeah that's what I was talking about. You can disable "continuous print" from RIP and that's what you get. It will print one job, cool down, clean, stop for 0,1 seconds, start heating up again, run the full cleaning cycle etc. You can still load your 10 jobs in the RIP but it will only send one at a time.
Which doesn't make any sense unless you want it to cut sheets.

(I was actually mixing up "individual jobs" in my previous comment, so forget the last part. That can be done in continuous mode=normal mode)

Cutting sheets is not working with HP800. Well, cutting works, but the following print will at least smear in the curing unit, if it doesn't produce a head crash...