Need Help Rf-640 multistrike or overprint

[altereddezignz]

Tryiing to print on clear and reflective. Needing to use the overprint feature aka double pass.
Basically print on layer of ink then come back and print another.
On an actual print cut machine there is an option to return to origin and you can just reprint again to apply a new layer over the original.
Based on Rolands site for VersaWorks you just select custom print options and select the amount of overprints, 1,1 or 3.

The when it prints the design one time it just stops and it is done. It does not multi pass over the ink again at the end of the job or during the print.

When i used onyx at a prior job on a different printer it would span the media laying down one layer of ink then wait at the edge a predetermined time then lay another layer of ink over the one it just put down.
I CANNOT GET VERSAWORKS AND THE ROLAND PRINTER TO DO THIS.

Like i said if it was a print cut machine i could select the return to origin and it would go back to the exact location it started to print the first time and i could reprint the file again for an exact overprint once again.

Can anyone help?
Thanks.

Ps i have tried for 3 days now to get to talk to tech support at roland with no luck and leaving voice mails with no one calling me back.

 

[altereddezignz]

Anyone have any ideas?

 

[crny1]

I know when I select multipass in versa it will print alot slower and does not return to the origin and print again. I think with this selected it is essentianlly doing multipasses when it really seems like just 1 print. I can definately see a difference with translucent when this is selected so I am pretty sure that is how its suppose to work. THis is on a xc540 machine though with versa.

 

[shoresigns]

The Overprint x2 option in Versaworks is what you're looking for. That's how you do a double strike print on a Roland. Yes, it prints both strikes at the same time, that's just how it works.

 

[altereddezignz]

The Overprint x2 option in Versaworks is what you're looking for. That's how you do a double strike print on a Roland. Yes, it prints both strikes at the same time, that's just how it works.

This is not an actual double strike tho. It just tries to lay down 2 layers of ink quantity In one pass? What I am looking for is for the printer to run the width f the media and backtrack across the same pass it just made laying a layer of ink over it. It may be a driver or printer restriction but with onyx and epson it can be done.

I am just trying to duplicate that. I’ll try it again but so far I have had poor to horrible results.

 

[mikesign]

Why do you need to do a double print. Why not just print at a higher resolution which should lay down more ink as it prints...

 

[altereddezignz]

The higher at resolution on reflective still let’s the reflective show though on black. I have yet to find a 1440x1440 profile. All are 1440x720.

 

[shoresigns]

The higher at resolution on reflective still let’s the reflective show though on black. I have yet to find a 1440x1440 profile. All are 1440x720.

You're always going to have reflective showing through on black ink to some degree. Your ink is translucent, not opaque.

If you want an opaque black on reflective, you have to use cut vinyl. Public street signs are often done that way, with the colours digitally printed and the black lettering laid overtop in vinyl.

This is not an actual double strike tho. It just tries to lay down 2 layers of ink quantity In one pass? What I am looking for is for the printer to run the width f the media and backtrack across the same pass it just made laying a layer of ink over it. It may be a driver or printer restriction but with onyx and epson it can be done.

I am just trying to duplicate that. I’ll try it again but so far I have had poor to horrible results.

As I said, that's how Roland printers do a double strike – all in one pass. Did you try my suggestions of cranking up the heat, slowing down the head speed, etc.? We have no issues with the double overprint on our Roland XC-540. By the way, I'm only referring to double strike on translucent – we've never tried double strike on reflective because single strike works just fine for us.

 

[altereddezignz]

So I got it to work but put down way to much ink lol. Heat up, set up a spot coot and told it what cmyk to change to out of versaworks and then set overprint to 2. Pretty sure heat up and spot color change and double strike.
Now I didn’t have time to test single strike and spot color correction. For some reason even if I choose a color out of rolands pallet swatches I still never get a true black unless I do 0-0-0 in rgb but even at that it gets changes to a lighter black in versaworks when it rips it to cmyk. Only have this issue tho on reflective or clear not on white vinyl. I’m going to do some more testing tho. Thanks you everyone for the helpful information. Glad to know there are still communities that are willing to help.

 

[shoresigns]

VersaWorks' canned profiles combined with the default colour management setting (Prepress US) will give you a lot of colour issues, including lighter blacks, green/yellow tint on greyscale, and awful reds.

If you're not creating your own media profiles, try some from another manufacturer like Avery, 3M, Oracal. Whatever you can find that's compatible with your printer. We don't create our own profiles here (yet), but we found that using Avery profiles, and changing the colour management setting to Sign & Display, fixed all of the above issues.