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Avoiding Full Bleed Printing on FB750 Belt

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graphics monkey

New Member
I've found a few threads on how to clean the belts on the HP flatbeds, but does anybody have tricks to avoiding having to clean the bed at all when doing full bleed prints? We do a TON of full bleed boards and putting tape on the bed to catch the bleed from the sides of the boards works well, but what to do about the top and bottom edges is something we're still struggling with.

It just seems like there should be a better way than taking a half to full day to clean the belt with alcohol.
 
K

KLarsen

New Member
graphics monkey said:
I've found a few threads on how to clean the belts on the HP flatbeds, but does anybody have tricks to avoiding having to clean the bed at all when doing full bleed prints? We do a TON of full bleed boards and putting tape on the bed to catch the bleed from the sides of the boards works well, but what to do about the top and bottom edges is something we're still struggling with.

It just seems like there should be a better way than taking a half to full day to clean the belt with alcohol.
Click to expand...
Use packaging take to pull off the ink from the belt. Just put the tape on the ink and pull up the ink. It takes about 10 minutes.
 
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Neil B

New Member
Isopropyl alcohol is the go-to method. Adding shrink wrap over the alcohol keeps it from evaporating and helps it soak into and loosen up the ink faster.
If that is not enough in a situation like yours, ‘TON of full bleed boards’, then the next level is print head flush. You can use print head flush in conjunction with industrial stretch wrap film. I’ve attached a jpg with an example of the stretch film. Readily available from many suppliers at various sizes. At the end of the day/shift, simply apply the HP UV Print Head Flush (Part [HASHTAG]#CH122A[/HASHTAG]) to the belt while simultaneously covering the entire belt with stretch film. Then apply flush and film, then advance the belt, repeat until the belt is completely covered. Allow it to sit (soak) for 5-10m,
Then start removing the film and wiping down the belt and removing the ink using rags or paper towels. A plastic squeegee or chiseler should not be needed with this method. Caution must be used with any scrapers since marring the surface will make future ink removal that much more difficult.
It is important they follow up with wiping the entire belt with isopropyl alcohol to remove all print head flush from the belt surface.
This method should allow for a cleaning time of approx 30 minutes or less, depending on ink thickness.
 

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G

graphics monkey

New Member
Neil B said:
Isopropyl alcohol is the go-to method. Adding shrink wrap over the alcohol keeps it from evaporating and helps it soak into and loosen up the ink faster.
If that is not enough in a situation like yours, ‘TON of full bleed boards’, then the next level is print head flush. You can use print head flush in conjunction with industrial stretch wrap film. I’ve attached a jpg with an example of the stretch film. Readily available from many suppliers at various sizes. At the end of the day/shift, simply apply the HP UV Print Head Flush (Part [HASHTAG]#CH122A[/HASHTAG]) to the belt while simultaneously covering the entire belt with stretch film. Then apply flush and film, then advance the belt, repeat until the belt is completely covered. Allow it to sit (soak) for 5-10m,
Then start removing the film and wiping down the belt and removing the ink using rags or paper towels. A plastic squeegee or chiseler should not be needed with this method. Caution must be used with any scrapers since marring the surface will make future ink removal that much more difficult.
It is important they follow up with wiping the entire belt with isopropyl alcohol to remove all print head flush from the belt surface.
This method should allow for a cleaning time of approx 30 minutes or less, depending on ink thickness.
Click to expand...

I'll give the heads flush & shrink wrap a try. We've been using denatured alcohol and soaking shop towels with it and covering that with vinyl to keep it from evaporating, letting that sit for 10 minutes and then scraping off the ink that 'blisters'. There's quite a bit of ink, so we usually have to do each section twice. I was just hoping to avoid doing as much of that as possible.
 
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GP_Oz

New Member
There was a document sent out to us stating they have removed the belt as a warranty item.

Just be careful with the head flush...a swollen belt is basically a write off machine.
 
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ikarasu

Active Member
I've heard people use dry erase laminate, and the ink wipes right off of it with no effort. I've been cleaning our belt a lot lately too, and was considering this. We don't always do full bleeds.. but it's a pain when we do. I was thinking of dry erase laminating a section of the belt, and popping holes for the air holes.

I might try printing on some dry erase tomorrow and see how easy it is to wipe off. Might be worth a shot.

For now... I load. Print, then when it's asking me the size I pop over to the output end, put a strip of vinyl under the media, then when it sucks in the vinyl I have a piece of vinyl positioned to go underneath the end. That way there's only print on the left side.

I wouldn't suggest that if your doing lots of prints though... It's a bit time consuming.

I've also considered making a jig. A 1" section that's roughly the same size of the media I'm printing on lengthwise down the left side, and widthwise across the top. Telling it to print .8/.9 inches margins. Then it's just a matter of blocking off the bottom/right... Easy enough to do. You could make a full jig if your media is accurate, but ours never seems to be.


I'll be playing with some ideas this week. I'll let you know if I find a good one!
 
G

graphics monkey

New Member
ikarasu said:
I've heard people use dry erase laminate, and the ink wipes right off of it with no effort. I've been cleaning our belt a lot lately too, and was considering this. We don't always do full bleeds.. but it's a pain when we do. I was thinking of dry erase laminating a section of the belt, and popping holes for the air holes.

I might try printing on some dry erase tomorrow and see how easy it is to wipe off. Might be worth a shot.

For now... I load. Print, then when it's asking me the size I pop over to the output end, put a strip of vinyl under the media, then when it sucks in the vinyl I have a piece of vinyl positioned to go underneath the end. That way there's only print on the left side.

I wouldn't suggest that if your doing lots of prints though... It's a bit time consuming.

I've also considered making a jig. A 1" section that's roughly the same size of the media I'm printing on lengthwise down the left side, and widthwise across the top. Telling it to print .8/.9 inches margins. Then it's just a matter of blocking off the bottom/right... Easy enough to do. You could make a full jig if your media is accurate, but ours never seems to be.


I'll be playing with some ideas this week. I'll let you know if I find a good one!
Click to expand...
Thanks for the ideas! I made a 'sled' for shorter runs that worked pretty well, it's just too cumbersome for really large qtys. Let me know how the dry erase lam works out.
 
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ikarasu

Active Member
It worked pretty good. I could rub it off with just a cloth... I tried to use a bit of alcohol but it made no difference. I then used my plastic scraper and it came up with pretty much no / minimal effort.

Test Test

I think it'd be perfect for small 1/4 inch belt prints from full bleeds. I don't know if Idwant to laminate the whole belt... But I guess it's be an option. For now I think I'll laminate the left side that always seems to get ink, see how it works in everyday use, then if it's good and I can peel it off easy in a few weeks to a month, I'll do the whole belt.

Not sure how easy dry erase would come off without ripping, that's my only concern.

[Edit] it did take some effort to rub off with just a cloth. Much easier than rubbing the belt off, but still. It's using the plastic scraper that made it really easy, and it didn't damage the laminate at all. I've tried the plastic scraper just in the belt, and it didn't do squat.
 
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ikarasu

Active Member
I was told hemming tape is the best tape to use. Also known as fabric tape... it's really strong. Havent found it cheap enough to be of use though. Usually we just use hi-tack vinyl and it lifts it right off. I can't see packaging tape working, it's not strong enough... could be wrong though. I'll give it a try and see.

You'd think there would be a better option available than home remedies!
 
boxerbay

boxerbay

New Member
we use long strips of thin styrene about 6" wide. we place those around the perimeter of the foamboad or PVC or whatever the print job is. this keeps ink off the belt and keeps the suction air from blurring the edge of the print.
 
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