Question Mimaki CJV300-130

[Stout sign]

Printing on clear vinyl in reverse, laminating the print and applying to white acrylic for backlight purposes. It's a menu print for a restaurant. Have tried many different profiles. When I use 2 overprint option the ink cracks. So I am printing 24 passes bi-directional. The print still looks washed out when the led lights are turned on behind it.

 

[ironchef]

Bi directional? I only use that for banners... For my translucent profiles, I've played around with. The best results is no overprint but increasing density a little bit, play around with that. And I used like 6-8 pass. Unidirectional

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

 

[Neil]

I use 2x overprint, but I cut my ink limits right down to about 65% of the original printmode.
Make sure the print head is travelling the whole width of the vinyl, crank up the heat, increase the passes, unidirectional can help too.

 

[Solventinkjet]

Above are some good ideas. You can also set a delay between passes to allow the ink to dry so that it doesn't saturate too much and crack the vinyl.

 

[SightLine]

I've found there is no solution for a backlit to look good using a single print. What works for use every time is to print it normal (reverse printed on clear if that is how you are going about it). Then print a second duplicate copy and apply it to the inside of the acrylic. Even if you mis-align the print on the other side of the acrylic by a sixteenth or even an eighth of an inch the thickness of the acrylic makes it not noticeable. For a sign that is off (or on) during the day it will look great and at night when backlit the second print on the inside adds the saturation so that it still looks excellent when backlit.

 

[Hamster]

maybe just write a color profile for your media? All my friend printing with 2 overprint on 8 pass and all OK.

 

[Corwin Steeves]

I've found there is no solution for a backlit to look good using a single print. What works for use every time is to print it normal (reverse printed on clear if that is how you are going about it). Then print a second duplicate copy and apply it to the inside of the acrylic. Even if you mis-align the print on the other side of the acrylic by a sixteenth or even an eighth of an inch the thickness of the acrylic makes it not noticeable. For a sign that is off (or on) during the day it will look great and at night when backlit the second print on the inside adds the saturation so that it still looks excellent when backlit.

I'm curious about this method..don't you get an out of focus look, espeically if you're using a thicker acrylic? ie 3/16" or 1/4"

I would suggest instead printing it on clear, then print it again on translucent vinyl and mount those on top of each other. (the clear first of course) This would give you the day/night mode that won't have the back lit looking oversaturated when it's off. Plus it should solve any of the cracking issues you're having from oversaturation.

If you're alightment is done correctly, bidirectional should be fine, but if it's a small run and you have the time, unidirectional will of course be a little sharper on small text.

 

[SightLine]

Generally an out of focus issue is not a problem but the method you mention also works excellent as well and would be preferred for any sort of thing that would be viewed close up at all. For general outdoor signage its not going to really matter.