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Using Magnetic Material Tips

T

Taylor Made Print

New Member
Im using a Mimaki cjv30 and im looking to print directly on some magnetic material for some fridge magnets. This seems to be quote a common material that's used in the print world but ive purchased some material from eBay and they have emailed after the sale stating they are not held responsible for the use of the item as the magnetic pull may have an effect on the printer.

Has anybody printed directly onto magnetic material before ? I thought this was quote a common thing but now this has got me thinking.
 
jfiscus

jfiscus

Rap Master
"Printable" Magnetic rolls always seem to have a real cheap coating on them for printing, which leads to printing defects and bad image quality. We switched all of our magnets over to be printed & laminated with regular materials, then mount that to the magnets and cut them down. We also now cut them all down by hand, as the weight of the rolls is hard on the plotters and they plot inconsistent sizes.
 
brdesign

brdesign

New Member
jfiscus said:
"Printable" Magnetic rolls always seem to have a real cheap coating on them for printing, which leads to printing defects and bad image quality. We switched all of our magnets over to be printed & laminated with regular materials, then mount that to the magnets and cut them down. We also now cut them all down by hand, as the weight of the rolls is hard on the plotters and they plot inconsistent sizes.
Click to expand...
This is the way. To me it's not worth the headache or risk of damaging a printhead by running magnet material through the printer.
 
Gino

Gino

Premium Subscriber
I try to print them all on the flatbed. No problems at all. I've heard the magnetic pull can harm certain parts in the machines. Never once put the magnetic through the printer.

I have printed onto cast vinyl and laminated and had the magnetics come back after they puckered up and off the magnetic several times, so we try to stay away from the vinyl method.
 
DL Signs

DL Signs

Never go against the family
Used to do it years ago on a roland, before flatbeds were everywhere... Worked best with the thinner magnetic material, had to make my own profile, run it with head as high as it would go, slow, uni-directional, and a ton of passes. It can be done, but time wise alone you're better off printing on vinyl, laying it on the magnet material, and trimming it. Also had an old "out of service" roland cutter that I used to cut magnets in shapes, saved all my old worn out blades for it because it destroys them anyway. I'd cut just deep enough where you could just tear the shapes out, worked ok for basic shapes, circles, etc, but no good for anything intricate. I don't recommend any of this if you care about your equipment, but it can be done.
 
Solventinkjet

Solventinkjet

DIY Printer Fixing Guide
The problem with magnetic is, is the convenience of not having to print on vinyl and then laminating it on the magnet worth a possible head crash costing $$$$ in repairs? The answer will be different depending on how much risk you're willing to take and how much you're making on the magnets. A bad head strike on regular vinyl can damage a head beyond repair. A head strike on magnet is 100 times worse because, unlike the vinyl, the magnet doesn't give when it's hit. So the head will take more of an impact and irreparable damage is even more likely. That being said, I've seen many people take the risk and come out ahead. I've also done the repairs for the unlucky ones.
 
R

RabidOne

New Member
We always print magnet on the flatbed, works fine. Would never consider it on a roll printer. That sounds dangerous.
 
SightLine

SightLine

║▌║█║▌│║▌║▌█
On your Mimaki you would also need to rig up some sort of infeed and outfeeds to keep the magnet off the pre and post heaters as those are steel. I actually did it once years ago on our older JV33. Worked but the print quality was not very good and was just an overall pain in the butt.
 
Joseph44708

Joseph44708

I Drink And I Know Things
I just recieved another 60 - 30"x50' rolls of magnet material.
I will be printing all shapes and sizes on a Roland XR-640 solvent ink printer then cutting on a Graftec FC2250.
My suggestion in having great results is to take your time and make sure everything is feeding straight and set the head height to high.
 

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G

GaSouthpaw

Profane and profane accessories.
A number of folks have already said it, but... it's a total P.I.T.A. with a roll to roll, even on the sprocket-fed Gerber Edge that had a magnetic material specifically made for it. It would almost always "grab" on the one piece of exposed metal and get all fouled up.
When you're printing, you risk a head strike on a material that's much less forgiving than most media. When plotting, you have to cover every single bit of steel, run rea-a-a-a-a-a-l slow, and make sure the material feeds straight.
If you have a flatbed printer and cutter, it's easy peasy. Otherwise, printing on vinyl and applying is going to be much less stressful and potentially costly.
 
Joseph44708

Joseph44708

I Drink And I Know Things
I just finished printing the 6th 50ft roll in two weeks of magnet material roll to roll.
Printed Roland XR-640 then cut on Graftec FC-2250.
400% Profit Per Roll
 
petepaz

petepaz

New Member
we commonly use the .030 magnetic. i have put it through our roland printers and it was ok but seems to encounter static issues. we have run it on our uv flatbed printers with no issues.
the only thing that i think can be an issue when using a roll printer is if the magnetic sticks to anything while going through the machine. if there is any metal that magnetic sticks to then it won't work on hat machine.
 
Gino

Gino

Premium Subscriber
What I don't understand is that....... while the solvent machines preheat and post heat all kindsa vinyls, banner materials and other media.... how on earth does it preheat a magnet for proper adhesion ?? Thee's no printer made, whose little heaters can penetrate a magnet at .010 or .030.
 
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