Help With Media Feeding Askew

[lkt1954]

I am having an issue with our vs540 feeding a job to cut back straight. I printed a job to be laminated then cut on 10' of reflective, removed it after printing, laminated it and now when I try and run in back through the vs 540 by the time it gets to the crop marks at the end it has moved over 1" to one side- thus it does not find the back 2 crop marks.

I have tried everything I can think of- rolling the media up and feeding it from the back and aligning the crop marks- I even have marked the media clamps (which you cannot use on a vs540) used that mark to get my front crop marks dead on even. I have even lined up the rear marks and reversed the media with the vs540 and still ends up askew. I am using 4 pinch rollers and have made sure the media is completely over the drivers under pinch rollers to hopefully make it grip even. All my edges were sheet cut so they should be straight and I have made sure the front crop marks are lined up right on- I could be a degree or 2 off (as I have no way of telling that). This is lettering that if at all possible needs to be in one solid run, not 2 5' pieces overlapped.

Any help or suggestions here????????????????

Thanks
Larry

 

[Jack Knight1979]

Did the laminate stretch the material?

 

[lkt1954]

Jack not to my knowledge. We have used the same reflective and laminate on vehicle graphics that were 90" long and did not have a problem. From the front crop marks to the back crop marks the media simple moves like 1" sideways.

Thanks
Larry

 

[kffernandez]

how are your grit rollers?

kelly

 

[lkt1954]

The grit rollers feel good and rough (I presume they should feel that way to grip). I am considering running some yellow masking the length of the media on both sides to give me some more thickness and maybe some bite as well.

Thanks
Larry

 

[lkt1954]

Thanks for all the help. After 3 hours this morning I threw the SOB in the trash and will do 2 5' prints and overlap. Some days this job sucks.

Thanks
Larry

 

[rjssigns]

Two things. Just because you use the sheet cut function does not mean your material is actually cut at 90 degrees. My wife had the same situation and experienced 0.5" skew. She said: Well I sheet cut after every job so it should be good". Got out my trusty square and found the 0.5". Trimmed it manually and it was good.

Second thing is depending on how much you print. The outer pinch wheels(the ones you can't remove) can wear out. They are made with a taper that is made to put tension on the media and hold it flat. they don't last forever.

I have new outer pinch rolls ordered for mine. It won't hold true like it used too. 96" banner runs out around 0.186". Not acceptable, as we do some double sided work for a high end furniture shop. pick picky picky.

 

[truckgraphics]

We use, what we call, the "Steer it into the skid" method to straighten our vinyl (Roland SP 300). That is, if the front edge of the material is running to the left, say 1/2" in five feet, we "steer" the media, say 1/32" or so (it is all by feel) to the left. You really have to move the media very slightly. An sixteenth or eighth inch correction will send the vinyl into the next county. Also, we marked our platen with perpendicular lines to help us steer.

All that being said, a 10 foot run is pushing it, even when the machine captures the marks. (In our experience.)