Rough Edges

[daenterpri]

Thusfar, it seems like the edges on all of the decals I print are very rough. Here is an example of a red and black decal I just did. You can see how the edges are all really rough. The colors are much clearer than when I used to have these ink-jetted, but the edges look horrible.

Any ideas? Or is this just how it has to be?

Also, in the red "A", you see a white spec in the upper left Almost all of my stickers have some random white spec where it did not print. Is that because of dust?

Offsite pic replaced. Please observe our rules on photo posting.

 

[Malkin]

The rough stepped edges are due to the pixel based nature of the Edge's print head. Any line that is not exactly parallel or perpendicular to the print head will look like that. Obviously when you look at it magnified it will be even more noticeable. It looks like that on screen in Composer for a similar reason, the screen itself is pixel based. Some software use anti-aliasing to reduce the stepped appearance on screen, but Composer doesn't.

I would guess that those red letters are around 3/4" high?

 

[daenterpri]

How tall are those decals?

The decals are about 2" tall

I would guess that those red letters are around 3/4" high?

That's about right.

So, is it normal to sell a decal like this? If you don't look really closely, you don't really notice it. Just bugs me.

 

[Ponto]

...commonly called a "sawtooth" edge.......inherent with low resolution output devices

JP

 

[Malkin]

In 10-12 years of producing Edge graphics & decals we have never had a complaint about that particular quirk.

I have had a complaint about the low resolution in regards to printing CMYK images, an inkjet is certainly better for that.

 

[gabagoo]

Theso called dust speckles can be dust, especially at this time of year. I remember they said to clean the material first with distilled water and that will help. What I actually found to be the cause of a lot of the so called dust specs was not dust at all but small craters in the actual vinyl preventing the head to get close enough to drop the foil in those areas.
I will be honest and say that using 3m 220 Edge ready vinyl solved a lot of the dust issues and lets face it, the machine was designed to be used with that material. Costs more but the reprints are cut way down

 

[daenterpri]

In 10-12 years of producing Edge graphics & decals we have never had a complaint about that particular quirk.

Gotcha, well that's encouraging. Definitely invested a lot of time and money in this setup, and I really enjoy it.

 

[daenterpri]

I will be honest and say that using 3m 220 Edge ready vinyl solved a lot of the dust issues and lets face it, the machine was designed to be used with that material.

Thanks for the tips! I'm using the 3M 220, been told it's the only way to go.

 

[Fred Weiss]

I would add that to reduce the dropouts, always run a short block of printing when the Edge is first turned on. The will help to distribute the heat more evenly across the printhead. I use a rectangle that is 11.8" tall x 3" wide.

 

[gabagoo]

I would add that to reduce the dropouts, always run a short block of printing when the Edge is first turned on. The will help to distribute the heat more evenly across the printhead. I use a rectangle that is 11.8" tall x 3" wide.

agree 100%

 

[daenterpri]

Also, when I'm done editing a decal like that in Composer, do I save it as a GSP .AI file? What is the best format so that it remembers all my work?