HP latex 360 waste

[Commando]

We just got this printer a couple of weeks ago. Still trying to work out all of the kinks with the software and user ability.
Anyways, has anyone solved the scrap issue when you first start printing on a different substrate? There is so much it is expensive. We got this to print on 3M High Intensity and Diamond Grade and that stuff is wayyyy costly.
Any ideas?

 

[tylercrum]

Do you mean the material necessary to profile it?

 

[Commando]

im not sure. When we load a new substrate in, before it starts printing, it wastes about 20 inches or so. Im about to print some on some HIP and I will take a pic.
I know my trainer said we would have some, but I want to find a way to avoid it.
I tried taping liner paper to the front but it didn't work

 

[Commando]

This thing is not letting me upload this pic

 

[dypinc]

Check your settings (printer and RIP), it should not need to move that much media before it starts printing. I have mine set to start printing without adding any margin at the beginning of the print, well maybe 15mm or so.

 

[AaronSSsignsKC]

He is talking about the material needed to check the skew and calibrate the substrate advance. Not the margin before you start printing. We just handle ours well loading it, felt gloves etc will keep the finger prints down. We don't have much issue with tool marks from the load itself any issues we have tend to be finger prints or something along the lines. If handled well you should just be able to back the material up and print right from the leading edge and not waste more than a few inches. I dont know of anyway to stop the auto load feature or keep it from doing its calibrations at time of material change, but you really shouldn't have to 20 linear inches of waste each time you load is a lot.

 

[dypinc]

"before it starts printing, it wastes about 20 inches" Makes it sound like he is talking about a media advance when the job starts before it actually prints. But yes your right you can move the media where ever you want when you load it after it goes through it's loading routine.

 

[Tim Aucoin]

Check your rip settings also to ensure there is no lead edge amount there. Even if I have to fix skew after loading, I simply back it up till there's around an inch showing. No excess waste.

 

[Commando]

"before it starts printing, it wastes about 20 inches" Makes it sound like he is talking about a media advance when the job starts before it actually prints. But yes your right you can move the media where ever you want when you load it after it goes through it's loading routine.

I have tried to move it back on the screen. But when it starts, it still comes out.

 

[Bly]

Check the substrate handling menu.
You can add extra bleed in to the top edge in there.

 

[AF]

HP used to recommend a long leader for the start of a roll to reduce the heavy thermal distortion the first 2 feet suffer under the hair dryers. There is a front panel setting for this on the older latex machines, plus you can configure your rip to add it. I turned it off and adjust when/if needed to scoot past some marks on the start of a roll.

 

[bold_will_hold]

Just a word of advice from my experience be careful, I did notice on cold starts and when changing materials that the vinyl would tend to warp prior to flowing down the heating channel and cause a jam/carriage strike. It has since become standard practice to advance the material past the heater about 1 inch. If I forget I literally sit under the machine with a thin ruler and tap the material down as it enters the heater to make sure it does not stick. The problem is right as the material is supposed to slant downwards. The natural feed of the vinyl continue straight and can just barely touch the top of the heater where it instantly melts and sticks to cause a jam. In a fast paced shop it was just easier to prefeed the material and not have to worry. I also tried to print jobs back to back to eliminate the need to prefeed.

 

[Commando]

Guess its just part of it. Its just so much waste.. Cheap stuff doesn't matter, but when you are up to 2.00+ a square foot... its a different story lol
Thanks guys!

 

[dypinc]

Just a word of advice from my experience be careful, I did notice on cold starts and when changing materials that the vinyl would tend to warp prior to flowing down the heating channel and cause a jam/carriage strike. It has since become standard practice to advance the material past the heater about 1 inch. If I forget I literally sit under the machine with a thin ruler and tap the material down as it enters the heater to make sure it does not stick. The problem is right as the material is supposed to slant downwards. The natural feed of the vinyl continue straight and can just barely touch the top of the heater where it instantly melts and sticks to cause a jam. In a fast paced shop it was just easier to prefeed the material and not have to worry. I also tried to print jobs back to back to eliminate the need to prefeed.

With media that does this you only need about 6 to 8 inches past the pinch rollers, not 20".

 

[PRS Bryan]

Just a word of advice from my experience be careful, I did notice on cold starts and when changing materials that the vinyl would tend to warp prior to flowing down the heating channel and cause a jam/carriage strike. It has since become standard practice to advance the material past the heater about 1 inch. If I forget I literally sit under the machine with a thin ruler and tap the material down as it enters the heater to make sure it does not stick. The problem is right as the material is supposed to slant downwards. The natural feed of the vinyl continue straight and can just barely touch the top of the heater where it instantly melts and sticks to cause a jam. In a fast paced shop it was just easier to prefeed the material and not have to worry. I also tried to print jobs back to back to eliminate the need to prefeed.

True Story!

Combined with the HPs inability to use scrap material with out jumping through multiple hoops makes the 310 an unacceptably wasteful machine. 90% of my prints are on IJ-180 and my HP310 wastes enough material to eat up any profit I was going to make.

If you are printing large runs, roll to roll, it is a champ. If you are printing small runs on expensive material the 300 series will put you in the poor house.

Fortunately I also have a Roland VS-540 that makes me money regardless of the size of the run.

 

[ktyler1320]

We have two 360's, we leave one loaded with our expensive photoluminescent material that we print the majority of our signs on. The other one we swap out with the vinyls and clear materials we use. What I have found to avoid wasting too much of the expensive stuff, is to adjust the amount of space between print jobs in settings. I also when I finish for the day I print a few extra rows of signs that I know we can use for our shelves so I can cut off by hand what I'm working with for a customer and leave the printed material in the printer, that way when I start the next day I'm not starting from the end of the roll. The only time lose some major inches is when we load a brand new roll in. So even if you only have one printer before you take that roll of expensive material off, if you can print a few rows some something you can sell again later do that then when you load it back into the printer to print another job later just advance it forward past what's printed already and start the new print job right after. I have ours set to space about 1" between jobs. Hope this helps.

 

[Bly]

If 2' of waste is sending you broke your pricing is wrong.

 

[PRS Bryan]

If 2' of waste is sending you broke your pricing is wrong.

$9 of profit off a $5000 project, is minimal. But $9 of profit off a quick $100 project is the majority of my profit.

I could refuse to do small projects or make clients wait until I have a dozen projects for a large run, but if I have the time and resources why send them away.

The other possibility is that I use a different printer, like my Roland VS-540, and continue to make money and connections.

In the end that waste is pure profit and anything that pulls a minimum of $9 of pure profit out of every single project I do tends to bother me.

I may just be sensitive.

 

[myront]

Ha! Welcome to the pitfalls of the HP360. I keep trying tell people but do they listen? We change our media type 5-6 times a day. Some jobs as small as 2 or three inches. Change from wrap vinyl to banner stock, to decal, back to wrap vinyl, and so on and so on. the 360 is a pia

 

[dypinc]

Ha! Welcome to the pitfalls of the HP360. I keep trying tell people but do they listen? We change our media type 5-6 times a day. Some jobs as small as 2 or three inches. Change from wrap vinyl to banner stock, to decal, back to wrap vinyl, and so on and so on. the 360 is a pia

Sounds like you need more L360s so you could just set each one for the different kinds of media you use. You wouldn't be spending all day changing media that way.