Need Help Hp fb550 printing wood.

[SBlakey]

I am trying to print on wood. I let the machine find head height. Wood is flat and not warped but it is on an open back frame. So we lined the back with 6mil adhesive so the machine could get some vacuum on it. I got a bit of a head strike. So before I try again with max head height .120. Any other suggestions or comments?

 

[Christian @ 2CT Media]

You must have a warp some where. I would make a jig and use a low tack adhesive to hold the frame down tight.

We do frames alot: 2CT Media, LLC

 

[ThomasGrannemann]

I ran a FB700 for about 2 years, we made a jig using pvc or any other object the vacuum was able to sufficiently hold down. We would used double-sided tape if we thought it would work. For the real stubborn substrates we would run screws along the side of the substrate into the PVC utilizing washers to help grip the sides and keep them down. If a head strike is a possibility, I would recommend running the job on fine text to slow the carriage down a little bit.

 

[SBlakey]

See, that's what I was talking to my finisher about last week. That we should mount it to a hard surface with double sided tape to hold it down flat. The open back is rough. Did you lift your head to max .120 or leave it at the .085?

 

[flyplainsdrifta]

id lift to at least .100. you won't lose as much of image quality that way. did you have a bad bad head strike or did you just kiss it?

 

[SBlakey]

Just a kiss. Nothing too bad. The substrate has a slight warp long ways, so I don't think it'll work unless we strap it down really good. And it's not long enough to lose 25in for the warped media profile.

 

[flyplainsdrifta]

yeahh. some jobs work in your head. the daring (the ones who are willing to lose $10 grand on a set of heads) can have any of those jobs, imo. when you have 30 other orders going at the same time, all of which are time sensitive, you can't take that chance on a job your not even sure you can run safely. just my 2 cents. just not worth the hassle