The thing that I encountered the most is people trying to print on double-sided paper.
So, here for example, is the Neenah Blox-Lite Poster Paper, which I can run,
with some finesse, um, on a 360, 500.
This was done on a 365.
But to run it double-sided, yeah, even though it's a blockout paper, you know,
there's enough opacity here to technically print double-sided,
I have not been terribly successful running paper double-sided.
I have not found one, an actual paper-paper, that I thought was a good idea to run double-sided.
Um, I can get them to run.
I can get mostly to work.
But there's a bit too much waste.
And a lot of it simply has to do with, say, on a 54 or 60-inch wide paper,
the memory of the paper is so strong and you're printing on side A,
then you're bringing it back through and running it on side B, and the paper just tends to Cockle.
There's just too much work to fight that paper,
and you're almost molding it in two different directions after applying ink which is water based on to paper.
I would not consider paper to be an application for double-sided printing on the small Latex printers.
I'm not saying you can't do it.
I'm not saying a clever person can't figure it out.
I'm not saying a clever person picking the right paper can't figure it out.
I'm just saying that we haven't found one that we really like.
I haven't seen one where I said, ah, I that really solves this problem, and so, therefore,
I tend to steer clear of paper until I find something I really think is good.
Now, I have found a couple new ones, which I don't have with me yet, they're still a little bit in R&D.
One of them is made by Natura, and the other one is made by Kernow,
and the, the, Kernow is called the Verso,
and that is a double-sided polypropylene that,
uh, or double-sided polyester that is designed to be able to print side A and side B.
That is very promising.
Um, that may be available soon on the Media Locator.
We're looking into it.
But those are the only two, and neither of those are really paper.
They're more of a polyester or coded polypropylene, which would be a synthetic paper.
But they're not technically made, uh, from trees.
They're not paper.
So, blockout scrim banner, primary, great choice.
No issues.
The more heat resistant the better.
You're looking for a blockout liner.
Next come your various, uh, polyesters, polypropylene's.
You can do them.
You're going to probably have to run them slow.
Usually you're looking for a media that has some degree of, uh, coating, possibly an aqueous-compatible coating.
And then you're looking for something that would be opaque enough to work through the Latex printer.
Now, you can do blockout fabric.
There are white, bla, it's called white/black/white fabrics.
They essentially take two white fabrics and they heat them together with a black blockout liner.
Those will work double-sided.
And there's many on the market.
Uh, I believe that, um, Senfa has one.
Uh, certainly, Aurora Textiles has one.
Fisher has one.
Uh, it's called a white/black/white, blockout fabric.
Those generally work quite well on the Latex.
I have very good success with those, for the most part, assuming the properties of the
textile travel through the printer properly.
You can certainly look at paper.
I wouldn't consider it a high choice.
And then you have your temperature sensitive, um, double-sided, like a super smooth banner.
Those can run double-sided.
But usually you're going to have to lower the heat, much as you do with the polypropylenes and the PETs.
So, choosing the right material, key.
Scrim banner, blockout, yes.
Paper, probably not.
From there, let me discuss a few other aspects for setting up double sided printing,
how you plan and prepare for it.
And then, later, we'll show you, within the RIP, how I set certain pieces of it up so
that everything runs smoothly and easily.