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Photo Tex is Junk!!

JJohnson

New Member
We had a roll last fall that looked and worked great. The roll we just got looks horrible, there are streaks and lines in it, and where we print in dark areas, it looks like the ink is pooling. This is not the same stuff we got last fall. Anyone else having issues with this?
 

bigben

New Member
I've worked with seramark products. Colors are defenitely better than phototex. But the material stretch easily, so in some case it's hard to make perfect panels on large wall. With laminate, no problems. I wish the material was thicker to not stretch. Best thing I've worked with so far for wall.
 

AUTO-FX

New Member
I've got a small sample of that seramark stuck to my wall. every once in a while, i go over and move it. Seems like good stuff. No curling or stretching.
 

TheSnowman

New Member
We have used phototex for several years. Works great for us on a weekly basis. Not sure what your issue is but does sound like it's just not clean.
 

Jaime Bergstrom

New Member
Aqueous or Solvent

If the roll sucked, just return it to your dealer.

If you think you are doing something wrong give us some more info.

Are you using Aqueous or Solvent PhotoTex?
What RIP are you using?
What Printer?
Are you using a stock profile or did you build one?
Did you recalibrate when you got your new roll?
Upload a pic.

Help the group, help you.
 

Mike_Koval

New Member
IN my working with the two products...in my opinion they are both great products to use. We decided on carrying the SeraMark because of opacity, white point, color quality and CPSIA compliance.

Samples of SeraMark available upon request :)
 

JWesthead

New Member
We've been through a ton of rolls of the Phototex-S product. I think I know what you are talking about and have seen it on a few rolls. If you were printing small stuff or light colors you will probably never notice. The darker the areas the more noticable it becomes. It looks like something has been spilled on print in large areas. A stain if you will...
 

JJohnson

New Member
We've been through a ton of rolls of the Phototex-S product. I think I know what you are talking about and have seen it on a few rolls. If you were printing small stuff or light colors you will probably never notice. The darker the areas the more noticable it becomes. It looks like something has been spilled on print in large areas. A stain if you will...


Exactly, we only see it in the dark areas, something is not right with the stuff, because the last roll was fine.
 

JJohnson

New Member
Are you using Aqueous or Solvent PhotoTex?
What RIP are you using?
What Printer?
Are you using a stock profile or did you build one?
Did you recalibrate when you got your new roll?

Solvent
Onyx X10
Mimaki JV33
I built a profile with the orginal roll and recalibrared it with the new roll. Don't think i should have to build a new profile with each roll, product should be more consistant then that.
 

JJohnson

New Member
Have you ever heard of media contamination...???

No, what is media contamination?

How could it be dirty? It came in a plastic bag, that was in a box.
 
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FatCat

New Member
No, what is media contamination?

How could it be dirty? It came in a plastic bag, that was in a box.

Yup, but believe it or not there can be issues during manufacturing that contaminate certain portions of material and those portions of the roll get shipped regardless. (Leaky bearing, bug or mouse gettting sucked into some rollers, someone spraying WD-40 on a part of the machine nearby...etc.)

You have to realize the scale of a place like 3M or Oracal that manufactures miles of this stuff. Things happen, and I've had 2-3 different rolls from different manufacturers in the last year that had contamination where I had to send it back and get replacements. No biggie, just part of the game.
 
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d fleming

New Member
Over the years I've sent back countless rolls of media, cut stock, cans of ink, printer cartridges ( just returned one to manufacturer, they had a replacement for me next day after call) , it's all part of mass production. I'm positive I've sent out screen printed items that were less than perfect, that's why I always overprint to be safe. You found one ugly coro in a box of one hundred prints? Count your box, I put in 103. I always order one extra shirt in each size for textile runs, I could screw one up or one could come with a hole in it. After a while I get a box of different size and color shirts to set up complex jobs with or make band shirts to toss in the crowd at gigs. Send the roll back for another and keep going. Sometime sooner or later it will happen again and you won't get quite as frazzled.
 

JJohnson

New Member
Exactly.

I would just return the roll and try a new one before bashing a product on an online forum... just because ONE roll didn't work for you! :thumb:

We did return it and the next one was the exact same thing. We returned that one and asked the dealer for a different lot, and that lot was the same. Now I'm wondering if I'm re-acting.
 

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royster13

New Member
Phone the manufacturer and ask them what they think....Many do not want their dealers selling product that is not up to their standards and they will get involved...
 

jschulze

New Member
Hi,

I just printed some mostly solid black Phototex panels with a Mimaki JV33 and was having the problem you described. I adjusted my heat settings lower and didn't use the take reel and the problems went away. I think it was a problem with the material slightly buckling and making the print inconsistant.

Phototex is also very to contaminate with with oil from your hands. Make sure to be careful when handling the material. The first wrap of the roll always needs to be thrown out as well. Good Luck.

Jordan
 

JJohnson

New Member
Hi,

I just printed some mostly solid black Phototex panels with a Mimaki JV33 and was having the problem you described. I adjusted my heat settings lower and didn't use the take reel and the problems went away. I think it was a problem with the material slightly buckling and making the print inconsistant.

Phototex is also very to contaminate with with oil from your hands. Make sure to be careful when handling the material. The first wrap of the roll always needs to be thrown out as well. Good Luck.

Jordan

We noticed it looks fine if we don't use the take-up reel, however even if we let it sit flat overnight, then roll it up to ship, the black area then will look bad.
 

Hotspotmedia

New Member
We use and love Photo Tex, maybe take your black down 20% as the issue may be the change in humidity in your place as it changes when using air condition to heat and this may be the issue with printing heavy solids. Otherwise, contact phototexgroup as they are wonderful in taking care of any questions I ever asked. I tested all the others and nothing worked indoors and outdoors like phototex. Tracy
 

skdave

New Member
We use Photo tex all the time and never have had any issues. Now I will try Samples from Mike at imprints.
 
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