Latex 2 sided welding

[fozzie]

Looking at the l26500 printer. Question. On double sided banner printing can you heat weld the latex inks or are they like uv curable inks that cant be welded to itself?

 

[Christian @ 2CT Media]

From testing, because the ink sits on the surface its not weldable to itself.

Why not leave a blank area on the fold side and use that as a weld guide?

 

[dypinc]

I have never had any problems welding double sided banners with heavy ink coverage under the weld. Seems to weld just the same as with no ink. This is with Bantex's 18oz. and the Triad Wedge welder.

What welder are you using?

 

[Christian @ 2CT Media]

We use a miller... can you pry your welds apart with just your hands? we find that welding the ink allows us to do just that and to us that a fail.

 

[dypinc]

No I can't pry the weld apart. The weld is just the same as if there were no ink laid down in that area.

Does the Miller use a wedge or hot air?

 

[miker]

We're running a LX850 but we have been able to weld through the inks with success as well using our miller.

 

[Christian @ 2CT Media]

we've never gotten ours to work, we could always pull them apart so we stopped printing on the back sides edges. We are using a L25500 if that makes a difference.

 

[dypinc]

Have you tried higher heat and lower speed?

 

[fozzie]

Miker...we would be using a miller t100. So you have found with right settings and material the latex can "stick to itself" like solvents, correct? Thanks for input.

 

[Christian @ 2CT Media]

Any higher and the material gets burn marks and its on one of the slowest settings... Its easier for us to just not print that edge and we can whip them out, why worry about printing something that isn't going to be visible?

 

[ProColorGraphics]

I am a small shop with not much room, and I use one of the Supply 55 banner welders with my L25500 and haven't had any problems. This one works like a 2' wide sealer for doing shrink wrap. Haha. Works good for what I need it to do. Just made 100 2' by 6' double sided pole banners and they are holding up very well!!