Printing banners

[evie]

I have the 3M printing perfect, when I print the banners, i have tracking in the ink. I uploaded the proper icc profiles, do I need to reset the heaters for banner material? Any help would be appreciated.

 

[saktrnch]

Do you have your head on high or low?

 

[J Hill Designs]

whats tracking?

 

[evie]

Don't know where the head is setting, the tracking is the ink getting dragged or smeared on the graphic.

 

[J Hill Designs]

if it is due to banner material bunching up as it comes through, I lower my pre-platen temperature...(i set mine on 20/30/50, but alot of ppl here have success with higher temps) - you should find out how to raise the print head height (prob in the owners manual)

 

[AUTO-FX]

look in the picture, my finger is pointing to the head height adjustment lever . you would want it in the up position for banner media. it is in the up position in this picture.

 

[AUTO-FX]

sorry the picture's blurry. it's the horizontal silver pin.

 

[Conor Knoxx]

on mine (1204 valuejet) its an orange lever - pretty much same spot.

I've had that trouble too..
and have only the dryer heat on when doing banners - it tends to pucker between the rollers otherwise.

 

[evie]

Okay, I moved the head up, and lost the tracking, but my colors changed significantly, the purple one is the correct color, with the tracking, the pink is bad color, no tracking:

 

[PressPrintGraphics]

Did you change the profile? My colors don't change that much when just adjusting the head height.

Also, try unrolling some slack from the core on the back of the machine when printing banner material, helps it to prevent from buckling.

GL with it.

 

[evie]

I didn't change the color profile, and I went ahead and lowered the head and gave the media some slack. When I powered up the machine, I get an error message:
MH010 Error [RTL]

 

[Flame]

Waittttttt, you don't know heater settings or head height yet?

New to printing? lol.

Head height should NOT alter the way color is laid down, atleast not in the way you're showing. Something else is going on here for sure.

I run essentially zero heat when printing banners, then let them dry on a rack.

 

[J Hill Designs]

maybe your C head clogged up from all of the tracking...(head strikes)

 

[PressPrintGraphics]

I'd run a cleaning cycle, definitely keep the head up when printing banners, and unroll some slack from the roll when printing (and keep some slack in it). Colors shouldn't vary like shown just by adjusting the head height.

Def. run a cleaning cycle, then give it a shot again with the head in the high position. If the color is that off with the same profile & media, something is going on. Good luck with it, hopefully this will remedy the situation though..

 

[evie]

I cant do anything with the error message. does anyone know what this means? MH010 Error [RTL]

 

[saktrnch]

I'm guessing with the head strikes some of the jets are plugged. As mentioned run a cleaning cycle and then a test print to see if all of the jets are working. And I'd be on the phone with tech support. Good luck.

 

[evie]

Ok, got rid of the error message, ran a cleaning, now I can't get the job out of the print queue. I deleted the printer and everything, when I reinstall the printer, even if I rename it, the print job keeps coming back. I hate digital printing already.

 

[thmooch]

Is the Data light on the printer flashing? If so cancel the job by pushing the cancel button.

 

[J Hill Designs]

I hate digital printing already.

When that first print comes off without a hitch, you will love it...

When that first head clogs up and needs replaced, you'll hate it again...

 

[evie]

No flashing, says Plot Okay, it is just in Flexi that I can't clear the print queue