Probably ten times a week I get a roll of media, and I've never seen it before.
It is not on the HP Media Locator.
I don't know where it came from.
I di… I might know what it does.
And someone's asking me, hey will this work with a Latex printer.
And I have an approach to media and how I run it, that I think by communicating will
help many of you who get strange rolls all the
time that are not on the HP Media Locator.
You don't know whether it works.
And you got to figure out, how do I run this.
The first thing, is to figure out if the roll that you have is
similar to a material that's already on the Media Locator.
You know, that's illustrated in the video I made about um, finding, uh, surrogates.
You know, similar compliments.
You know, you have a cotton fabric.
There's a cotton fabric on the Locator.
They're probably pretty similar.
But, a lot of times, I have no idea whether the media I have on…
I don't even know what to associate it with.
For example, this is a product by Visual Magnetics.
Visual Magnetics create a sign system.
It's a magnetic-base sign system.
This is the Poly Eight.
And Visual Magnetics has some very, very fascinating, really, really cool stuff.
But I don't know if this Poly Eight is going to work.
You know, it may not be on the Media Locator for my Latex printer.
It may be for some, or maybe not for others.
But I want to use this as an illustration for sort of how I approach the problem.
Ultraflex, for example, has a very similar product called Signetics.
And I know that that is on the Media Locator for some of the Latex printers.
But the way I approach it is, the first thing I want to figure out is how temperature sensitive is it.
Now, I need to kind of have a read on, does this thing turn to bubblegum, you know, at 220 degrees
Because if it does, I'm going to have to lower the heat accordingly.
I divide all media, largely into two groups.
Front lit and backlit.
Back lit also includes most fabrics.
It can also include translucents or clears where I'm putting a lot of ink down.
Usually anything over 170 percent density, I put into a separate category,
and I start at about 16 pass.
Now, anything that's front lit… this is a front lit material.
That is, it's going to be seen refractively.
I'm no illuminating it with a light.
It's not going to go into a window.
It's not going into a light box.
It's not a fabric, a soft textile.
This material is front lit, front reading.
I start all front lit printing; polypropylenes, banners, polyethylenes, PET front lit films.
In this case, this is some kind of film.
It doesn't matter what category so much, whether it's adhesive vinyl, or PVD banner, or canvas.
I'm going to run any front lit material at 12 pass to start.
Twelve pass is where I evaluate the material.
Twelve pass, for me, is the slowest acceptable front lit speed that also will allow me
the most ink with the lowest temperature, and give me the highest quality.
So, I call it my 12 pass, high-quality mode.
I'm going to put as much ink as the material will take and
build the best-looking print I possibly can, front reading.
So, this Visual Magnetics Poly Eight, I would load on at 12 pass and then get some kind
of understanding, sometimes by going to the manufacturers site,
how temperature sensitive it is.
But, a lot of times, I just have to pull the trigger, and choose a temperature.
So, let's say I choose 220 degrees, 12 pass, and I run the first color calibration chart.
So, I know the speed I'm running.
That's predetermined.
I always run 12 pass to begin.
Then I choose a temperature that I think makes sense.
And then I run that first chart.
Now, when I see it coming out of the printer, if it's all turning to bubblegum,
it's warping everyplace, I just stop it right there, and I know I'm way too hot.
Then I'm going to adjust the heat.
So, let's say 220 on this, just… the media goes bananas.
Okay, that's not going to work.
Now I'm going to do 12 pass, 200.
Run the same chart.
How does it look?
Okay, now I'm well under the media's temperature threshold,
and then I can figure out how much ink I can put down.
So, you've got to kind of got the first… the first real determination is temperature.
I've already chosen speed.
Because I'm going to choose a slower speed to see what the read on the media is first.
Then I'm going to dial in the temperature.
And then all that remains is how much ink can i put down.
So, let's say, this media requires 200 degrees to be stable.
Twelve pass will allow me enough temperature to then,
say, get 100 percent ink density at 200 degrees.
Everything looks great.
That's my high saturation.
Keep in mind, Latex is printing 1200dpi through all modes, so, resolution is not changing.
But what's changing is how much ink you can put down.
That's partly determined by how much heat can go on the media.
So, I do test all medias – paper, adhesive, vinyl, banner, any oddball stuff
all gets run at 12 pass to start.
Now, if at 12 pass it's a knockout; takes heat, looks great, everything's spectacular.
Twelve pass, 120 percent density, love it.
Now, I know that there's a very good probability that I can build a 10-pass mode,
an eight-pass mode, a six-pass mode, or possibly even a four-pass mode.
But I'm going to start someplace to get a read on a material, because I don't know how it runs.
I have no idea how this material performs.
If you were to start at eight pass, you might conclude this material is not compatible with latex.
Not true.
It's not compatible with eight pass, 235 degrees on latex.
Perfectly compatible with 12 pass, 200 degrees on latex.
And since we run so many different medias, I find that methodology to be very helpful.
I'm going to want a high-speed, or a, uh… a high-quality mode anyway,
so the first mode I try to lock down is, what's my quality.
And that's 12 pass.
Then I consider, well if it fails at 12 pass, I may have to go to 16.
Certain magnetics – 020 magnetic, for example – that's going to perform best.
Sixteen pass, because I have to slow it down to lower the temperature
so I can still put enough ink to have a high-quality print.
That's my methodology for approaching all the new medias that I encounter.
I start with 12 pass on the front lit.
If it's a fabric or back lit, I start at 16 pass.
And if it's even a front lit that's very temperature sensitive,
I'll find out at 12 pass whether that needs to migrate to 16,
which I prefer not to do because there's a… there's a speed drop.
But 12 usually gives me my first read.
That usually provides me with the information I need to know.
So, my methodology; it's just a simple shorthand.
I found it to be very effective.