Gunk on Print

[TheBarricade]

Printer: HP 365
Laminator: Royal Sovereign 1402HW
Flexi
3M Traffic HP365 3930 Series Profile
Type H 3930 Sheeting

I am having a heck of a time trying to figure this out. So basically when I print black (it may be other colors as well, but I haven't tested it yet) tiny little specks show up. Sometimes it looks like teeny hairs, sometimes just small dot marks. It's not super noticeable and not all over the place, but once I laminate - the pock marks are really noticeable and it looks horrendous. I haven't figured out if the laminate is laminating over those marks and making them really stand out, or if these are 2 completely separate issues.

 

[Gino]

What's your environment like ?? Looks as if you have a kinda dirty place. Lam will always accentuate any imperfections such as dust, light weight hair, bugs and even unlevel inks deposits. You might need to bud a clean room for your printers.

 

[TheBarricade]

What's your environment like ?? Looks as if you have a kinda dirty place. Lam will always accentuate any imperfections such as dust, light weight hair, bugs and even unlevel inks deposits. You might need to bud a clean room for your printers.

It would be hard to say that's the issue though. We had a special HVAC setup put in mainly for the purpose - keeping the dust and other stuff at bay. I sweep and mop often. Could it be something having to do with the printheads? Or something else printer related maybe?

 

[Gino]

It could easily be the printer, but it doesn't look it to me. Not based on that one picture. Having an HVAC system in the building doesn't mean you have a clean environment. Cleaning and mopping often..... seems you must have a dirty place and are trying to keep up with the air and dirt problems, which in it's own will also spread particles ALL over the place. What was on the floor, you just converted to airborne. Like you said, they are so fine, you don't see them til the lam goes down. That's how miniscule they are.

How close are your cutting machines ?? Not cutting vinyl, but saws for cutting aluminum, wood, pvc's and other substrates ?? Do you have a CNC ?? Any sandblasting going on ?? How close is the garage door ?? Does it open and close often throughout the day ??

 

[TheBarricade]

It could easily be the printer, but it doesn't look it to me. Not based on that one picture. Having an HVAC system in the building doesn't mean you have a clean environment. Cleaning and mopping often..... seems you must have a dirty place and are trying to keep up with the air and dirt problems, which in it's own will also spread particles ALL over the place. What was on the floor, you just converted to airborne. Like you said, they are so fine, you don't see them til the lam goes down. That's how miniscule they are.

How close are your cutting machines ?? Not cutting vinyl, but saws for cutting aluminum, wood, pvc's and other substrates ?? Do you have a CNC ?? Any sandblasting going on ?? How close is the garage door ?? Does it open and close often throughout the day ??

In the design/print space, there is only the printer, laminator, squeeze table, and plotter. And then of course inventory - sheeting, vinyl, etc.

 

[Gino]

Well, ya got me, but it still looks like contamination of some sort. The HVAC setup is in that room ??

What is a squeeze table ??​

 

[Andy D]

That type of vinyl has a top layer that has less absorption than regular vinyl.
It looks like you're putting more ink down than can cure correctly, when that happens the ink
pools up around imperfections in the vinyl and/or micro trash that normally wouldn't be an issue.
I would either slow down your print, increase the heater or scale back the black's values & see if that
helps.