I want to discuss a vexing issue that we've had with some latex printers regarding panel printing.
There are considerations that you should know before you try to print longer panel jobs.
We have a system.
I've written a system out for you.
We're also going to have nice details on the slides going through these in step by step.
But I want to explain particularly for wall covering printers, and, uh, fleet panel printers.
If you're doing a lot of panels, this is important, this will help you.
We feel that these steps, although some of them seem a little fastidious,
every little detail matters when you're doing a large panel job.
You have to check off this list.
This list will help you, going through these steps,
consistently print accurate panels in very tight requirements.
But you have to go through the steps.
So, let me explain them to you.
They're fairly straightforward.
I think when we're done, they'll all makes sense.
This is how you do panel printing.
Now there's another part of this video, which I'm going to introduce a new tool,
a, uh, an assembly part that we've introduced.
This assembly, which we call a counterweight assembly, sometimes I call it a cantilever assembly,
is an attachment to the dancer bar that reduces the tension significantly for the take-up roll.
Now I have four printers that I print with in the Demo Center in Alpharetta, Georgia and I don't need this.
I'm not having any issues.
I do event panels and I'm not having troubles.
So, this is distributed on a case by case basis.
But if you're doing panel printing and you have some kind of suspicion that maybe you need these,
contact your HP support line, ask for the, uh,
counterweight assembly for panel printing, and they will send you a kit.
That's what I have behind me right here.
So, we're going to get to this in a moment.
I have not put this on to the printer, mostly because, I,
I wanted to show you what it looks like in the box and what the parts are just,
so you have an idea what you're going to get.
It has a handy instruction sheet on it, it's very easy to use, it walks you through the steps.
It's probably a half an hour tops.
It's a "can't miss" assembly.
But if you're going to do panel printing and you feel that that's very important,
order this assembly, we'll send it to you.
Again, it's an outlier.
It's not for everyone.
It's just for people doing long panel jobs, particularly wall covering and fleet graphics,
so we have an answer for you.
OK to start, first you want to make sure that your skew, when you load this in, is very tight.
You do not want to lose skew.
Now I do a manual load and the default settings, I believe, are 118.
What you want to do is change that from 118 down to 40.
40 is going to be very tight, and it's going to be a little frustrating 'cause you're going to load the material in.
You're going to get it perfectly straight.
You're going to drop the little blue lever, and it's going to say, nope, do it again, and nope, do it again.
It takes a little feel for it for you to get it right and it may take a few times, but it's worth doing.
Now you may not need 40, which is very tight, but you want to tighten it up from the default settings.
You want to make sure that your skew, the tolerances, when this material rolls straight down, are very tight.
You don't want any drift on this thing.
We're going to load this up on to a take-up roll and we're going to run you know,
let's say 10 panels, 10 feet tall, 48 inches wide, and you definitely don't want to have troubles with skew.
That has to be very accurate.
Panel printing is all about precision.
So, number one, tighten the skew setting.
Number two, make sure that your core, the tip of your core, is flush.
Often times I've seen cores where this isn't completely flat.
It's a little uneven, and then when it pushes up against that black spindle cap,
it isn't right up against it, there's some play there, you don't want any play.
So, make sure this is nice and flush against that spindle cap.
You do not want any drift and you don't want any play in it.
So that's key.
Um, if you have to, cut it down.
Most of the time this will not be an issue.
But I have seen that where the, the material is not quite on the core, uh, or, this,
the core is not quite cut flat, and the material is on off from it a little bit, and that causes some issues.
Next, you're going to want to put the roll on the inside position.
You have two positions on this spindle, you have the outside and then you have the inside.
You want to put it on the inside.
Most panel printing is 54 inches, especially for wall covering.
Probably also true of most vehicle wraps.
Most vehicle panels would be a 54-inch roll.
There are some 60-inch cases.
Those can also go on the inside, so make sure you place it in that position.
All right.
Next.
Use the counterweight.
This is the counterweight assembly.
Essentially it attaches down at the bottom of the dancer bar.
The instructions are very clear.
There is here, here's the hardware assembly that comes with it, comes in a box, it looks like this,
and then these are the weights.
What we're doing, in effect, so you understand it, and this is all very self-evident when you get the box.
What you're doing in effect is we are trying to reduce the weight from the dancer bar as much as possible.
We want to put as little pressure on to the panels, on to the roll, as we possibly can.
We want just enough to have it go through the printer.
Now the reason we're not really recommending these counterweight assemblies for everyone
is just because you print on wall covering on a big panel job like, let's say Dreamscape
Suede, this will be quite helpful.
What you don't want to do is run a bunch of fabric where you do need more tension,
and now you have the counterweights and it's interfering with that stronger tension that you need for
the fabric, in which case you may need to remove the weights so that you can run the fabric roll.
So, a big panel job will benefit from the counterweight.
But some other materials, it may, uh, impede the tension we want to have it travel through.
So just be aware of that.
That's why we're using this counterweight on a case by case basis.
So, put your counterweights together and use that.
Also, load your TUR, TUR is our word for take-up roll, load your take-up roll carefully.
A lot of troubles that people have with panel printing is that they don't want to put it on the take-up reel
ahead of time 'cause they don't want to waste the media.
But if you put it on the take-up roll while it's printing, which you can do, you lose two advantages.
One, you're probably not going to be as accurate as I would be if I put it on when it's not printing
and make sure everything is perfect.
And then second, you're not going to take advantage of the recalibration
that the OMAS does on the 360 and 370 once the take-up reel is applied.
When you initiate the take-up rule, and take-up roll, and you say Enable from the front printer panel,
it recalibrates automatically on a 360 and a 370 to compensate for the tension on the take-up roll.
Ideally, you want to do that again because the tension with and without the take up roll can be a little different.
The step alignment adjustment might be just a hair different.
Now on a 310 and 330, you do not have this option because you do not have the OMAS.
What you would do then, is go into the front panel after you've put the take- up roll on,
after you've hit Enable, and then you run a step alignment chart.
It's from the Image Quality Selection tab.
That step alignment chart is going to show you a print chart that goes from darkest on
the two sides to the lightest point.
You're going to choose the number on the lightest point.
In my printers, it's usually like negative one or negative two.
But it's a little different, 'cause normally it's zero, with no take-up roll.
So obviously the take-up roll is having a little bit of an effect.
This is going to be more negligible if you use the counterweights
because they're putting very little pressure now through the dancer bar.
But still, it's worth doing if you're interested in precision, and panel printing is all about precision.
OK so be aware that when you put it on the take-up roll, you want it very even on there.
Another thing that I frequently do is I make sure that the core that it's coming from and
the core that it's going to are exactly the same size.
I want to duplicate the top roll and the bottom roll as much as possible.
I want a perfect straight down travel path with no variations and no fluctuation in skew.
Now the next one is, um, uh, choose a media-specific preset from the Media Locator, or build your own.
But look at the Media Locator.
So, for example, if you were to go to Dreamscape Suede, what that is,
we have a, pro, preset for that on the Media Locator.
What you're looking for is something that's real specific.
We have, especially for PVC wall coverings, very specific temperatures and vacuum settings.
If your temperature is too warm, it can deform the media or allow it to stretch a little.
If your temperature, if your, uh, vacuum is too strong, it may impede the free flow of
the media across the platen.
These things become, um, dialing in your preset is more important when you're running a panel
job than it is if you're just running any old adhesive vinyl for some decals.