Printing a banner, media keeps trailing off to the left causing a crooked print.

[Mike F]

I'm trying to print a 3'x30' banner, and after the first 5 - 10 feet, the media starts to trail off towards the left. It's bad enough that if I were to let it go past 10 feet, the right edge of the media wouldn't even be under the pinch roller on the right and the actual print would be going onto the platen. I've tried using only 2 pinch rollers, tried using as many as possible, and also tried using the media clamps with just 2 pinch rollers as well as with as many as possible. I'm using US Banner 18oz. Gloss Coral Double Sided Blockout Banner material. Any body have any suggestions? I've already wasted close to 35 feet of material trying to get this to print right and I really need to get it out today. Thanks in advance for any replies

 

[J Hill Designs]

load the media straight, unroll media from roll before printer has to 'tug' it

thats all i got, sry

 

[rushworks graphics]

we sometimes will see alittle drift, but nothing on that scale.

18oz is heavy stuff, so, heres what i would do..... use the 2 outer media clamps, do not use the rear clamps to hold the media at the back, unwind as much media at the back as possable so the machine is not pulling it through with the rollers, sit in front of the printer whilst printing and hold the edges and if you see any kind of drift, hold the edges and gently with alittle pressure keep it on track...do not pull it as you will get a fuzzy print!

 

[GoodPeopleFlags]

My banner material skews, too. It's 13oz. I have to keep alot of slack as it's coming off the roll or it will buckle and head strike. The printer people (Epson) blames the material (which is the recommended material and still happens after several rolls over the last 1.5 yrs???) and our vendor wants to blame the printer. I've just gotten used to keeping slack in it. Can't leave while it's printing, tho.

 

[CS-SignSupply-TT]

For any of you with the "drift", do you think the drift would be eliminated with a take-up reel?

 

[J Hill Designs]

it helps a bit..but the main problem i see is when it pulls off of a heavy roll

 

[FatCat]

Also, make sure your media clamps aren't loosening up on the ends of the feed roll. I sometimes got skewing on full or heavy rolls of media until I realized the ends were sliding out of the roll. I just put a piece of masking tape or scrap vinyl on it to make sure it doesn't move at all and no more issues.

 

[Gino]

If it's a new roll, the weight of a full 18oz media would be my first thought. Second, like mentioned, you need to make sure it's in there as perfectly straight as you can make it.... or it will just go off track regardless of clamps or other means of trying to stay straight.

If it's a 30"banner, why don't you just send it down the very middle and hope for the best ?? No matter how lousy you are at putting it in straight.... you can't go too far off one way or the other with like 11 inches on either side to spare...... or can you ??

 

[Ken]

On my Roland sp300 I find that the end caps come loose in the cardboad core causing some problems. I was able to tighten that up by wrapping some tape around the caps ( where they insert into the core)
Ken

 

[StarSign]

Are the rollers clean, old?

 

[Mike F]

I'm using the take-up reel, and I always unroll as much media as possible before starting the print when I do banners, and I make sure there's always some media unrolled during the entire printing process. It's 30', not 30", and it's a 38" roll of media so there's really only an inch of media on each side to spare, and that's for the hem. Even a 1/2" of drift to either side is kinda gonna screw things up. Rollers are all clean, and they're only about 7 - 8 months old.

Guess I'm gonna try to re-load it and really be meticulous about making sure it's straight. I'll also keep an eye on the media holder in the back. Someone on another forum also suggested using the arrow keys on the printer to advance the whole 30 feet out before printing just to make sure it'll run straight, then feed it back and re-roll it. Anyone have any thoughts on that? Sounds good to me in theory, although I'm not sure it'll run back through exactly the same in practice.

Thanks for the replies everyone, much appreciated, I'll let you all know how it goes, hopefully these tips will do the trick.

 

[Gino]

Next time get 54" wide media. It's not easy to print 30' without 1/4" or so skewing.

Do you realize that you can easily consider a 36" wide banner as being finished at 33-1/2" just like all the other banner companies ?? That's considered industry standard.... or at least 34-1/2"

Even a 2' x 4" board isn't a true 2" x 4". Nothing is ever what you order.


An old trick in this business was when someone ordered a 3' x 4' sign.... it was 32" x 48". Your yield was three pieces to a sheet. Thus your customer was happy at the cost savings and you didn't have to carry as much wood in the door to cut. No one ever notices those kinda savings..... or at least doesn't mind, once you explain them.

 

[Smacka]

Make sure the roll is not telescoped before you feed it. If the material is not wound straight (happens when you tip the roll on its end) on the roll it will feed crooked with no way to bring it back straight.

 

[Mike F]

Got it printed, just wanted to say thanks again for all the help everyone.

 

[CS-SignSupply]

Check for coning of the outside pinch rollers. They are supposed to be slightly cambered but over time, they will cone and cause tracking issues.

 

[Mike F]

Check for coning of the outside pinch rollers. They are supposed to be slightly cambered but over time, they will cone and cause tracking issues.

Forgive my ignorance, but what do you mean by coning?

 

[CS-SignSupply]

Dating myself I guess but skateboard wheels are a good example...

They are not concentric... One side of the roller is slightly smaller than the other (cambered in a sense). As they get worn, this will become more pronounced.

See image

 

[sfr table hockey]

Forgive my ignorance, but what do you mean by coning?

I think that would be a issue when the rollers wear more on one side and start to get a < cone shape to them. (oops too slow typing)

Do you use flanges on the rolls (they sit in the end of the rolls and keep the actual media off the support rails where you would normally set your media) they roll much easier with heavy media but you do have to do something about the flanges comming off on the heavy rolls. I use a threaded rod through the roll and flanges and use a quick nut on them to thread them tight to the roll and then they don't come off during print. Also I would think the media tracks better with them. I guess I have never tried without them.

 

[Mike F]

Dating myself I guess but skateboard wheels are a good example...

They are not concentric... One side of the roller is slightly smaller than the other (cambered in a sense). As they get worn, this will become more pronounced.

See image

Ah, I see, good analogy, actually just started skating again a few months ago to help get myself back in shape. Ontopic, from what I can see the pinch rollers look fine. I'll keep an eye out for that in the future though.

 

[CS-SignSupply]

I still skate around the house but no more half pipes. Last venture at Woodward park here in ATL resulted in two fractured elbows.

Keep us posted.