Tricks for Double Sided Printing on UV Flatbed

[Steve Prince]

I'm getting ready to print double sided 18x24 coroplast signs on a 4x8 sheet on a Colorspan 5445. I know I need to rotate the image, but other than that, I'm not sure. I know I'll sacrifice my first couple of sheets before I figure it out.

Do most people export the substrate border in white so it spaces it out properly, or no border (sign size/shape) and center everything or? Or lay out the full 4x8 sheet and then export?



Thanks for any tips

Steve

Superfast Signs

[Simon Belmont]

you just got that printer didn't you? I know because they just came out and we bought one but have yet to receive it. When i set up the art I will put start with a white object the size of my final product (e.g. "18x24"). From there I will rip it using the correct profile and set my number of copies (10 in this case). Onyx will automatically nest these prints with the set spacing ( I would use 0" for this job because of the white border). just print, flip then print again.
if you need to rotate, just go back to the file, rotate, and re-rip.
What rip software are you using?

[Steve Prince]

Yes, We've had it just a few weeks. I'm designing in Signlab and using Onyx Postershop. Originally I thought I would need to rotate but didn't since I'm running the flutes vertical.

I just laid it all out as 1 job in Signlab. I'm looking forward to going in tomorrow with your info and try it the right way. I'm sure it'll save time in the future.

Thanks,

Steve

www.superfastsigns.net

[DoubleDown]

Steve,

We have a 9840 and what we have found is that one...coroplast is almost never cut straight so the trick is to either make sure at least two sides are perfectly straight or find a common dominator that you can constantly line up with.

If possible, it's worth the time to make sure every side is a straight line before you start.

But if you don't have time to do that, you have to do some smart thinking because as soon as you flip it over, you are assuming that the side you are now starting on is perfectly like the other side when you line it up.

One thing that I have found is do extremes, meaning when you print one side, do it flush left with no margins and no overprint (if you have that on your model) and then when you flip it over, flush it right with no margins, etc.

Again, if you don't have perfect 90 corners or straight edges, then it is almost impossible without some sort of registration system to line it up correctly. Hope that makes some sense and helps.

Best,

Chris

[geedub]

i always prefer pre-cut corplast, i know it's almost never straight, but generally it's straight enough. you're going to get your uv print as good on that coro than if you're using vinyl, same deal. Plus if it is a full bleed then you won't even notice, just put enough bleed on it, i always liked printing coro on the uv's fullbleed. Also, if you cut it down AFTER you print full bleed, you'll crack the edge of the uv ink and it will be a slow painful death of that sign, because once a little of it is cracked, it's a lot easier to wash the ink off from there, so rain will kill that sign.

[anthony smith]

Have had a 5445 in my shop for 5 weeks bought from a distributor that
was not up to speed on the machine and it is not running anything well
luckly i have not released funds and colorspan after long hastle is sending
teck down to try and set up correctly
Spoke with another distributor in fl and they say have sold 7 machines
all with problems
Just not sure we are going to keep
We need the speed and color printing as we do a lot of corx signs
but like the printing of the 2 sides that should be one of the first things
a tech shows you how to do i would think
Will let you know how it goes
good luck

[SignManiac]

None of the resellers have a clue about this machine. All the techs can do is download the instructions and change parts. I've had my machine about three months now. Yes we have had a few issues but at least ours is printing all the time and making money.

I think ours is close to getting the bugs out. We ran a thirty five peice job of 4'x 6' prints all day with not printing issues other than a UV lamp overheating once or twice.

When they run they're great but the key is keeping them running. I'll be happy with it if it stays dependable.

As for the double sided printing, set your justification to center with zero leading edge and you should be okay.

[KR3signguy]

How is the Colorspan working for any of you guys.
No vaccum? Are you getting lots of head strikes?

[anthony smith]

tech is in our shop today we did some regular 2 sided signs on 4 mil corx
we centered in the machine we rip from flexi 8 so the machine does not
recognize our margins must set manually in machine we set up to center
and worked great no fliping of image and all that
our head height is at 110 and shutters at 30% but must let signs
cure an hour or so before fliping or some flaking will occur on the back
side
Things are looking up now that we have a experienced tech
good luck

[anthony smith]

we set our vaccum at maxium of 10 for most all materials
that we use
corx 4mil
10 mil pvc dibond alumilite and so on