We have been noticing dots of ink on the back of substrates after they have been printed. We realized that it is excess ink coming from the vacum holes in the belt after we have printed a bleed. Ink has been printed onto the belt and gone through the vacum holes which does not cure and gets sucked back up onto the back of boards. We had a tech come out and he changed out the fan board (that has 3 fans) that is under the belt, but that has not stopped the problem. He thinks that we are printing onto the belt more than it is designed to handle. Is anybody else having this happen? If so, how do you work around this or minimize it?
-
I want to thank all the members that have upgraded your accounts. I truly appreciate your support of the site monetarily. Supporting the site keeps this site up and running as a lot of work daily goes on behind the scenes. Click to Support Signs101 ...
FB500/700 users ->
- Thread starter parrott
- Start date
How much overprint are you running, and are you using "borderless sheet" on your Onyx?
To hit a good full bleed on the 500/700 you do not need more than 1/8 inch overprint, unless your media is irregular. I see a lot of shops select the borderless sheet option in Onyx thinking that it sounds like what they want to do, but that media selection builds in a -.2" margin and winds up putting a lot of ink on the belt, and usually creates a centering issue with the image. That Onyx setting is for printers that do not have an overprint setting built in, and should not be used on the FB500/700
All you need to hit a good full bleed print is .25" extra in both directions, and an overprint setting on the printer of -.125" top to bottom, and left to right. ( so for an 18x24 sign, rip the file to 18.25x24.25", set -.125 margin for leading, trailing, and both sides, and print position centered on the PRINTER, left justified in Onyx ) With only 1/8" overprint you should not be creating so much aerosol that it is coming around the edges much, if at all.
Does this match your workflow?
To hit a good full bleed on the 500/700 you do not need more than 1/8 inch overprint, unless your media is irregular. I see a lot of shops select the borderless sheet option in Onyx thinking that it sounds like what they want to do, but that media selection builds in a -.2" margin and winds up putting a lot of ink on the belt, and usually creates a centering issue with the image. That Onyx setting is for printers that do not have an overprint setting built in, and should not be used on the FB500/700
All you need to hit a good full bleed print is .25" extra in both directions, and an overprint setting on the printer of -.125" top to bottom, and left to right. ( so for an 18x24 sign, rip the file to 18.25x24.25", set -.125 margin for leading, trailing, and both sides, and print position centered on the PRINTER, left justified in Onyx ) With only 1/8" overprint you should not be creating so much aerosol that it is coming around the edges much, if at all.
Does this match your workflow?
Chiprinting
New Member
Overspray
Using a thin grade of packaging tape on the belt at the edge of your print will collect the overspray and is easy to clean up with changing the tape if you print a lot of the same width.
Using a thin grade of packaging tape on the belt at the edge of your print will collect the overspray and is easy to clean up with changing the tape if you print a lot of the same width.
Also I've never seen a printer that cleans itself as much as these FB5/700s do. It's good they clean themselves but man it's everytime you go to touch a button it jumps into cleaning mode. And it doesn't matter how much you print either I don't care what the salesman or installer says. They're not print operators printing actual jobs that consist of 100 sheets day in and day out. And it cleans even more in white mode
jasonx
New Member
You will want to have the auxiliary power turn on though for the vacuum so you don't loose the pressure in your print heads.
Fourteen Sixteenths
New Member
To the original poster: Were you ever able to resolve this issue? We have the exact same issue happening and are looking for any additional advice!
greysquirrel
New Member
dots on back of prints...all printers produce aerosol and the fans inside these printers move that "live ink" all over the place. I have seen that the FBs show this with paper products more than anything else. Try to avoid printing with a large overprint...unless its corrugated plastic (which is never square) you should just be able to print actual size.
You can also reduce the head height (as low as .065) to help...reduce vacuum level and also for the problem child materials, print in "fine text mode" This will slow the carriage down roughly 30% and actually help on certaim medias.
The only other thing that I have seen people do is run a strip of low tack tape along the back edge of the sheet being affected...time consuming but it works.
You can also reduce the head height (as low as .065) to help...reduce vacuum level and also for the problem child materials, print in "fine text mode" This will slow the carriage down roughly 30% and actually help on certaim medias.
The only other thing that I have seen people do is run a strip of low tack tape along the back edge of the sheet being affected...time consuming but it works.
supersignmart
New Member
We had 2 FB950 (same as 700) and we kept them on performance cleaning. We kept the waste ink for 1 year and determined we were spending close to $7000 a year on cleanings. The HP's were good printers but by no means a production machine.