Clear Focus Printing Issue

[acothran]

This week we printed our first roll of Clear Focus ClassicVue (36") and encountered a problem. As you can see in the pics, the left side of the media did not accept ink well in some areas and it almost looked like someone had wiped something across that side of the media. The only consistency was that it didn't stop after approx. 150" of printing. The roll was taken out of the box and loaded on the printer (Seiko 64S). My supplier has already sent me a replacement roll and sent a call tag for the bad roll but they sounded surprised and said they don't have problems with Clear Focus. Just wondering if any of you have experienced this. BTW, I've seen things like this in cheap banner material but never on higher quality media.

Merry Christmas

Allen

 

[Circleville Signs]

Yes. Clear Focus sucks. They have ZERO quality control.

I've never had anything but problems with their product. YMMV, but I stay away from it.


Gary

 

[ABPGraphics]

did u try wiping it down first to get off any factory residue?

 

[Rodan68]

A customer supplied us with a roll of that stuff and it had the exact same smearing problem. I thought the roll was re-wound by hand since it wasn't a full roll when we got it and the roll got skuffed up in the process. We ended up using a different brand. It also printed kind of dull.

 

[acothran]

ABP - No I didn't wipe it down first and I guess I wouldn't expect to have to wipe down/pre-treat a media that costs over $1.50 sq/ft. Also, I'm not sure how I would wipe it down without re-rolling the whole roll. The problem was not just on the exposed area but showed up even 8-10 linear feet down the roll.

 

[miltondavis]

Ive been thru many many rolls of clear focus and had great results so far with my seiko64s. I have seen this "wipe" like issue but only after I wiped it off with a rag before loading into printer, also happens every time after I have some transfer tape on the roll to keep it rolled up- but thats only at the begining. Nice to know you got the replacement rolls, if your having bad luck this material on more than one roll I would want to switch. Ive had good print luck on the Arlon version.

 

[grafixemporium]

Been through many rolls of Clear Focus... no problems so far. Maybe it's a fluke and you just got a returned roll or something.

 

[krimol]

I've had the same problem. The smears would pop up through the entire roll and in places I had not touched and always at the end of a print, so I'd have to throw the whole thing away. Not only the smears, but lines are visible even on unprinted material. I called Clear Focus, they said the lines are "normal" and especially visible with darker solid prints and I that I should double strike it. They said the smears are not normal and they would send me a complimentary roll. I never got it. I bought a different brand and have had neither problem so far. Solution: don't buy Clear Focus.