Epson s30670 help

[JoeMedia]

We have a Epson S30670 and can't get it to run any banner material through it without it bunching up as it feeds through. We've had this problem since the day we got it and have tried just about everything to get it to feed correctly. The material will load perfectly but when we get over 5 or 6 feet into the print, the material will always start to bunch up on the left side as it feeds in. We always have to stop the print or we'll get strikes. We've aligned the feed and take up reels and still can't get it to feed right. I just had a Epson tech in yesterday and he said there is no more adjustment left on the rollers and doesn't know what can be done to fix it. Any ideas? Ill be out of warranty in 3 weeks. Any insight would be greatly appreciated.
thanks

 

[Snydo]

Need more info, to much heat, banner material purchased off e-bay, or any number of other things could cause your issue.
Have you tried different banner materials? Sounds like you've had a legitimate warranty claim since day one, your tech needs to fix it or bring in someone who can.
And our tech support has been outstanding, on site next day always with parts. Does it run other medias just fine? you didn't really say. Best of Luck.

 

[a77]

The Epson tech said he couldn't help you?

I've had banner bunch up on my s30 when I first got it.

First I had problems with too much heat, or uneven heat from pre and platen heaters.
Then if I'm lazy and it's not loaded perfectly straight, or if the roll is telescoped when loading, I will see it start to bunch up on a side.

I'm running jeftlex and sihl banner no problems now on the s30.

Oh one more thing are you loading it perfectly to your takeup? If you get that wrong, it will pull your media to one side or another causing bunching.

 

[boxerbay]

Most likely it is the roll of banner you are using. Sometimes they come bad from manufacturer. We had one tenting in the middle and head striking. I went nuts jacking the heat up then down then load and re load adjust this adjust that. Then we tried another roll from same brand and it ran fine. Sometimes the material or the core will get slightly tweaked and it runs bad.

 

[JoeMedia]

Banner problems

Thanks for the responses. We've tried multiple brands including Key and Forward (Grimco). Our temps are 40, 40 and 50 (this is what Epson has recommended). We've also tried lower temps with the same issue. The media tension is at 5 (Epson recommendation). It's not only banner material. IJ180 has also done it but nowhere near as bad as the banner material. I really think it's a mechanical feed issue and not a heat/tension setting. The really strange thing this machine also does is vertical banding. If we do a solid color print, you can see a slight band every few inches as if the material has fed in with waves in it. The print will go from sharp to fuzzy to sharp every couple of inches. We're loading the machine correctly with even tension. Does this help?
Thanks again,
Joe

 

[a77]

Sounds like it's bunching up between the pinch rollers as it's feeding. Do you see that happening if you use a flashlight to look through the window while it's printing/feeding?
Also, what happens when you roll out the roll without printing by just pressing the down button. Should be able to roll out as much as you want (use the take up reel), and then should be able to just roll it back up (that takes time though because it will stop you from rolling up from time to time as the feed roller catches up to you as it re-winds it back to the source roll.) If it can't do that, I would do whatever it takes to get it fixed or replaced. I wouldn't waste any more IJ-180 on a machine that is working incorrectly.

 

[JoeMedia]

Sounds like it's bunching up between the pinch rollers as it's feeding. Do you see that happening if you use a flashlight to look through the window while it's printing/feeding?
Also, what happens when you roll out the roll without printing by just pressing the down button. Should be able to roll out as much as you want (use the take up reel), and then should be able to just roll it back up (that takes time though because it will stop you from rolling up from time to time as the feed roller catches up to you as it re-winds it back to the source roll.) If it can't do that, I would do whatever it takes to get it fixed or replaced. I wouldn't waste any more IJ-180 on a machine that is working incorrectly.

Great idea in just feeding media through without the print. My Epson tech just called me and said they think it's the take-up assembly and are sending the new version of the assembly out. Fingers crossed.
Thanks
J

 

[a77]

If it's the takeup, it's probably just not straight and pulling it to the side, but this should be obvious as you're printing, you'll see one side get very tight and the other start to sit 'high' off the post-heater.

 

[nirupakah]

we have an s70610 and similar issues. i think it is a combination of the printer's (not perfect) feeding mechanism properties, media properties and heating settings.
as for the feeding mechanism: i think there should be at least one more pressure roller on the right side, because now there is too large a gap between the first and the second roller so that the print medium easily elevates, most often because of too much heating. well this is a problem since you sometimes really need the heat to fix the ink... you may try to set the platen gap as high as possible but the image quality will worsen; this might not so big an issue for a banner, but could be for a self-adhesive vinyl and high quality demanding applications.
vertical banding: we have had this issue as well. not on every media, just some, mostly vinyls (mono or polymeric) and polypropylens. i tried to change heating settings, sometimes it helps, sometimes not. also i would say it is colour-specific, it more occurs in grayish areas. really do not know why this happens; first comes to my mind uneven temeparature acrross the widht, second: electrostatic (this is a problem on polypropylenes and matt vinyls where only two outer rollers have to be used).
I wonder if for example mutoh valujet has a different feeding mechanism? (epson sc-s is our first signage printer so I have no comparison but am curious).

 

[a77]

The s30 has pinch rollers right across the entire machine, nothing to adjust.

One thing that helped me a lot recently with banner and with some polyprolyne is to crank up the tension. I was noticing that the bunching up was occuring as due to some slack material building up on one side of the printer (always farthest from the control panel) and if it got too much, you would have problems with the media going through. On the s30 if you have media bunching up behind the pinch rollers you will see it come up high between 2 pinch rollers as it goes to the imaging area. On mine, I always have it occuring in 1 of 2 spots.

Any vertical banding I have seen is due to waves in the media. You can raise your head height, but you're right, won't look good. I just increase the tension on the media and it seems to go away.
Tried to increase vacuum as well but I don't think that helps.

 

[mdjamesd]

I had similar problems.

Ended up seting heters to 0 30 54
Suction to 4
Tension to 0
Feed Speed 2

on your media holders, do you have just the plastic cones, or do you have the metal pieces on top of them?