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Print on fluorescent vinyl help

filipa leite

New Member
We make graphics kit for motorcycles etc. we have a roland truevis vg3 that prints white too but we are having problems printing on fluorescents The black comes out very well, the other colors don't, they don't stay even, has anyone had this problem and know how I can solve it??
IMG-20230315-WA0006.jpg

IMG-20230315-WA0004.jpg
 

White Haus

Not a Newbie
What does your white nozzle check look like?

Doesn't look like the white is laying down a solid layer and the overprinted colors are reflecting that.

Black will look better because it's just darker/more opaque.

If white nozzle check is fine, try slowing head speed way down or increasing passes. We used to print white underlay with our XR-640 and had to print very slowly in order to not have overlay colors pool or look like crap.

There were times where we would even have it print white only then return to base point, then send cmyk prints down, but that's far from ideal.
 

petepaz

New Member
either the white is too heavy or not dry.
another issue is the fluorescent may not be printable so the ink is not absorbing/drying
 

filipa leite

New Member
What does your white nozzle check look like?

Doesn't look like the white is laying down a solid layer and the overprinted colors are reflecting that.

Black will look better because it's just darker/more opaque.

If white nozzle check is fine, try slowing head speed way down or increasing passes. We used to print white underlay with our XR-640 and had to print very slowly in order to not have overlay colors pool or look like crap.

There were times where we would even have it print white only then return to base point, then send cmyk prints down, but that's far from ideal.
noozle check is ok
I think it will be the temperature, I did some tests and it came out better!
Thank you very much!!
 

DL Signs

Never go against the family
Technically that's not a printable vinyl... But like everything else we print on that we're not supposed to, passes, speed, heat all play a factor in how it turns out, especially with white solvent inks. Slow, hot & many passes is usually the winning combination.
 

Superior_Adam

New Member
Few things to look at. First is that vinyl suited for printing? Most colored films are not compatible for Eco Solvent inks. Not saying it cant be done but results may not be great. If your wanting a red to print good on that you will have to lay down a pretty heavy coat of white ink down. Black may work fine but it is dark and other colors will need a good white base. I am not sure Eco Solvent white will be a good enough white base to get good colors on that material.
 

jfiscus

Rap Master
You could also print to a clear cast vinyl, laminate it, and laminate that combo onto the fluorescent vinyl.
 

bob

It's better to have two hands than one glove.
the vinyl is hexis, but if black looks good shouldn't the other colors look good?
Black is opaque and does not require a white point of any kind. You can print black on any receptive surface of any color and it will come out black. Printing any other color requires a proper white point in order to properly reproduce it.

Rather than screwing around with laying down a layer of white, just print a color chart using no white on the media you want to use. Then find the color on that chart that is the closest match of the color you need. and print it sans white. Much faster and no gnashing of teeth and pulling of hair.
 

MikePro

New Member
glad you found a fix! i would have suggested, as a last resort, to simply laminate the vinyl with a clear printable overlam, and let your print sink its teeth into that layer.
 

filipa leite

New Member
glad you found a fix! i would have suggested, as a last resort, to simply laminate the vinyl with a clear printable overlam, and let your print sink its teeth into that layer.
It was an idea, but then I still had to laminate it again, it would be a lot of layers I think
 

MikePro

New Member
yeah, 3 layers is a lot but its doable if you use cast overlam that won't shrink & pull at the bottom layers. Not my standard practice, as it adds 50% more cost to your materials, but I've done it plenty of times while trying to print onto exotic materials that simply don't want to accept ink or feed properly through the printer.
 
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