Double sided banner

[signsny]

Greetings,

I have a project where customer needs same printing on booth sides. My concern is if I place the printed side on the rollers it will be scratched and second how will I be able to match the same starting point. Someone can please help me.
I have Mimaki JV-33 160.

Thanks
Tahir

 

[Farmboy]

Feed the banner out to a certain length, say to the edge of your printer. Set the origin. When it's done printing feed the banner out and cut it the same distance as the amount of material you have at the beginning. Say if you have 6" of banner before the print starts you want to cut 6" after the print ends. Place it back in your printer and run it to the same starting point as you used for the first side and hit origin. Both sides should match up

 

[Farmboy]

I agree, if it's an outdoor application where you will get strong back lighting to go with a block out. The one's we've done have been for indoor use and a regular 13oz banner has worked well, doesn't make it correct...but it's worked.

 

[GAC05]

I have a 1304 and do it like this:
I put some tape on the left and right of the platen butted up against the loaded banner roll as a guide to reload in the exact same location after the first print.
I mark the end of the banner again on each side with a small tick mark that runs onto the tape. I set the mark in the same place on both sides by using one of the creases on the platen.
Once the first side is done and dry I re-roll the material so the print is facing down and use the tape and tick marks to set it back in the same spot to start the second print.

I add a little bleed, about 1/2" all around, to cover any misalignment
The other thing to watch out for is your centering of the first print.
I use Flexi's option to center the print on measured material using the numbers from polling the printer.
Run the print and check to see how far off center it is then use that number to adjust the offset in the print manager for the second side. It is almost always less than a 1/4" off center.
Best single I've done so far is about 25ft using 15oz smooth double sided material.

Depending on the size and materials you have the recommended way is to print two singles side by side or end to end and sew the them back to back - much less chance of a failure.

wayne k
guam usa

 

[Sign Eagle]

The price of banner material is releatively inexpensive, if it's a small banner, it's less costly to run out 2 banners, fold in half and put grommets in to aline on both sides. That way you don't have to worry about alinement or any printer problems such as a head strike when your almost finished the back side. I did take a job once where we did print 75 6'x3' double sided using double sided material, acctually made out ok with the job.

 

[Edserv]

Just print two banners, seem and tape them back-to-back, explaining to the customer that if the sun shines through, you can't help it. It's the only way to make a banner do more than it's designed to do. We've had luck printing on the same vinyl for a banner, but it's not worth the hassle.
Chris, Lets Go Banners

 

[Junkie]

...

Ummm.....but, you actually can help it by using double sided, blockout material as intended for printing 2 sided banners. Print the first side, wait 24 hours to print the second side and you should have no issues with scratches. When in a rush, we will print both sides the same day, but if we have the time we prefer to wait. Use the suggestions above for alignment front to back and you should have no trouble getting your alignment within a 1/16" - 1/8".

 

[jigsaw]

Once you have printed one side and put it back in make sure you run it through first to check it runs straight.

 

[WrapperX]

Using a JV3 We would advance the material forward. Cut slits on the edges at a certain point on the Machine for referance. We would use no print ribbon and Right justify the print. After the print was done we would advance it about 10 inches and cut off the roll. Wait at least 24 hrs for Ink out gasing. Then we roll back on to a core load the banner blank side up. then align the notches. Now this is where it gets tricky - Since we right justified it the print side is now on the left edge of the banner. We rotate our file 180 degrees and subtract whatever the width of the banner is from the width of the material and we put our starting head position at that mark. Then we hit print. And I would say that we get 90% success using this method.

 

[petepaz]

i have done this on my rolands just make sure your set up allows the correct print on the other side so your artwork reads correctly and although it did do a good job (no issues with the rollers just make sure it is completey dry) it is usually off anywhere from 1/8 to 1/4 so make sure you have enough bleed

 

[Gino]

Welcome from Pennsylvania.......................

 

[bgprinting]

I used this trick once it worked pretty good the alignment was really close but I usally just just say no to double sided banners. Anyways check it out http://allgraphicsupplies.com/blog/?p=287

 

[ionsigns]

OPTION: If double-sided banner printing is not your CORE business, sub it out, mark it up or sell it as a loss leader (your secret) and build customer confidence. [breath a sigh of relief].

But..printing 10 oz. 1 then 2, fold back to back and hem / seam / grommet works. Wind pockets needed? Not so good when laminating 2 layers.

 

[signswi]

I could show you how I do this on our JV3, works every time, but I'm not sure I can explain it in text. Material wise use "Suave" from Fellers, 13oz smooth finish double-sided with a block-out core. Works great.

I'll give it a shot anyway:
Print the first side, left aligned. At the end, put a pin hole in the banner at the corner of the print (for reference). Load it back onto the machine, keeping it in the same alignment (essentially giving you a back-rolled material). Keep the left edge the left edge. You may have to rotate the art 180 depending on if it's a horz. or vert. banner. Use the pin hole for reference to where the print should start. Experiment with how much material the machine grabs before the print starts--on our JV3 it's about 4.25"--so you know where to start the print from. Let one pass go by, hit remote to pause, if it's off a bit cancel the print and adjust. You may end up with a few overlapped passes while you align but just put that under the seam edge.

Add bleed to some jobs when appropriate--we do this by bleeding one side and not the other. Do that by adding 1" bleed to one side, on the other side no bleed but add a 1" blank area with a thin line, that way the two sides have the same media size and will align. If you don't add the blank on the other side it'll be off by the bleed amount (in this case 2" on the Y-axis). Use the no-bleed side as your trim side.

Near 100% success rate. Not sure that explanation is follow-able, if not, apologies--experiment, you'll get it. Key is maintaining a common print edge otherwise you'll get misaligned on the Y-axis.

 

[ionsigns]

I could show you how I do this on our JV3, works every time, but I'm not sure I can explain it in text. Material wise use "Suave" from Fellers, 13oz smooth finish double-sided with a block-out core. Works great.

Appreciate the tip on the material! And the instructions.

 

[signsny]

Hello everyone,

I printed all the banners by following the post here. I am so happy that everyone input was very helpful and perfect.

Thanks very much.

Jason NY.