new to Mimaki-Wasatch

[scott pagan]

my shop purchased a pre-owned Mimaki JV5 160s and Wasatch RIP station. i have tested a few different jobs but think i still need some helpful guidance from my peers at :signs101:

our shop is primarily a fleet/grand format house. we have 3 HP-Scitex TurboJets and 1 HP-Scitex XLJet5 (Onyx RIP for those printers) that handle our large volume production or oversized print runs. the JV5 fits in nicely as a high res, short run job option for us. i even still have the Gerber Edge LE for those who may remember me from the 4EdgeTalk days. i have almost 20yrs of experience in this industry.

i am asking for your comments and suggestions on some of the variable settings that i should start working from, or to test for "common industry standards".

currently i am running only high performance vinyls (3M 180c-v3 and Avery MPI 1005 EZRS) with the Mimaki (HS solvent) inks.

my profiles were created using the DualCMYK 720x1440 mode, variable dot pattern, 16 pass, unidirectional print direction, high speed on.

my heat values are: pre 40c/ print 40c/ post 65c

i am getting excellent print POP quality and color with the profiles i created for the media.

i would like to lower the resolutions, speed up the print times, and ensure proper drying (as it winds onto the take-up roll). for fleet work i see i can definitely reduce the resolution to increase speed. i also need to consider correct drying so we can laminate without out-gassing or sticky print issues.

do you see where i could benefit from by making some simple settings changes? what settings have you found that make the JV printer a real workhorse?

for now i'm stuck with the Wasatch 6.2 RIP but may eventually get the JV5 on my Onyx RIP workflow.

i appreciate any help you may offer.
thanks!

 

[petesign]

I run a JV33, which has essentially the same print head. 16 pass is where I run my high quality prints. It isn't blinding fast, but it looks really nice. Your heat is a lot higher than I run... my profile is running a 38 pre, 38 print , and 45 degree post heat... Maybe the difference between the JV5 makes you need to run it hotter? I have no problems running at even 8 pass at those temps on 180c and the ink not being dry at the take up roll. If you want to go faster, get a dryer.

I always try to out gas before laminating unless it's something temporary. I think it's the nature of solvent inks to need time to out gas... not sure if going with a lower resolution or lower ink coverage would ever fix that issue.

 

[scott pagan]

thanks Petesign. we rack our Mimaki prints 24 hours before laminating to ensure proper outgassing.

anyone else?

 

[Rooster]

The knock against the JV5 is that it's too fast for it's own good. 720x1440 16 pass is probably overkill for what you're doing with it.

I'd knock the resolution down to 720x720 16 pass or 720x1080 12 pass and you should get comparable color depth with more speed. MY JV33 won't go above 50˚ for any of the heater settings and I'm running the ES3 inks so I can't help you with dry time. If you're going to try and use it as a high speed production printer you may want to look into a separate IR dryer to help speed up the curing.

 

[4R Graphics]

It all depends on what you plan to run across the machine.

I know that most run 720X720 or 720X1080 for vehicle wraps.

I still run a JV3 (getting new printer in the next few months) we run almost everything at 720X720 16 or 8 pass bidirectional depends on the graphics and what they are designed for vehicle wrap moving around town we get away with 8 pass allday radio station vehicle wrap that is looked at when parked at events 16 pass.

 

[FatCat]

A friend of mine has a JV5 at their shop and use it on the lower settings as output speed is more critical than quality for what they do. As was said, the JV5 is almost too fast for it's own good. So, they opted for an external dryer/heater system to help cure the prints as they come off before they are wound on the takeup.

 

[scott pagan]

Thanks for all the helpful responses [thumbs up smiley]

 

[woahdude]

to avoid rippling i turned the heat off on the printer and use an external heater

 

[Driving Force]

we use the 720x1080, dual cmyk 12 pass high speed mode for most of our output.
no problems with most material at that speed, and the output is great.