How Cold is Too Cold?

[grafixemporium]

I don't like leaving the heater running in the shop over night. We're getting an "artic blast" in Houston this week and it's been getting down into the low 60s in the shop. It's supposed to get even colder and I'm afraid it'll get down into the 50s in here over night. How cold is too cold for the Roland VP540?

 

[ddarlak]

lol....

i leave my heat at 50 when i leave the shop.....

it'll get down to about 13 tonite .......and about every night for the next 6 weeks....

 

[Pacific Coast Sign]

If it's too cold the printer won't turn on.

 

[Gino]

We have our temperature at 67 day and 50 at night. It drops back around 8pm and comes back on at 6:30am...... on a timer. Just let the printer warm up real good before you start trying to print things.

 

[gabagoo]

we drop the thermostat to about 15 celcius but I keep one of those oil filled heaters close to the machine just to keep her warm.

 

[ProColorGraphics]

It's negative temps outside around here. Has been for the last couple of weeks. Overnight, I keep it in the mid 50's. I haven't had any problems.

 

[Replicator]

I have had my heater go into defrost mode and shutdown in the cold temps over night getting down as low as 14 degrees,

and never turn back on until the next day . . . Printer (VP-540) was fine !

 

[trimitbyrich]

I have been putting mine down to 40 overnight for the last 3 years with no problems. I do an environmental match every morning after the heat comes up to temp. We are here in Michigan and we know cold!

 

[Stealth Ryder]

How cold is too cold? Texas boy currently in Cleveland until I get a plane outa here in the morning, It's way to cold here!!!

 

[threads1]

It's so cold here, I've seen some Democrats walking around with their hands in their own pockets.

Sorry...I couldn't help myself.

 

[JESSE WALKER]

It's so cold here, I've seen some Democrats walking around with their hands in their own pockets.

Sorry...I couldn't help myself.

that was too funny!

 

[Tharnpheffa]

No lower than mid 50s.

 

[Vital Designs]

How cold is too cold? Texas boy currently in Cleveland until I get a plane outa here in the morning, It's way to cold here!!!

No need to hurry... it is 18 degrees here in Dallas...

 

[Checkers]

Although printers have an ideal operating range, the printer itself should be fine in very cold weather.

The real concern would be the ink and media. The most important part of any printing is
consistency. If you're down to the 40's or 50's at night and expect to print the next morning at 70º, there's a chance you may have issues.

Media can expand and contract with significant temperature changes. While the built-in heaters should minimize this, there also may be concern that the ink may flow differently at different temperatures. So, the print that comes off the printer when you first get in may look a lot different than the same print at the end of the day.

Although the ink, media and printers are significantly different, this was a real issue when I was printing with aqueous inks. Heck, if it started raining during a shift, there would be significant color shifts between the start and end of the finished product.

Checkers

 

[SignManiac]

I leave my temperature in the shop set to 74 when I leave at night but that's just to keep my snakes warm....The printer is fine.

 

[Replicator]

I leave my temperature in the shop set to 74 when I leave at night but that's just to keep my snakes warm....The printer is fine.

I think I saw that movie . . . " Snakes on a Printer "