Gerber Edge 1/2 Printing on Backlit media

[IPreferPC]

We are currently printing HEAVY CMYK on a JV400 latex to make these non-adhesive polypropylene signs, 950x200mm. It takes forever at 64 pass, and they're simply not durable enough. Laminating just blows the cost out even more, and doesn't look great anyway.

I've used an Edge before, but never in the capacity of backlit materials. The designs will be all black, with various logos in the center, which are not printed and will be raw media, rear illuminated.

We are looking to invest in one of these printers to perform a very specific task, so:

• How opaque is the black spot film if it’s backlit?
• What media would you recommend that would suit this purpose? PVC-10 / shelf and tag / static cling?

Thanks in advance.

 

[IPreferPC]

anyone?

 

[FunkotronXL]

Your choice of media is going to be dependent upon your expectations. I have no experience with the JV400 film so it is hard to compare it to a Gerber product without somebody else chiming in that has experience with both.

Standard spot black may not be enough if you want it to be exceptionally opaque. Try looking into Gerber's Jet Black or Duracoat's Super Opaque Black ribbons. These may still not be opaque enough, at which point you will be looking at adding in a pass of white or even Silver Medal II (over-printable mirror/chrome ribbon that can be used for blockout purposes... expensively) which will run your costs higher than you may anticipate.

You may need to explore a different avenue. Non-adhesive media for Gerber systems may not be what you are looking for unless you get creative with mounting the films onto other substrates.

 

[IPreferPC]

Thanks FunkoTronXL.

The Jv400 is a CMYK Latex printer. It's durability unlaminated is not at all good.

The only requirements for the substrate need to be non-adhesive, with decent illumination properties. They're held in with a full perimeter magnetic acrylic face, so need to simply sit there. We're currently achieving probably 85% blockout with our CMYK @ 40,40,40,100. Near this would be fine. I was unaware of specifically 'super opaque' films! That's very promising, thankyou! I'm currently in talks with Spandex about getting media samples. We'll have hundreds of meters to do by year end, and if the Edge can provide a good product, the speed benefit alone will be immense.

 

[FunkotronXL]

I'm assuming your in the UK or Europe as you're working with Spandex. Here in the US you can occasionally find a film that is not made for a Gerber system (vehicle wrap vinyls for example) that you can request to be converted. They'll charge a fee to get the holes punched and slit the roll to 15" width, sometimes its free but expect extended lead times. Orafol reps in the US are pretty good about it.

Non-textured vinyls are fairly receptive to thermal transfer without extra coatings. You may be able to just repurpose another media you already know works well for your illumination standards. Testing is pretty straight forward, just slap an A4 sized test piece onto some scrap material and see how it prints.

 

[IPreferPC]

I'm in Australia. Spandex have said that they can get our media punched, which is why I went ahead and picked up a Gerber edge from the classifieds. The ball is rolling now, hopefully it all works out!