Help!!! Ultraflex banner printing problem

[SoCalN8V]

We're having a big problem and I hope somebody has a solution.

We've had our Roland Soljet XC540 for over 2 years and had very few problems with it. Two months ago, we began using Ultraflex Jetflex 13oz banner material and had no problem, until a couple of days ago. We can't get it to print without the material wrinkling and causing head strikes. We even sit there in front of it so that we can try to pull on the vinyl to straighten out the wrinkles that develop. We've have the printheads up - the media clamps in place - we've even tried cutting off a 10' piece and rolling it with the printable side out. No matter what we do, the darn stuff wrinkles right out of the gate.

We can print on everything else just fine and even other banner vinyls. We're having this issue with just the Ultaflex.

I know a lot of you guys (and gals) use Ultraflex successfully on your Roland printers. Does anyone have any ideas what could be causing this and how to correct it?

 

[J Hill Designs]

It's probably changes in humidity/temperature in your work space...same thing is happening here...

 

[Letterbox Mike]

Are you sure you are using the right profile with the right heat settings? What is your heat set at?

Dunno if it helps, but about 2 months ago we had a bad roll of Jetflexx 13oz that would buckle no matter how much or little heat we used, exchanged it and it was fine. That was the first bad roll of Ultraflexx we've ever had, out of several hundred rolls. If this is a brand new roll and you have successfully been able to print on this material in the past, I'd at least try a different roll of it to see if it works.

 

[PressPrintGraphics]

Try unrolling the material some on the back side of the machine so it pulls with slack instead of straight off the roll. Not sure if it will work for you, but works great for me on my Mutoh. I have the same problem otherwise.

 

[SoCalN8V]

What should the heat settings be for this?

This is a new roll. We have some left over from another roll - we're going to try that now to see how it prints on that one.

 

[Letterbox Mike]

Try your leftover roll without changing anything to see if the problem carries over to it. If it does then the problem is the printer settings and not the roll.

Heat temps are all over the place for banner material, but we have good luck running Ultraflexx at 45 preheat, 42 print and 50 for the dryer (we're on a Mimaki, not a Roland). I know of many Roland users running heat in that range with good results.

 

[Replicator]

1. Could be a bad roll of banner material.

2. What has already been stated above.

3. Go back to using your old brand which you never had problems with for the first 2 years.

 

[SoCalN8V]

It didn't dawn on me that it could be a bad roll of Ultraflex but that's what it seems to be. We just tried printing on the leftover from another roll, and it laid flat as a board - no wrinkles. So, thanks insignia and everyone else for your speedy responses!

 

[inkmed]

It is a bad materials supplier.
Both of the printing materials and ink quality stable is very important to printing company.

Adam

 

[DRamm76]

If it is a new roll, you may want to try letting NO slack out at all and have it pull directly from the roll. Keep an eye on it the first few feet then once you get it on the Take Up Reel you should have no issues keeping it smooth and flat. If you have any questions, please contact me directly. I have been using UltraFlexx banner for quite some time now.

 

[Slamdunkpro]

Is this a 100' or 150' roll?

New 150' rolls are larger than the end cap spools and impart a lot more friction on the media rollers. I have to make sure that I release the roll brake and pull material off to create a slack loop in order to get it to feed without cockling until I've used up about 30' of the new roll. I've come to the conclusion that the 540 really doesn't like reverse wound full roll material. It has a terrible time pulling it straight.

Even though it's a little bit more $/ft we only buy Jetflex in 100' rolls when it's going on the XC-540.

 

[SoCalN8V]

Thanks for the suggestions, but we did unroll it on the back a bit because that is what we usually do with Ultraflex. However, it still had a problem. We even tried unrolling it to where there was enough to attached to the take up bar so there would be tension on the front end. We've used about 4 previous rolls and they all worked fine. This is the first time we've had a problem with Ultraflex. We're having a new roll delivered today so we'll see what happens.

 

[SE SignSupply]

Thanks for the suggestions, but we did unroll it on the back a bit because that is what we usually do with Ultraflex. However, it still had a problem. We even tried unrolling it to where there was enough to attached to the take up bar so there would be tension on the front end. We've used about 4 previous rolls and they all worked fine. This is the first time we've had a problem with Ultraflex. We're having a new roll delivered today so we'll see what happens.

Sounds like defective material. If you scroll the media foward using the machine (without printing, simply advancing), if it wrinkles, it's defective.

 

[Jack Knight1979]

This happens to me every few months. I get a bad roll that sort of raises up off the platen and caused rubbing of the print heads.

New roll always takes care of it. I had a heck of a time getting one of my vendors to replace the roll. they didn't believe that the roll was bad. Fellers never gives me a problem. So I buy 'em from Frank now.

 

[PetePoulin]

Sounds like a defective roll. I have seen this with Ultraflex a few times. Don't get me wrong, they have a great banner. Sometimes the rolls are not wound properly. They look fine, the color is fine but it just doesn't feed correctly off of the roll and causes "wrinkles" and then eventually head strikes. I would try a different roll of banner. Especially since you haven't been having any problems with your other print media. Call your supplier ( if it is the banner ) and have them run a claim on that batch number for you. Have them replace it with a new roll of Ultraflex with a different batch number.

 

[miltondavis]

See this link to old thread:
http://www.signs101.com/forums/showthread.php?t=54569

Ive been through endless rolls of ultraflexx, herculite, coral, 3m, Avery, and more.. and have end up with buckling, its nice to hear others have had good luck. but for our Seiko- these are the 2 things that are guaranteed to affect the buckling- #1- Room Temperature VS Printer Temperature (our shop is uninsulated so affected by outside weather-prints like crap in winter- no problems in the summer- I even bought a external heater which doesnt fix it. #2 the space between pinch rollers. and I thought it was just my printer!?

 

[Pacific Coast Sign]

Does this happen with all your media or just the UltraFlex? Could be a defective roll. You may also want to check the pinch wheels - if you leave the wheels down for extended time while not printing the wheels get "flat spots" and cause your media to bunch - replace if needed (About $62/pair)

 

[RJ California]

I had the same issue with one roll of UltraFlex -- I returned it and got a new roll (great customer service from our supplier) and the new roll ran with no problems. All of the above suggestions are valid, especially room temperature and humidity, but sometimes you just get a bad roll.