Question Just curious how everyone prints banners. Our method is attached.

[myront]

If, by chance we outsource, we just send the finished size without cut line, dots etc. Just wondering if vendors such as Signs365 use this same method. Would save some time if I set it up this way to begin with. Who knows, maybe they already have a quick way to drop the file into a template and press on.

 

[Gino]

If you're using banner tape for the hems, no need to print the inner line or the grommet spots. Most banner tapes are an inch wide, so ya just cut it along your outer line, turn it over, apply your tape, peel it back and fold it over. As for grommet positioning, just have a jig ready at all the different setups and mark or go directly on them accordingly. I think our jigs are on a 12' piece of 6mm pvc. Spacing of 24". 30", 36" and 48". Keep them color coded and you won't get mixed up. Have so many jigs around the shop, it ain't funny, not to mention 100's of pounce patterns.

I really don't know how s365 does it.

 

[XtremeXccessories]

We have a preset in Onyx that automatically adds fold, cut, bleed, and grommet marks basically how you show it. I'm sure S365, S2Trade, etc. all use something similair

 

[unclebun]

Exactly as Gino says. Just print it with the cutline if it's a plain white background. No need to mark grommet locations. After hemming you can fold the banner and pinch the hem at half and quarter of the banner and grommet it at those locations. When you pinch the hem with your fingers it leaves a very slight crease that lasts a few minutes. Only on really long banners that you're going to do every 2' or 3' or something do we then measure.

 

[Black Star Signs]

I print my banners like what you have shown with grommet holes and inner fold line shown. I didn't do this for many years but I find it to be more accurate to have all of those markers printed so there's little room for mistakes.

 

[ikarasu]

I have a preset in onyx that adds 1" bleed (mirror), adds a dotted line before the bleed .. and adds a line after the bleed. So we know to trim at the bleed, then sorted line gets folded.

Now that we have a f1612 we don't keep the outside line, and instead of onyx generate a cut line so it cuts it up perfectly.


We print with the grommet marks as well.... .25" circles, the grommet hole fits over the .25" circles perfectly and you get consistant grommet placement each time.

 

[myront]

Thanks for all the replies.
Never really considered leaving out the fold line. The production crew seem to prefer it. It helps to maintain a near perfect fold.
The dots are easy to include in the print anyway (see below). We try to stick to 24" inch on grommet spacing but when you have an odd size banner the dots really work.

Left Image: I use a corel macro to create the banner lines, dimensions & evenly spaced grommets. I know corel already has a "Border and grommet" feature but it's too cumbersome and doesn't have a "print prep" feature. I click my macro icon, input the banner size and bam! My dimensions default to inches but I can quickly use another macro to convert to feet as needed.
Right Image: When the banner is approved, I created a duplicate and use the appropriate macro (black dots or white dots) to prep for print then export as pdf or tif to a "hot folder" for our print tech to sort and print.

 

[ikarasu]

Thanks for all the replies.
Never really considered leaving out the fold line. The production crew seem to prefer it. It helps to maintain a near perfect fold.
The dots are easy to include in the print anyway (see below). We try to stick to 24" inch on grommet spacing but when you have an odd size banner the dots really work.

Left Image: I use a corel macro to create the banner lines, dimensions & evenly spaced grommets. I know corel already has a "Border and grommet" feature but it's too cumbersome and doesn't have a "print prep" feature. I click my macro icon, input the banner size and bam! My dimensions default to inches but I can quickly use another macro to convert to feet as needed.
Right Image: When the banner is approved, I created a duplicate and use the appropriate macro (black dots or white dots) to prep for print then export as pdf or tif to a "hot folder" for our print tech to sort and print.

View attachment 179067

Does your rips software have options to add marks? Onyx does this all automatically... So it doesn't matter if it's a 1x30 banner or 4x8 banner, it will auto add the 1-in bleed, the cut line, the dotted line, and it will space the grommets equally to whatever distance you set

 

[myront]

Does your rips software have options to add marks? Onyx does this all automatically... So it doesn't matter if it's a 1x30 banner or 4x8 banner, it will auto add the 1-in bleed, the cut line, the dotted line, and it will space the grommets equally to whatever distance you set

Hmm, that is interesting. We use Flexi Production Manager, I don't believe it has that capability. If it did, I don't see how it would speed up the process.

 

[Stacey K]

I do mine the same way as the OP