Gerber Edge II printing issue

[Will308decals]

Hi all,

I haven't been on here for a while but have had this problem for a little bit. Attached below is pictures of American flags that I printed from my edge II onto Convex vinyl. They are used for football helmet decals, but as you can see I am getting lots of spotty printing on the flags. I have tried all combinations like overprint, to overlap. I am printing white first and have experimented with both red then blue and with blue then red. I am using Gerber foils as well. I am not sure what to do, so if anyone has had this issue before or knows a solution to this that would be much appreciated.

Thank you!

 

[FunkotronXL]

Have you tried using a higher heat material setting/profile? (Lexedge II, 2mil LabelStock, Scotchcal 280) The OEM Convex heat profiles can be hit or miss on occasion.

 

[Joe House]

Also, make sure that the media is clean.

 

[Will308decals]

Have you tried using a higher heat material setting/profile? (Lexedge II, 2mil LabelStock, Scotchcal 280) The OEM Convex heat profiles can be hit or miss on occasion.

I have not, I will have to give that a try and see if that does the trick

 

[Jeff grossman]

do you have the latest firefire and material updates ? most jobs i do now i make a rectangle with solid fill at the start of prints to allow for printhead warmup and i can see if its going to print OK ( 11.8x1 inch) agree with setting the heat up too

 

[gabagoo]

Might also want to look closely at the media. I found that some materials had very small craters that would not let the edge drop the foil properly in spots.

 

[White Haus]

Try prepping with alcohol just before printing. Make sure it dries/flashes off before hitting print.

 

[gabagoo]

Try prepping with alcohol just before printing. Make sure it dries/flashes off before hitting print.

With the Edge they said you used distilled water to clean media

 

[Billct2]

I also do a warm up print, but since you have tried multiple times I assume that's not the issue. A bad batch of material may be the problem. Also higher heat setting may help.
One question, why are you printing white, isn't the material white?

 

[GB2]

How old are your foils? Sometimes they can get a little crumbly like that if they are old. Also, look at the used side of the foil you just printed and see if those spotty patches match what you see on the used side of the foil. If the foil looks like it printed more completely then it didn't adhere well because of all the possible things already stated, poor material, contamination on the material, improper settings, etc. If it was crumbly old foil, you may be able to see evidence of that on the used side. If it looks spotty on the used side it may be because of uneven surface on the material that caused poor adhesion or something similar to that.

 

[ego198]

With the Edge they said you used distilled water to clean media

is it better to clean with isop alcohol or distilled water?

 

[gabagoo]

I'm pretty sure distilled water was recommended by Gerber.

 

[MikePatterson]

I'm pretty sure distilled water was recommended by Gerber.

I never heard that before. Been running Gerber Edge's from the beginning AKA knob style, and have always been told 99% IPA on everything.

This situation looks like a material issue to me.

 

[FunkotronXL]

I never heard that before. Been running Gerber Edge's from the beginning AKA knob style, and have always been told 99% IPA on everything.

This situation looks like a material issue to me.

Should be material based. Vinyl doesn't require topcoats for thermal transfer, 99% IPA would be fine. If it is a print treated substrate, such as polyesters, 99% IPA can degrade the thermal transfer topcoat (if going aggressive, multiple wipe-downs, etc) and ruin print receptivity.

Distilled water would work fine with topcoated films if it's just to remove basic debris/dust/contaminants

 

[ego198]

i always clean before printing with isopropyl alcohol and never hand an issue, thats why i asked about water¿? never heard that before....

 

[signmania]

Make sure the head is clean. Make sure the vinyl is clean (isopropyl). And it helps to use "Edge Ready" vinyl from Gerber, which is supposed to not have the imperfections that produce voids in the printed color. That has not always been the case for me however.

 

[WhiskeyDreamer]

i had an issue awhile back with getting a red print to not have this problem on static cling. oddly enough, when i swapped to a non-gerber foil it printed just fine. so i marked that material to be printed with 09 or duracoat foils only.

 

[Browner]

I used to have an issue like this with PermaGrip... it was the material, but I found that it was only because it was wound too tight. If you unroll the material the day before, it seemed to 'settle' into a smooth surface. Hope that all makes sense. At the very least, I'd try unrolling it, and then rolling it back up again - but not nearly as 'taught'.