We have an HP 360 Latex digital printer and I was trying to print a banner. The media is Optima Opti-solve 13oz matte banner and started printing with 6 passes. It started out printing well and then after about 4-5 inches waves started showing up. I double checked that it wasn't my artwork then tried creating a new media profile and the waves continued into the "test". I believe that this may be a case of old media but I have never seen this happen before while printing. Would anyone else know what could/would cause this?
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- Thread starter ADuke
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DerbyCitySignGuy
New Member
I think the answer (from HP) is that it's plasticizer migration in the media, which leads to issues like you're having. It also causes pinch roller marks to be much more visible. If you can clean the material with IPA and it stops doing it, there's your answer. The solution seems to be increasing the number of passes and/or adjusting the heat.
If cleaning it with IPA doesn't fix it, I dunno.
If cleaning it with IPA doesn't fix it, I dunno.
Ooooh, that does make sense since it has that kind of pattern around it. Does that mean they need to be cleaned or replaced?
I did a google search on the pinch rollers and found a similar answer regrading plasticizer.
"After review the pictures attached I can see that you are suffering plasticizer migration on your banner substrate. Plasticizer shows up as randomly non-uniform areas with “coalescence like” graininess and increases the visibility of pinchwheel marks. Find below some recommendations:
- The only way to remove plasticizer is to “wash it out” with isopropyl alcohol. This is not practical for printing but can be used as a diagnostic tool: by washing only part of the substrate the defects can be made appear (not washed areas) and disappear (washed areas).
- Change printing material or, at least, the production batch of the material used (preferred the ones that have not been stored for a long time).
- In some cases, increasing heater temperature and number of passes can reduce the effect.
I also recommend to watch What is Plasticizer? video. This video will give you a dipper inside of this issue."
I was not able to find the video. This answer also makes sense because I did clean the first part of the media before printing and that part was without waves. I am changing out my banner media to see if that prints with the waves too. I'm trying 13oz gloss rool
DerbyCitySignGuy
New Member
Ha! I think that's probably the same thing I read a while back. Was it on the HP site? I think switching media is probably your best bet.
Is your banner media double sided? We have the same thing happening on our Eco-solvent. There was huge diagonal lines throughout the media... We flipped and printed on the back and it worked perfectly.
Banner media is really cheap, and isn't made very well for the most part. If we have a roll sitting around for a few months... It gets issues like this. Alcohol sometimes works, but who wants to wipe down a 10-20 ft banner? Luckly reversing to the other side fixed our issue. One time we had to use our UV Flatbed for another roll, because uv was the onlything that would print on it properly.
If it's double sided, I'd try that... if not, you may be out of luck.
Banner media is really cheap, and isn't made very well for the most part. If we have a roll sitting around for a few months... It gets issues like this. Alcohol sometimes works, but who wants to wipe down a 10-20 ft banner? Luckly reversing to the other side fixed our issue. One time we had to use our UV Flatbed for another roll, because uv was the onlything that would print on it properly.
If it's double sided, I'd try that... if not, you may be out of luck.
Yes, it was on the HP website
. I'm printing now on the gloss media and it's good, no more mark! thanks guys for helping me figure this out.If you were in a bind to get the job out, always consider rolling out 10 feet or so as plastisizers tend to be more noticeable within the first 10' or so of the roll. Bad material is bad material and deserves a credit or full replacement from your vendor. We advise our customers who are experiencing plastisizers to save the prints showing the issue, prints showing area wiped with alcohol, and either the end cap or picture of label inside the core containing manufacturing information. This allows us to process the claim with our suppliers. Even if you use a majority of the roll, having that sample documentation goes along way in getting you your money back.