l25500 banners

[Hog Wild graphics]

Any advice on printing banner material. I have had a lot of head strikes with this machine. Machine prints great on vinyl but banner material either rolls up at the beginning or starts to curl on edges and then head hits and folds material over.

HWG

 

[Tim Aucoin]

What kind of banner material are you running?
I've not had those issues at all. Just ran 7 banners this week, all 3' x 12' on 42" material without any incident. Those were run on a local suppliers' house brand that I realized I had sitting around here since 2009! Ran flawless. I also run Ultraflex 13oz. through without incident. What brand are you putting through??

 

[Hog Wild graphics]

Star banner 13oz smooth from GSG.

 

[ddarlak]

do you advance the material through manually? it helps...

 

[Tim Aucoin]

Based on what you're describing, I would definitely say it is the banner material itself giving you the grief. I can understand the lead edge curling a little, as most rolls of banner material are reverse wound. That's an easy work-around on loading, but you're obviously getting a lot of edge curl, an it's likely due to the heat.

When you purchased from GSG, did they know it was for this specific printer? I'd be returning it and looking at a different product.

Honestly, check with BigFishDM on here and try the banner material he is selling. I am pretty sure he will GUARANTEE his material to run on you L25500. Everything I have purchased from him has run beautifully as promised and I'm thrilled with the results I'm getting. Once I run out of my supply of banner material, he is the first one I'm going to for re-stocking!

 

[Tim Aucoin]

do you advance the material through manually? it helps...

You are absolutely right there... it certainly does help! I think the main issue here though is edge curling which I would bet my left nut is caused by the heat. I think it's the wrong banner material for this printer!

 

[HulkSmash]

if it's a cheaper banner the edges will flap up. and since it doesn't have a edge guard... that causes a problem. i use key banner from grimco, and proveers house brand, works great.. never 1 head strike and i print banners every single day almost.

 

[Freese]

if it's a cheaper banner the edges will flap up. and since it doesn't have a edge guard... that causes a problem. i use key banner from grimco, and proveers house brand, works great.. never 1 head strike and i print banners every single day almost.

Same here...i stick with key Banner as it's tried and tested.

But I always load it manually to avoid the "reverse wind curl" to cause issues

 

[ProWraps]

ultraflex is the same as key banner too if you dont buy from grimco.

 

[KevSign]

We print Gloss proban from Signmart work great too.

 

[Christian @ 2CT Media]

We have run as thick as 24oz Arlon banner material and consistantly run 13oz, 16oz, and 18oz Arlon banner matertial everyday.... Only issue we've ever had was running mesh banners, Ultraflex strip mesh works the best for that.

 

[supersignmart]

I run star banner and ultraflex from GSG also and never a problem. It amazes me that people what to automatically think its the banner material. More than likely its the vacuum, the tension and or the heat that is the problem. I would give the guys at GSG a call and get them to walk you thru this.

 

[kyjoe340]

I use Key and Ultraflex 13oz. They both print great but both EVERYTIME at the end of the print have a head strike. What happens is when the print is finished the banner is pulled back into the printer a few inches the it quickly feeds it out about 3 inches this buckles the banner material then the head comes over and strikes it. A tech came and we changed some settings but never really fixed the problem. I had about 3 strikes before I figured out what was happening. I have to be standing there to gently pull the banner flat when this happens.

 

[john1]

Head strikes on banner = heat too high in my experiences

 

[Christian @ 2CT Media]

General banner temp settings for us is 130F dry, 200F Cure

 

[kyjoe340]

Head strikes on banner = heat too high in my experiences

Exactly. Lowered my temps to the point that it doesn't dry but banner still buckles.

 

[ProWraps]

we just printed about 100' of banners. printed well. but just like canvas, i think solvent has the advantage. latex just doesnt seem to have the same color pop on either canvas or banner as ecosol/solvent does.

 

[signswi]

We get a lot more pop off our L25500 than we do off our JV3 in most colors (especially blues).

 

[ProWraps]

well i am using flexi.....

but am happy to say i just built a quick linux box and loaded caldera on it so as soon as i get it to recognize the printers, i may be out of flexi hell.

 

[quicksigns]

Ya'll should try 13oz zeelon from Fellers. It prints way much better then ultraflex and will stay flat after the prints, not like most banner will become wavey, zeelon doesnt. Only the matte zeelon works though.