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Herculite Bantex Banner Media Anyone Ever Use?

Z

ZsVinylInc

New Member
Hey everyone,

I am getting ready to buy a new roll of banner material and a new supplier of ours carries this Herculite Bantex Banner Media. We print a lot of 3' banners so we were looking for a 40" roll that would work the best and not leave a lot of small cutoffs laying around. I am looking for anyone that might have experience with this product. It's pros and cons. We have used LG Chem in the past which worked ok but this new supplier we are moving do doesn't carry LG Chem. We currently have been using JetFlex but have not been really impressed with it.

Thanks in advance,

Big Z
 
Letterbox Mike

Letterbox Mike

New Member
We use the 18oz double-sided material and have for years. Good stuff. Never tried any of their other weights though. Have you tried Ultraflexx 13oz? It's excellent.
 
Z

ZsVinylInc

New Member
insignia said:
We use the 18oz double-sided material and have for years. Good stuff. Never tried any of their other weights though. Have you tried Ultraflexx 13oz? It's excellent.
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Yes we have tried the Ultraflexx. Not a big fan. Thanks for you opinion on the Bantex.
 
S

SeaWriter

New Member
Bantex is a great product, regional manufacturer made in the USA. I have been using all their products for many many years. They are best know for the smooth block out & the 18oz block out mentioned earlier, but all the other products are just as good, very consistent quality.
 
B Snyder

B Snyder

New Member
Make me #2. :) Way more frayed edges than LG Bannux and I prefer LG's box packaging over tube packaging.
 
Z

ZsVinylInc

New Member
insignia said:
Interesting, can I ask why not? Just honestly curious, you're the first person I've heard say that.
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For me it seems like it scratches a lot easier then other products I have used. For me it also seems like I can't get the ink to set in enough. I have tried a ton of different profile combinations as well as heat setting.

B Snyder also brings up a point that I haven't thought about for a while but makes sense. I wasn't fond of having to either try and slide the roll back into the tube every time or just store it in another box or just leave it sitting on a shelve. Real estate in my current situation is getting more and more prime by the day.
 
rfulford

rfulford

New Member
I've used lots of the 13 oz herculite. Its a great product but a little pricey IMHO. LG Chem Bannuz 14 oz USB works almost as well at about 18 cents a sqft cheaper. The bad news is that cost is for 250 yard rolls. Still LG will convert these to smaller rolls for a small fee if you can get them to admit it. Which brings up another point buying direct from LG is a huge pain.
 
Z

ZsVinylInc

New Member
Yeah when I priced a 39" roll of LG Chem and a 37.5" roll of Herculite at the same length the Herculite was atleast $50 more a roll.
 
S

Steve Werner

New Member
Take this for what it's worth because I distribute Bantex for a living. I've worked with other's banner material and while Bantex is more expensive it is a very well made material with a great matte surface that results in sharper print. It's made here in the USA. Finally, I sell alot of this material and I rarely if ever see complaints and need to do returns. I've tried selling offshore brands and edge fraying and contamination were a constant problem. For me doing returns because of material complaints is a pain and a money loser for me. Reprint costs are much higher than the extra money you'll pay for Bantex.
 
Z

ZsVinylInc

New Member
Steve,

I appreciate your opinion as well. It is good to hear both sides of the stories. I would like to hear some more of the users input on this topic.

Like I said in the beginning I do a lot of 3' banners and while the info that I originally looked at must have been outdated I came to realize that the Bantex only comes in a 37.5" wide roll and in my opinion that doesn't give you enough room for your outside pinch rollers and still finish it off close to 36". A 39" roll gets you a little closer. But that is just my opinion.
 
Letterbox Mike

Letterbox Mike

New Member
xCROUSEx said:
Anyone know why the bantex curl-free material prints really dark on the HP latex?
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Probably just your profile. We print tons of it on our JV33 and it took some work to get it profiled correctly, ink wants to puddle on it. Once we got it dialed in it prints excellent though.
 
X

xCROUSEx

New Member
insignia said:
Probably just your profile. We print tons of it on our JV33 and it took some work to get it profiled correctly, ink wants to puddle on it. Once we got it dialed in it prints excellent though.
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Would that be fixed by changing the number of passes or the curing temps? Just confused as this is the first time I have had this problem with a media
 
Letterbox Mike

Letterbox Mike

New Member
I don't have the printer you do so I can't say for sure, but my guess is changing temps or passes isn't going to solve it, especially if the profile is just laying down too much ink. Are you using a canned profile specifically for that media? Have you experimented with other profiles to see if any net you better results than the one you're currently using?
 
Graphic Destruction

Graphic Destruction

New Member
I'm in the same boat as Ben with HP. Tons of issues with any banner due to lack of profiles available for Flexi from the MFR's. I sometimes get amazing prints on Bantex, other times it's very spotty and banded, but usually it just buckles and causes head strikes from the heat. I've yet to find any GOOD banner material that works with our L25500. Too much buckling and scalloping is the general problem.

Banners should be easy money, but I HATE them on the HP.

Ben, I have been having good luck with Feller's POP-UP in our HP for a curl free product. Really nice print quality using the generic HP front lit scrim profile and dialing the heat and wattage back a bit. Be careful though, there's a fine line between drying and not drying. I still get more scalloping/buckling than I care for though.
 
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