Dreamscape Suede problem

[Zendavor Signs]

We have used Dreamscape Suede wallcovering for years here, having done a number of jobs with it. I have a love-hate relationship with the material. It often has this stripe-y appearance to it (see attached pic). This sometimes translates into the print, causing color bands. Since switching to latex printing, the problems are getting worse. The material seems to be very heat sensitive. I have played around with various settings without much success. Anyone else run into this problem? I am considering switching to another brand, like Korographics. Our main client insists on "real wallcovering" with no overlaps so Phototex and such won't be accepted.

 

[P Wagner]

We have used Dreamscape Suede wallcovering for years here, having done a number of jobs with it. I have a love-hate relationship with the material. It often has this stripe-y appearance to it (see attached pic). This sometimes translates into the print, causing color bands. Since switching to latex printing, the problems are getting worse. The material seems to be very heat sensitive. I have played around with various settings without much success. Anyone else run into this problem? I am considering switching to another brand, like Korographics. Our main client insists on "real wallcovering" with no overlaps so Phototex and such won't be accepted.

It is very difficult to see what you are trying to communicate in your image. I see what look like horizontal bands as well as vertical bars.

Which latex printer model are you using?

 

[Zendavor Signs]

It is very difficult to see what you are trying to communicate in your image. I see what look like horizontal bands as well as vertical bars.

Which latex printer model are you using?

Sorry, I should have been clearer. Picture is of several rolls of media, all have "lines" that go horizontal as you look at the picture. They are probably a little difficult to see. We are using an HP 280 latex printer.

 

[Zendavor Signs]

Bump

 

[Dtay]

Dream scape

We had a very large project that we did on the Dreamscapes Suede and found even though they say it is latex printable there is no way to get good print quality. If you take a loop and look closely how the ink sits on the paper the ink pools in the valleys of the paper and the paper also stretches even if you drop the heater temps on the platens. We found it was the temps and the guide rollers that were causing the bands across the image. We ended up buying a Seiko M64s just for that project as the ink laid into the evenly.

 

[MikePro]

had same issue on my mimaki jv3. love the material, but hated the random striping shown in your pictures.

Pretty sure it was the media rippling on the heater/platen and causing the ink to lay thick/thin on random high's/low's.
I just burned the first few feet of the roll to get the material on the take-up reel, as to apply tension to it while printing and the issue went-away.

 

[Zendavor Signs]

Pat - thank you for the tips. I'll try calling Dreamscape next week to see if they have any wisdom.
Dtay - I was never comfortable solvent-printing wallpaper. I never got any complaints from customers about smell, but all it takes is one person....

 

[F1225hgB42w]

seeing similar problems on Korographics Abaco Beach

Hi All -

Just going to through my 2 cents in here. We have an HP Latex 360 and have seen the same issue on Korographics Abaco Beach. It is a result (in my opinion) that the material stretches/shrinks too much and does not lay flat on the printer platen, so the ink lay down is different in the highs and lows. After discussing this with our media vendor he said that most (not all) wall papers are made in the same fashion where a vinyl/pvc substrate is pulled out onto a large embossing table and then a big stamp comes down and uses heat/pressure to emboss the texture onto the material. The main problem is that the typical embossing plate is only 27" wide, so it is run down each side of the material (which is why you can see color shading from one side of the roll to the other), and this process actually stretches out the media in the center of the roll and results in uneven tension on the roll of media so it's very difficult to have the media rest flat on the platen (have you ever noticed how wavy this stuff is - wall covering)... Anyway our vendor has specified two materials that are very similar to Dreamscape/Korographics wall coverings that are embossed using a 54" wide plate that doesn't cause the problems a 27" embossing plate does.

You may find yourself asking why then the manufacturers wouldn't get a 54" plate for their medias and solve this problem? As I understand it, the problems we experience on solvent/latex printers are not issues when you have a UV belt driven hybrid flatbed printer (but not every printer can buy one of those for $250K or more) because the uv inks site on top of the media vs. biting into the media (like a solvent/latex ink would).

I'm testing the 54" wide embossed media for about 8 or 9 murals over the next month, you can find my results on my other post if you are interested, here is a link:

http://www.signs101.com/forums/show...-printing-Wall-Covering-On-HP-Latex-Printers!

I hope this can help someone who is battling with all the headaches we have been!

Best of luck to everyone!

DSGI