Gerber EDGE2 fill issues

[rudeez]

Hi

Im in trouble, i have this issue sometimes. Few weeks ago i made 4000 lexan labels of this one below. But as you can see i got serious problems with the filling of it. The original is setup with the exact same size on the white line, but as you can se the filling on the bottom one is horrible, same with the right side of it. Also the red cube is slightly on the wrong spot, in the original in composer software its setup just at the right spot.
Also the numbers on the label is kinda weak filled.
Now my question is, does anyone have any ideas for this problem. Printer head was cleaned just before i started. Vinyl in composer is set to Lexedge II wich is also instructed in the manual with the material i got.
Using Gerber Original colors aswell.

Best regards, Jimmie

 

[iSign]

you can eliminate the concern for black to white registration by having the white be a large rectangle printed before the black, and the black having the knock-out where the white is to show through (but letting white print where the red will go) Then the black would need to be set to "overprint"

I've done a sketch showing the white as yellow & the black has white type & lines which are the clear knockouts.

When the red is printed last, it also needs to be set to overprint,

There is still a chance of the red being out of registration, but the best chance for that to be kept to a minimum is to use to foil cartridges for the black & red, that are both new at the same time, or both half empty. When one is new & a second is almost gone, this causes the worst registration.

 

[rudeez]

oh darn, should have explained myself better.
im printing those mirrored at the back of the lexan.
wich forces me to use white as the last color in the set. usually i just make a big rectangle of 290mm hight and the with dependeing on how many copies i do.
and printing that rectangle last when everything else is printed in the job.

 

[iSign]

well, in that case...

 

[rudeez]

thats exacly the printing order and way to execute it im using end the result is the pic i attached :/ thats what's bugging me.

 

[Bob Gilliland]

Not always a solution. . .

Have you tried a test print with the entire image rotated 90 degrees? If so, what does that result look like?

What is the size of the entire print area (from the image, looks like they could be “small” which often lends itself to some tricky output)? Are you using overprint settings at all? Small text for the text (not “regular” text)? What about printing on another material, same result or better? Sorry for the many questions!

 

[rudeez]

Well, we can take the ones here for example. they orderd 4000. i can fit about 20 on the height and then i usually never make more then 1.5m on the lenght since it's tricky to work with such big pieces, i rather make like 4 of those 1.5m.
The label itself is mostly 15 x 30 mm. they are various from time to time to, diffrent labels etc. I get the original label design from the company itself in .ai format so it's nothing i do myself like putting text and stuff on them. it's all done when i get it.
usually none of them are made in a way that i need to use overprint and stuff.

as i said earlier i print them mirrored on the backside of the armalex. mostly they have a white back fill. so normally i just print like in this case red > black and then i make a new job with a big white rectangle 290 x 1500 mm to fill the whole backside of the labels.

havn't tried to flip them 90 degrees but sure it's worth a try even tho i don't see the reason why it would result in better labels.

since im using mirrored i can't really test the same labels on any other material to get a fair comparing result. they would probably be superior if i just tested same on a white vinyl.

i heard somewhere that i could try slow the printing process. im just not sure how to "slow" the process down, any ideas what that could be all about?

 

[Bob Gilliland]

Jimmie,

What Edge device do you have; Classic (original, Trunnion, or LE), II, or FX? What version of Omega?

Well, regardless of what the ladies say, size does matter and in this situation its very small. You’re printing just over .375” in height and just under 1.25” in length for us English/Imperial measurement based folks.

Based on that, my best guess in looking at your posted image is the numbers are ~2-2.25mm in height; correct? Being just vector based objects (artwork sent to you), that’s a mighty tall task to ask of any Edge model. If you were to re-typeset the numbers with small text, I believe you will experience better output (on either axis printing, “normal” or “rotated” 90). Try it for yourself to see (select a system based font that closely matches their text). If it works, perhaps approach the client to see if this would be acceptable (you type setting the numbers with Small text).

The accent lines above and below FACOM, ~.05mm? Again, very tricky size.

I currently can’t invest the time to dictate the difference in “X,Y” or “Y,X” printing. Do a search for such here on the board as I’m sure Fred or someone else has probably already done so. I would encourage you to try it to see fi it makes a difference. Also search the site to see about repeating inside Composer vs GSPPlot.

Overprinting allows for different heat and pressure settings which “may” lend itself to better output in this particular print; hence the reason for asking. Also, printing a sample, straight up, not reversed, on other materials (something dark preferred, not white) is going to help pinpoint a material, material/device, artwork/material/device issue that can go a long way in getting to an acceptable print (if possible in the given size).

I’ll attempt to fill in the blanks later this evening if time permits if others haven’t pitched in till then.

In regards to “slowing” the machine down, inside GSPPlot, [F11] for Print Options and change Print Mode (depending on Edge type, this may or may not be an option for you). You can also possibly play with material/foil settings to slow the machine down and get diffrent clamping presuures, but that would come in as "advanced" troubleshooting IMO (again, depedning on actual Edge model and software used).