Roland SP-540V Printing Issue

[Signs4Realtors]

Help! I'm having a printing issue with my SP-540V using 13 oz. glossy banner material. Not sure why the banner material is bubbling when feeding through the printer and the print head is leaving a black ink mark when it crosses the raised/bubbled area of the banner material? I am printing a 32' x 52" banner (white background with large lettering for a bldg).

I'm tried with the "media type" = light weight banner material and then changed to GCVP and am having the same problem. I also cleaned the machine. Maybe the vacuum is not correct correct or the heater is not correct and that is why the bubbling is occuring when the material is feeding under the print head? I also cleaned the rollers and all of them are in?

Have to finish two of these banners tonight (yikes). Help, Thanks!

 

[Prism1]

Turn the heaters DOWN. The banner material is getting to hot.

 

[Signs4Realtors]

How do I turn the heaters down? Can I do this in the middle of a 32' long print? Thanks!

 

[Signs4Realtors]

Heater Config button displays
"Print" 102 on left and 104 on right
"Heater 104 on left and 106 on right

 

[ZsVinylInc]

How do I turn the heaters down? Can I do this in the middle of a 32' long print? Thanks!

Yes you can turn them down while printing. Just press the heater button on the front of the printer push the down arrow on either setting then hit enter. But this will only work if you have versaworks set up to use the printer settings and not the profile settings

 

[Signs4Realtors]

When I do that, it says "Busy" on the printer. I probably have Versaworks set to use the profile setting because I selected the "Media Type" = GCVP.

Is there a way I can check on the computer while it is printing?

DO YOU THINK THAT THE SETTINGS OF 102-106 ARE TOO HIGH FOR THE PRINT AND HEAT?

 

[Signs4Realtors]

Now the print says 100 on the left and 100 on the right
and the dryer says 100 on the left and 100 on the right
busy is still lite up.
Maybe the machine is lowering the heat while printing?
I previously hit the heat config button and lowered the settings?

 

[Signs4Realtors]

Attached is a picture of what's printed so far. The black ink is smearing in the same spot on the 54" roll?

 

[skdave]

Are you using the long or the short hold downs?

 

[Signs4Realtors]

Short

 

[Pacific Coast Sign]

It's not the heat, banners do not get hot enough to wrinkle while printing and once it reaches the drier heater it's beyond the print heads. How many pinch rollers are you using?
Look at the two outside pinch rollers, most likely you have flat spots (created by leaving the wheels in the down position too long when not printing) - which creates the bunching of media. Slowly rotate the pinch rollers and you'll see the flat area(s). Replace BOTH rollers (about $62 ea)

 

[Gene@mpls]

Might want to make sure the head height is 'high' as well- won't help the
wrinkles but you won't get head strikes on the smaller ones. Also try unrolling
the banner material on the feed end- I get wrinkles if feeding directly from a
fairly full (heavy) roll. I don't use extra rollers bth.

 

[skdave]

Short

Put the longs ones on and set the menu not to cut.

 

[jfiscus]

Again, use the long media clamps (but do NOT sheet cut until you removed them), put an extra roller or two in the middle, and double-triple check your media is fed straight.

Then, feed about 6-8" out in front of the machine, we sometimes hang some clamps onto this media to increase tension/weight until a bit more gets fed out while printing. Unroll as much banner as you can off the roll w/o it touching the floor & print. If it is a long banner, unroll more when necesary - I find that thee head strikes occur mostly when the banner is not unrolled properly.

If you still have trouble, raise the head height up to high (you could go ahead and do that if ya want), but I like to keep it on low for everything around here - much less overspray.

PS, if it just hits a "blank" area on the banner, the roland cleaning chemical will make it disappear.
Also, you can print a small patch if a banner gets a small blemish (using the same settings you used on the banner) of that area cropped in; we use this when changing a date for the banner to be re-used at a later time.

 

[petepaz]

i have the vp540 but still 54" and i use the long media clamps like mentioned already and i only use the 2 pinch rollers (1 on each end) and i don't have any problems
also if available on your model raise the print head (also mentioned earlier)

 

[Slamdunkpro]

Is it a new roll of vinyl? Is it rolled image out or image in? On my XC-540 I have to release the brake lever on the media roll (once loaded) or banner vinyl tends to cockle when the rolls are new and at their heaviest. I have to run Jetflex (rolled image in) with the brake released all the time or it cockles.

 

[tanneji]

We had the same issues and simply roll out vinyl in excess. Usually the weight is too much for the printer to pull by itself and creates wrinkles when it pulls on the weighty roll. Just try it out. Bet it works!

 

[Kentucky Wraps]

Some are right some are wrong. The banner material if cheap (Peak, Coral, etc) has more plastic and will losen a bit when heated, thus making it more susceptible to lifting.
Set your printer heater lower than 90, Dryer heater about 100, vaccum 100%, let out slack in the back if it's a newer (heavier) roll and only use the 2 outside pinch rollers.
Babysit it if you don't want to pay for a print head replacement until you have a feel for it. If you notice it starting to lift, pinch each side as close to the top as possible and pull outward. You'll see the lumps lay down. You not only don't want marks on your print (especially when it's almost done) but what you REALLY should be concerned the most about are those Head Strikes. Good Luck.

 

[Gino]

What tann said.........

Looking closely at your picture of the banner while printing.... it appears you don't have any slack out the back and are making the pinch rollers do the work with too much weight. This will always create bunching up for you. Try to keep slack off the back end and use more than just two pinch rollers to pull media through especially as you go up in scrim weight or double sided media.