Question HP latex, speeding up printing time with out sacrificing quality

[CKCUSTOMKC]

Hey all,

I was working on a full wrap for a step van and I noticed that it was taking a long time to print, I was wondering if you all could provide me insight on settings that I could explore to speed up the printing process with out sacrificing print quality? Are there any settings that you all would be willing to share with me? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I operate on a HP 315 latex

 

[Pauly]

Realistically no.

Faster you print at, the more grainy the print will look and probably get banding.

Try and find out...

 

[balstestrat]

And on what passes are you printing now?
I would say 8-pass is probably lowest I'd go for a wrap.

 

[CKCUSTOMKC]

And on what passes are you printing now?
I would say 8-pass is probably lowest I'd go for a wrap.

8 PASSES, +0MS ADVANCE AND +0 DELAY

 

[balstestrat]

Yeah then you can't really speed it up.
Time to upgrade.

Let it print during the night. No need to wait.

 

[CKCUSTOMKC]

Yeah then you can't really speed it up.
Time to upgrade.

Let it print during the night. No need to wait.

I thought about that but then im afraid of having a jaming issue, or a telescoping issue on the take up reel, any suggestions on how to combat both of those? I cant afford the risk of damaging print heads, nor the time it would take for a reprint

 

[balstestrat]

My advice stop worrying and start using it. You save too much time to waste it.

 

[Precision]

What's the resolution and number of passes? We like to do wraps on IJ180, with 300 - 600 resolution on 10 passes. Never a problem. Any faster, your compromising the color and quality of the print, I would imagine.

 

[jtiii]

I thought about that but then im afraid of having a jaming issue

When do you gets jams? I've only ever gotten them if I try to print too close to the leading edge of the material. Are you using the hold down tabs or printing edge to edge?

a telescoping issue on the take up reel

What does that mean?

 

[CKCUSTOMKC]

When do you gets jams? I've only ever gotten them if I try to print too close to the leading edge of the material. Are you using the hold down tabs or printing edge to edge?

What does that mean?

so I typically don't use the hold down tabs or print edge to edge, while edge to edge would be wonderful to do someday, currently wear many hats at my job and don't have the time to sit down with it, but I do have a leading edge issue which I have yet to solve. currently I have to print with 100mm extra on the leading edge so I don't get a substrate jam on my first print, I don't know if it is a fan/ drying issue, or a vacuum issue, but if I shorten the leading edge down to 75mm, the I get a print carriage crash, consistently

 

[balstestrat]

so I typically don't use the hold down tabs or print edge to edge, while edge to edge would be wonderful to do someday, currently wear many hats at my job and don't have the time to sit down with it, but I do have a leading edge issue which I have yet to solve. currently I have to print with 100mm extra on the leading edge so I don't get a substrate jam on my first print, I don't know if it is a fan/ drying issue, or a vacuum issue, but if I shorten the leading edge down to 75mm, the I get a print carriage crash, consistently

It's pretty much limitation of the machine and materials. It's good to keep that 100mm lead, I wouldn't waste time trying to get rid of it because you probably can't.

 

[jtiii]

I wouldn't waste time trying to get rid of it because you probably can't.

Ckapex one thing I do with especially expensive material and/or material that I'm only printing a little bit of (I print on heat press material sometimes and it's often just a foot or so of printing) is feed the material out so I can get to it, tape a leader on it, and back it up. I use masking tape and have never had an issue. Otherwise if you're running a fair amount on that roll just work it into your pricing.

 

[jtiii]

a telescoping issue on the take up reel

What does that mean?

 

[CKCUSTOMKC]

What does that mean?

if the vinyl is tacked onto the take up reel at a slight skew, a long print run will move down the take up reel and cause the carrier layer to break and tear, basically the vinyl spirals to one side or the other of the take up reel if it is mounted with a skew and not level

 

[jtiii]

if the vinyl is tacked onto the take up reel at a slight skew, a long print run will move down the take up reel and cause the carrier layer to break and tear, basically the vinyl spirals to one side or the other of the take up reel if it is mounted with a skew and not level

Oh gotcha. I always only use one piece of tape in the middle so the material self corrects. You have to tuck the corners in when they first come around but then you're all set.

 

[MikePro]

printer gonna print. default settings from canned profiles is still pretty fast...
sounds like a problem if you're standing around waiting for an entire roll to print a fleet of vans, but for a one-off wrap I think you can find something do do for ~4hrs while your printer runs. Prep the car, setup your next job, or simply start the print at the end of the day and let it finish overnight once you're confident in setting up a proper takeup web. If you're telescoping, then you're not squarely attaching your media to takeup reel.

edited to add: also nothing stopping you from printing one of the tiles first (while you clean&prep), lop it off the printer, and start laminating/wrapping while the rest of the printed tiles play catch up to you.