Grainy prints

[gixxer2004]

I keep getting grainy prints when I print on oracal gloss. My shop is only 60 degrees, is that too cold to run a printer?

My material is clean and i had my front and back heaters set at 40 but I moved them to 50 and I am still getting grainy prints. They have not been consistent, sometimes only the outside decals are grainy and then sometimes all of them are. Any suggestions?

 

[Malkin]

Just out of curiosity... wipe down a section of vinyl with a very very slightly damp cloth just before it runs through the printer. Same result in that area? Better?


I have had a problem with Oracal's rolls sometimes being charged with static and deflecting the ink. But this might not be your issue at all.

 

[Gino]

That's a tad cool, but without seeing some samples.... this is pretty much a crap shoot.

What kind of printer are you using ??
How good is the file you're printing and are you blowing it up at all ??
If you reduced the size of a finished file in half.... will it still print poorly ??

 

[bob]

I keep getting grainy prints when I print on oracal gloss. My shop is only 60 degrees, is that too cold to run a printer?

My material is clean and i had my front and back heaters set at 40 but I moved them to 50 and I am still getting grainy prints. They have not been consistent, sometimes only the outside decals are grainy and then sometimes all of them are. Any suggestions?

This is almost always a heat problem. Not enough of it. 60 degrees is, if not too cold at least on the cusp of being too cold. While you may have your printer's heaters cranked up like a blast furnace, the media has a certain thermal mass which must be raised to a proper temperature before things start to work properly. At relatively glacial print speeds, the leading edge of the media doesn't get sufficiently hot while media further back gets to spend a lot more time exposed to the heaters. That's why the first few inches tend to exhibit graininess while the media that comes along later tends not to do so.

Running media that's ambient at 60 degrees takes more time to properly heat than media at 70 or more degrees. Regardless of your heater settings.

 

[njshorts]

Does your shop lack a heater? Materials should acclimate around 72-76 degrees minimum.

 

[gixxer2004]

I do have heat but it is usually turned down when I am not working in the shop to help cut down on heating bills. I am in Pennsylvania so it is usually warmer than this by now and 60 is about perfect working temperature in PA.

The shop was in the 70's today so I printed out a sample and it seems even worse. I am using a mutoh falcon with flexisign and have the settings at 1440x720.

 

[rushworks graphics]

that looks like the ink is pooling.....are you sure its the correct material for your printer? i'm asking this as i got a sample roll of gloss for our printer from a rep and i put it through and it pooled like that, works out that it was the wrong type of material for our ink jet! .......just a thought.

 

[gixxer2004]

Yes its the correct material I had a few prints before this that turned out flawless. I must have the wrong set up in flexisign because it was definately warm enough today. Is it possible to have the vinyl too hot?

 

[Custom_Grafx]

I've had this issue as well. Slower head speed with more passes and/or higher temperatures on your heaters, and less ink.

Also, is this a material you haven't used before? or have you used it before ok and it just started happening for no apparent reason?

If it's appeared out of no where, and you haven't changed your profiles, then it could simply be bad media.

If you've printed well on that exact same roll in the past, then it's something else most likely (although technically a roll can be contaminated from any point in the roll... but less likely).

 

[gixxer2004]

I have found the problem thanks to Malkin! STATIC ELECTRICITY! I wiped it down with a damp rag and the prints came out perfect. Thanks for all of your help