Question Mimaki UCJV300 Clear & White Ink

[Kemik]

So, I've only had my UCJV for about a week or 2, and I have not used the clear or white yet.

I've watched several videos on how to create special plates in ReasterLinks which is fine, but you can only choose whole image or valid pixel, and an ink coverage percent. I was curious as to what the Clear coat would look like at various percentages, so I tried using the Clear Swatch in Illustrator with percentage from 100% down to 5% in 1 image. Being my first time tiring to print clear, I just loaded the job in and hit print, the clear spot color looks yellow in illustrator, so my image came out with various shades of yellow on top! I went back and clicked on the clear layer which says "color" beside it, and changed it from "Full Color" to "Mono Color" - Clear Glossy.. I printed again and this time I just got CMYK, no glossy. I did have this error message: [17:26:30] - This job is set print-mode that printer do not support. [UV Glossy Test_L2.pdf]

Does this mean that the techs did not setup my printer correctly? Because I definitely have glossy and white ink installed.
Or is it just not possible to print variations of density of clear and/or white in a single pass?

 

[InkHead]

Are you using the illustrator plugin for mimaki to try and create your layers? I dont think I ever used that

In illustrator i just take my vector graphic and create the cutline on a separate layer (normal) and save that file.

I than take the same file and turnoff or delete the cut layer. I make a copy of the artwork layer remove any elements I dont want clear. Save that with a different name. Import both of those into rasterlink. Click on the spot color image in the job list and than click on special plate button on the right. Set your % for clear and select valid pixel than create. It will make a copy that defaults to matte. Click on the matte job than click "Properties" in the top right. In there you will see Job Attributes and special color is default. Click setup and go to UV mode tab and select glossy print.

Go back to your job list and highlight your job with the cut file and the new glossy job and click on "Composition".

The order should be Cut at the top followed by clear glossy than color. So sort it that way. (For white, you would want it cut, color, white. Think of it from starting at the bottom and how the print goes through the layering). Once you have it in order click on the color layer and right under there you will see "Pull back after Print". Uncheck that so that it does everything in a single pass. Click on Composite". Now you just go to General Print and do your thing.

Note, clear requires 600x1200 resolution profile.

Did that by memory so i may have made a mistake but i think its pretty accurate. Hope that helps

 

[Kemik]

Are you using the illustrator plugin for mimaki to try and create your layers? I dont think I ever used that

In illustrator i just take my vector graphic and create the cutline on a separate layer (normal) and save that file.

I than take the same file and turnoff or delete the cut layer. I make a copy of the artwork layer remove any elements I dont want clear. Save that with a different name. Import both of those into rasterlink. Click on the spot color image in the job list and than click on special plate button on the right. Set your % for clear and select valid pixel than create. It will make a copy that defaults to matte. Click on the matte job than click "Properties" in the top right. In there you will see Job Attributes and special color is default. Click setup and go to UV mode tab and select glossy print.

Go back to your job list and highlight your job with the cut file and the new glossy job and click on "Composition".

The order should be Cut at the top followed by clear glossy than color. So sort it that way. (For white, you would want it cut, color, white. Think of it from starting at the bottom and how the print goes through the layering). Once you have it in order click on the color layer and right under there you will see "Pull back after Print". Uncheck that so that it does everything in a single pass. Click on Composite". Now you just go to General Print and do your thing.

Note, clear requires 600x1200 resolution profile.

Did that by memory so i may have made a mistake but i think its pretty accurate. Hope that helps

Figured it out. It was the "clear requires 600x1200 resolution profile." that was the problem.
I had to make it the clear plate in Illustrator because I wanted multiple prints of different Clear % values.

 

[Kemik]

I do have another question about Clear.

If I have Multiple jobs, about 5 different small PDF's 2.5" x 2.5" each, and I want to print 15 to 25 copies of each at once to save media, all 5 PDFs will have a 100% glossy coat.

Is there an easy way to do this? or do I have to make 5 special clear plates?
Do I make 5 different compositions, and then arrange those 5 into 1 print arrangement? Will this even work?
Seems like an Illustrator layout and 1 special plate may be a quicker solution if this is the only way to do it in RasterLink.

 

[kienkien]

Hi..is the ucjv300 clear ink suitable for outdoor purpose? Will it be yellowish or crack after certain of time?

 

[Kemik]

Hi..is the ucjv300 clear ink suitable for outdoor purpose? Will it be yellowish or crack after certain of time?

I've only had the printer since January, so I don't have any personal experience yet with UV Clear outdoors. From what I hear, it can be used outdoors, but does not last as long as lamination.

 

[cnysigns]

Hello, we had to re-install Rasterlink and now cannot print glossy uv. We have the 600x1200 selected and layered on top but everything comes out matte. Are we missing a special profile for this?

 

[Scotchbrite]

Hello, we had to re-install Rasterlink and now cannot print glossy uv. We have the 600x1200 selected and layered on top but everything comes out matte. Are we missing a special profile for this?

I ran into the same thing. You have to set it to retract after the color. So instead of printing the color and gloss clear simultaneously, it prints them separately. For me the change happened after an update to Rasterlink 7.

 

[Scotchbrite]

Hello, we had to re-install Rasterlink and now cannot print glossy uv. We have the 600x1200 selected and layered on top but everything comes out matte. Are we missing a special profile for this?

I ran into the same thing. You have to set it to retract after the color. So instead of printing the color and gloss clear simultaneously, it prints them separately. For me the change happened after an update to Rasterlink 7.

FYI, I installed an update to Rasterlink 7 yesterday, and you can get gloss clear now to print simultaneously with the color; you don't have to retract and print the clear as a separate step.

 

[Kemik]

FYI, I installed an update to Rasterlink 7 yesterday, and you can get gloss clear now to print simultaneously with the color; you don't have to retract and print the clear as a separate step.

This feature also worked in RL6, if your printing CMYK+Clear, if you add in white, then it will not work without the pull back.
By default the clear is set to a matte finish, you need to change it to glossy.

 

[micadesign]

Hello, we had to re-install Rasterlink and now cannot print glossy uv. We have the 600x1200 selected and layered on top but everything comes out matte. Are we missing a special profile for this?

same problem here.
can't get gloss clear. use RL 6plus and updated it today, but without success.

 

[RonnyCrack]

FYI, I installed an update to Rasterlink 7 yesterday, and you can get gloss clear now to print simultaneously with the color; you don't have to retract and print the clear as a separate step.

With white ink on bottom as well? I'm finding I still have to retract one or the other (white, or color) or else the clear layer refuses to be glossy. It will print matte unless I retract.

 

[Kemik]

With white ink on bottom as well? I'm finding I still have to retract one or the other (white, or color) or else the clear layer refuses to be glossy. It will print matte unless I retract.

This video should help you to layer and print Gloss UV properly.

 

[RonnyCrack]

This video should help you to layer and print Gloss UV properly.

This video describes the problem but doesn't have a fix.
I can print glossy and white in the same job, but I'm looking to do it all in one pass instead of pulling back after printing. If you try to do glossy clear, and white in a single pass, it will just print matte clear instead.

For some reason, when "pull back after printing" is enabled, after the pull back, all of my middle pinch rollers get lifted, despite all pinch roller settings being set to high. This leads to buckling and therefore my media is never in the same starting point after the pull back.
Roland has the option for turning that setting off: https://downloadcenter.rolanddg.com...inchRollersWhenPullingBackOrFeedingMedia.html

Do you know if a way to fix this on Mimaki?

 

[Scotchbrite]

With white ink on bottom as well? I'm finding I still have to retract one or the other (white, or color) or else the clear layer refuses to be glossy. It will print matte unless I retract.

No, so far I've only been printing one or the other. I haven't tried both white and clear on the same print.

 

[Kemik]

This video describes the problem but doesn't have a fix.
I can print glossy and white in the same job, but I'm looking to do it all in one pass instead of pulling back after printing. If you try to do glossy clear, and white in a single pass, it will just print matte clear instead.

For some reason, when "pull back after printing" is enabled, after the pull back, all of my middle pinch rollers get lifted, despite all pinch roller settings being set to high. This leads to buckling and therefore my media is never in the same starting point after the pull back.
Roland has the option for turning that setting off: https://downloadcenter.rolanddg.com...inchRollersWhenPullingBackOrFeedingMedia.html

Do you know if a way to fix this on Mimaki?

There is no fix for this in RasterLinks, you must pull back when printing both white and clear.
Another user suggested trying Flexi which has layered printing as well, maybe it will allow both white in clear in one pass.
Using the take up roller will help a bit with the misalignment, but I think your out of luck with very large prints. I mostly print small stickers, so there is not a lot of media to feed back when adding clear to a job with white.

 

[RonnyCrack]

There is no fix for this in RasterLinks, you must pull back when printing both white and clear.
Another user suggested trying Flexi which has layered printing as well, maybe it will allow both white in clear in one pass.
Using the take up roller will help a bit with the misalignment, but I think your out of luck with very large prints. I mostly print small stickers, so there is not a lot of media to feed back when adding clear to a job with white.

That's brutal. Oddly enough the print I've had so much trouble with only needs to get pulled back about 6inches. Maybe will try loosening up the take up reel tension.

 

[RonnyCrack]

That's brutal. Oddly enough the print I've had so much trouble with only needs to get pulled back about 6inches. Maybe will try loosening up the take up reel tension.

Yeah, lowering the tension on the take up reel helped at least enough to be able to correct the displacement in rasterlink.
Also it seems like maybe Flexi allows for all 3 to be printed at once, but the clear ink density isn't adjustable and it's really tough to tell if it's printing like a 10% layer or not. But that's from messing with flexi for a few hours, will probably do some more messing about.

Really honing in the tension on either side of the machine and using rasterlink seems like it's the best bet, unless I can find a way to keep those middle pinch rollers down on the pull back.

 

[BDA]

Yeah, lowering the tension on the take up reel helped at least enough to be able to correct the displacement in rasterlink.
Also it seems like maybe Flexi allows for all 3 to be printed at once, but the clear ink density isn't adjustable and it's really tough to tell if it's printing like a 10% layer or not. But that's from messing with flexi for a few hours, will probably do some more messing about.

Really honing in the tension on either side of the machine and using rasterlink seems like it's the best bet, unless I can find a way to keep those middle pinch rollers down on the pull back.

I KNOW THIS POST IS OLD BUT I JUST SAW IT AND FIGURED I WOULD GIVE MY TWO CENTS. AND SORRY ABOUT THE CAPS, MY CAPS KEY IS APPARENTLY NOT WORKING AND I CAN'T SHUT IT OFF.

FROM WHAT I UNDERSTAND, WHEN PRINTING GLOSSY, THE UV LIGHT IS DELAYED IN ORDER TO PRODUCE THE GLOSS EFFECT, SO SINCE YOU ARE PRINTING WITH THE PULL BACK, THE PINCH ROLLERS ARE LIFTED IN ORDER TO PREVENT THE ROLLERS FROM SMUDGING THE STILL WET CLEAR LAYER. NOT SURE YOU CAN OVERRIDE THAT.