Hi, we have been having an issue with our 360 for about a year now. Had a lot of parts changed to try and fix the problem under warranty but no luck. All our prints never come out square, i know prints are never 100% square but these are about 10mm out. I have attached a photo. If we print say 5 drops all the same size (1m x 2m) and we stack them they are all the same shape but if we put them face to face they are completely wrong. When it comes through the machine it stays straight on the line on the media clamp. We do not use the take up for wall drops/pop up etc because this defo makes it worse. If we print wall graphics they line up but are completely out of shape.Ist as if they are coming out at an angle but they are not. Hopefully some one has had this issue as we have no idea and neither do our technicians that come in to fix it. Just to clarify it happens on all media..Vinyl/banner/paper/pop up etc. Thanks : )
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LATEX 360 Prints like Parallelograms help!!!
- Thread starter ashclarke
- Start date
Welcome to latex!
The reasons for this is the high heat required to cure the latex ink. The heat causes expansion of the media. The start of a print will have different distortion compared to the rest of the print since the cut end of the media is unrestricted whereas the middle of the print is constrained by the media hanging out of the front of the printer. Visualize a snake swallowing a watermelon.
HP used to recommend printing a "dummy job" ahead of the real job to eliminate the leader distortion. Some materials are much less prone to this, but you can't change physics. If your jobs are all the same length and you print the, the same way, it may be possible to distort the file in your editor to reduce the effect. Printing a grid and taking measurements would show you exactly what to do to counteract the problem in your editor.
HP could address this in the hardware by adding *gasp* more sensors to measure the media width on the fly and adjust the printed width dynamically. Same for bowing.
The reasons for this is the high heat required to cure the latex ink. The heat causes expansion of the media. The start of a print will have different distortion compared to the rest of the print since the cut end of the media is unrestricted whereas the middle of the print is constrained by the media hanging out of the front of the printer. Visualize a snake swallowing a watermelon.
HP used to recommend printing a "dummy job" ahead of the real job to eliminate the leader distortion. Some materials are much less prone to this, but you can't change physics. If your jobs are all the same length and you print the, the same way, it may be possible to distort the file in your editor to reduce the effect. Printing a grid and taking measurements would show you exactly what to do to counteract the problem in your editor.
HP could address this in the hardware by adding *gasp* more sensors to measure the media width on the fly and adjust the printed width dynamically. Same for bowing.
zopylote
New Member
encoder! did you clean the encoder?
Thank you AF for your feed back it was very helpful but unfortunately it happens on most jobs so we would need to adjust every artwork which would be too time consuming. Do you have this issue?.
Thank you Zopylote for replying, our engineer said not to touch the encoder strip. Would this affect our print?.
Thank you Zopylote for replying, our engineer said not to touch the encoder strip. Would this affect our print?.
papabud
Lone Wolf
i use my 360 all the time and have noticed this happen now and then, i would start with turning your heat down a bit. never tug on your print while its warm. and never let it sit for long periods of time on the take up wheel.
are you noticing this during printing or after its laminated. if your tension is to high on your laminator this could be adding to the problem
are you noticing this during printing or after its laminated. if your tension is to high on your laminator this could be adding to the problem
Lea Marc
New Member
I cleaned our encoder strip last week, it's part of maintenance you can perform. Simply run a damp lint-free cloth the length of the strip both sides, I got a ton of ink dust off. There were no issues we were really having beforehand but good to know it's way cleaner now, will help your machine run efficiently and cross one thing off the list of reasons why your seeing your problem.
Steve