Panals not lining up

[GoodPeopleFlags]

Recently we've had problems with Edge printed panals not lining up. One panal will actuall be slightly larger than the panal it's supposed to overlap! I wouldn've have belived it if I hadn't seen it myself, but it's true.

I know you can calibrate the printer and plotter and I'll do that but I don't see how that will solve the problem. The plotter is cutting it correctly; it's the print that's the problem.

Ever had this happen? What can we do about it? We just printed 3 logos, 4-color process, about 5 feet long each, 3 panals each, and they're not lining up. That's alot of material (about 15' for each one) that's going to be wasted. I'd like to find out the problem before I just start printing them again.

 

[WhiskeyDreamer]

a little more info would help...are the panels already taped? if so, when you squeegeed the tape, did you work the same way on each panel? otherwise you may have stretched the material...

are you paneling in GSPlot? or are you creating the panels in Omega/GA and sending as separate pcs to GSPlot?

 

[GoodPeopleFlags]

We didn't tape the panals and I'm positive the material didn't get stretched. In fact, they werent' even removed from the backing paper before we realized the problem.

The files were designed in Omega and sent to plot where the cutlines were automatically placed in and not moved.

I tried subscribing to 4EdgeTalk but can't seem to get registered.

Thank you!

 

[Replicator]

Did you include the overlap in the print ?

or did the rip & cut panel the job entirely ?

 

[GoodPeopleFlags]

Yep. It's not that the plotter is cutting it wrong - "Panal A" is physically printed wider/longer that "Panal B" and that causes them to not line up. And I printed all panals at the same time - no pauses, no changing anything. Thanks!

:

 

[WhiskeyDreamer]

dumb question...gerber vinyl? gerber foil?

 

[GoodPeopleFlags]

No a dumb question at all! Oracal vinyl, Gerber foil. I would think that might have something to do with it except that we've been using that combo for years and this problem only started happening last week.

 

[WhiskeyDreamer]

Tony Teveris ( a member here) is a senior software engineer for GSP....try sending him a PM cause I can't think of anything else...sorry

 

[petepaz]

Did you include the overlap in the print ?

or did the rip & cut panel the job entirely ?

the first thing i would check is what your overlap is set on
that could make a difference in how the panels lay out

 

[GoodPeopleFlags]

The overlap is set at .1 but more or less overlap wouldn't solve the problem. One panal is actually printed wider than the one it should overlap.

Or maybe I don't understand your question! :Big Laugh

 

[Tony Teveris]

What version of Omega and GspPlot ?

Are you printing the jobs and cutting with the target setting at center?, if so try lower left.

 

[GoodPeopleFlags]

It's Version 1.5 Omega and we have a GSXplus 15" plotter. The target is set lower left.

The weird thing is, this is just a recent problem and no settings have been changed.

Thank you so much Tony for getting back to me so quickly!

 

[GoodPeopleFlags]

Hmmmm... we have a new theory. Let me run this by ya and see what you think.

The first time the problem happened was about 2 weeks ago. It was a file that the customer sent as a .pdf. I had to convert it to a .tif to print it.

The second time was this week. Every sign in this one particular job that this happened on also contained a particular logo that was also a .pdf and converted to a .tif. Could it be the file??? Why would it print 1 panal 3/16" longer than another panal printed at the same time???

Another weird thing was that 1 of the signs required 4 panals. Only the top panal didn't line up and that panal contained the logo. All of the other text lined up perfectly. But then again, the whole file was a .pdf and converted to .tif. But it's weird the only panal that didnt' line up was the one that had the logo. These are the same logos that were not lining up yesterday and prompted me to start this thread. However, the first job mentioned above didn't contain that logo.

Any thoughts? Suggestions?

 

[Neon RTG]

Why are you converting a pdf to a tif? Why not just print the pdf in cmyk?(same way the tif would print) Try using the original file & eliminate the conversion.

 

[GoodPeopleFlags]

Because I didn't think I was able to import .pdfs but whaddaya know! There it is! (Haven't worked on Omega in a few years - just getting back in it!)

Maybe that'll work. Hope so! Thank you!