HP Scitex FB700 Roll to Roll Question

[OutputTech]

HP Scitex FB700 Roll to Roll question.

Hey all,
Great site and forum, So I've been running the HP FB700 for like 4 months now and i find the machine is great for rigid media.
Ive been having some issues with the roll to roll feed tho. I load the material as per on screen and manual instructions.
And I've been finding the the media shifts on the belt like a 1/4 inch while printing. Ive unloaded and reloaded multiple times with the same results.
Has anyone had this issue, or could anyone recommend a solution? I use the foam press rollers, and the material is gold mirror vinyl at 60 inch's wide. Any other tips for roll to roll printing on the FB700 would be great appreciated Thanks ahead of time.

OutPut Tech

 

[OutputTech]

AnyOne, AnyOne?

 

[Mspec]

if your media is not tracking straight it means one of the following:

1. media was not loaded in the middle of the supply shaft.
2. media was not threaded through the printer straight.
3. if you are sure you loaded straight, and in the middle, but the media always drifts off in the same direction even if the takeup is not loaded, your supply shaft is not installed with the correct alignment to the belt.

 

[supercheapsigns]

It's a tricky process and I'm not a big fan of the roll to roll system. Experienced the same trouble you did the first few times on our FB700. A couple tricks I've used that have gotten better results.

1. Be hyper vigilant that the material is taught and even coming off the supply spindle before you go over the first foam roller. Usually i'll roll out an extra few feet on the belt and the roll back the supply spindle. Once the material is over the first foam roller i'll feed more out to the output side.

2. At this point, go into the "print" menu and use the arrow button to advance the media to the output side. This just runs the belt and SHOULD even out and straighten up your material on the belt. Drop the second foam roller down at this point and the material will hopefully travel a lot less during printing.

Do these steps first and then run the on screen instructions to finish up the load. Its been working fairly well for me, but at the same time, I'm not running more than 30-50 feet of length per run.

 

[OutputTech]

Thank you both, both interesting comments.
Mspec: Ill ask my Tech about the shaft installed with the correct alignment to the belt. Can you recommend a way to check this?

And supercheapsigns: i pretty much do the same as you, after the media is loaded i run the belt without vacuum to straighten out the media
and then drop the foam roller, and attach the take up.
Ive tried not using the foam rollers too it worked better but still dirfted

One thing i would like to add is the source roll pulls media freely and funnels or telescopes to one side.
also drops down below the supply spindle.

 

[cazcat13]

one other thing that you can check

We had a problem with rolls that were wound to tight on one end and not as tight on the other causing the paper to walk as it feed through the press. Im using a 9840 and whenever the media has walked it had to do with our stock.