Need Help Need help using our Roland LEF 300 uv Printer.

[Shadowglen]

We have used Laser engravers for the promotional products side of our business for over 10 years, so after seeing the UV printers at some shows we decided to take the plunge and buy a Roland LEF 300 UV printer. Disappointingly the tech who set it up does not have much experience with the machine, so we have been left to figure things out on our own. We have used Versa works for over 5 years so other than the absence of profiles and the stages that you send a job to print that is not a big obstacle. We are struggling with successfully having the ink adhere to metal. The main reason we chose the 300 over the 20 or (200) was that the 300 has the ability to print both primer and gloss while the 20 (200) you have to choose one or the other when it is initially inked up, and that is a forever choice. We were told the primer was needed to help the ink adhere to glass and other surfaces. We have had the machine for a week and the only success we have had has been a rubber like phone case. We have tried printing on the aluminum piece of a usb drive, both painted and unpainted without primer the white ink on black painted comes off with ease. With primer and gloss it is better but you can still flake it off with not much effort. The webinars are not very helpful as they don't cover much on the setting up and different types of materials. Not that it probably matters but we are doing our original art setup in Corel draw. So please, if anyone has experience with the UV printers I can sure use your help. Thanks in advance Dave.

 

[ErkanDeluxe]

So you have at least figured out how to print with the primer?
If so i would guess the primer just isn't good enough.
It's fairly new still so we still haven't been able to test the primer in our showroom but one of our customers reports that the primer just isn't good enough for certain materials unfortunately.
Have you tried any 3rd party primers? By that i mean a separate product that you apply on the media before loading it in the printer, not primer ink cartridges.

 

[Shadowglen]

No we haven't tried any other primers or promoters. We spent the extra money because we were told this was the way to avoid having messing with third party primers. Not getting much on the support end. Pretty disappointed with the whole experience.