L26500 Damaging/Warping Media

[Eric_Pearl]

Has anyone else seen the issues in the photos here? This seems to happen mainly with banner materials, and happens on every banner material I've run. We've got 6 types of latex media in house and can only print on 2 of them with decent results (one is an adhesive vinyl and the other a coated fabric).

I've spoken with numerous technical reps, and even one from HP. Everyone said to tweak the temp settings of the profile in 5 degree increments, which I have done. Most recently, I was working with a 15oz Key blockout banner and lowered the cure temp to 140 (the minimum allowed). The ink didn't cure and I still saw this issue. It almost appears as though the media is being warped or damaged somehow. If it was visible on only one type of media I would just blame it on that, but this is a consistent patter across multiple medias, so I'm really at a loss.

Any help would be appreciated. I've highlighted specifically what I'm referring to in the images.

 

[bikecomedy]

Have the same issue. The temperature and humidity of the day seemed to be the issue. Waited ran it in the middle of the night at a cooler temp and humidity and it worked fine. Any low temp., low humidity night sign shops should run right out and get a L26500. Ok I'm being a smart as* but it is frustrating when a machine does not work as presented!!! Ahm... To Whom It May Concern @ HP .... Banner materials of all kinds are not working during the day at room temps of 78 degrees F and humidity above 35%.

PS I changed all the profile settings too. Just like you.

 

[Eric_Pearl]

I'm glad to know it's not just me or this specific machine. Going to try to look into cooling the room and lowering the humidity a little (right now we're at ~47% and 80F). That would explain why we had less issues when we purchased the machine last November! It seems odd to me that the environment of the printer would have that much of an influence on the results, though. Kind of a bummer to find this out now.

 

[Kev41]

At those temps you are running at the top end of what Hp recommends as its operating environment below is en extract from the manual, so not exactly fair to blame a machine. Don't run a L26500 but looked at them closely when i was considering up dating last year

Environmental specifications

Relative humidity range for best print quality	20–80%, depending on substrate type
Temperature range for best print quality	18 to 25°C (64 to 77°F), depending on substrate type
Temperature range for printing	15 to 30°C (59 to 86°F)
Temperature range when not in operation	-25 to +55°C (-13 to +131°F)
Temperature gradient	no more than 10°C/h (18°F/h)
Maximum altitude when printing	3000 m (10000 ft)

Printer environmental specifications

Kev

 

[Graphic Destruction]

Our 25500 does the same thing. Banners suck in latex machines, that's my conclusion.

 

[bikecomedy]

Thanks Kev41.

After posting this morning I thought I might be running at the max or over and I was wrong about how it was presented to me. I was going to look it up.

Thanks for doing so and sharing.

 

[MikePro]

same issue here. my only fix/workaround has been to lower the print temp to the lowest, and the cure temp to where you need it to be to completely dry the ink ....and then you need to pull on the media as it prints, or have enough already fed-through to tie to the take-up system so that it puts even tension on the media while printing.

....downside to this, however, is that your banner is ever-so-slightly warped. overprint with intention to trim-square.

 

[airborneassault]

We have had great success with our L25 and banners. I run 13oz jetflex mostly (same as key banner actually) but I've never used ultraflex/key 15oz.

On the 13oz from onyx I run in 8pass under A profile from Grimco for the 13oz gloss and I tweak my heat to 131 (max) and anywhere from 205-215 degrees depending ok ink saturation of the design.

We did have an experience that might be helpful with fellers koma blackout banner (don't know the weight off the top of my head. I was finally able to achieve good results but it cost me a ton of time because it printed slow. We used the cmykcm light textile display banner profile that came with onyx set at 16pass. With that I was able to get the colors spot on and the ink to dry without the funny lines or warping you are experiencing.

 

[jkdbjj]

I would say go with Bantex Herculite Banner material. It is more expensive, but it never warps in our machine. At least not yet. Plus, the print is amazing on it.