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need real world feedback of the HP W800

balstestrat

balstestrat

Problem Solver
Seems normal to me. You are just looking for the grid just like on the other heads.
Small correction to before, you should always use Glossy SAV for any adjustments or tests.
 
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Simon Peach

New Member
Another day another headache....

We've had barely any issues with tiled files for around the 6 months. - Now the past 3 jobs have needed re-printing.

The only thing we've done differently is updating the firmware. - Surely that wouldn't have an impact?

HP drop alignment .mp4

drive.google.com drive.google.com
 
  • OMG / WOW
Reactions: a77
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Simon Peach

New Member
And again...
 

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Simon Peach

New Member
For testing, we printed an image on our flatbed and the same file on the HP. - It steps out 6mm across less than 2m.

Across a 3.2m drop of wallcovering, its stepping out by 30mm every drop.

"The case has been escalated with HP". - Great, where does that leave us and production? - It's painful.
 

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balstestrat

balstestrat

Problem Solver
For starters I would disable OMAS and set a manual advance value. It should make it more consistent. Or did you already do it?

I would also recommend to always loosen up the left end after inserting the roll on it. Don't leave it with full pressure, just click the handle gently and let off most of the pressure.
Especially on the take-up, it doesn't always move correctly if the end is pushed in completely. You can hear audible "click" sound when it spins and that's bad.

1649937677743.png
 
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Megan Burkhardt

New Member
ikarasu said:
Is it really the heat that causes length issues though?

I feel like the media sensor in the latex printers is garbage. We can print on diamond grade, and there's no way in hell that media is shrinking or stretching... And an 8 ft print can be 95.5", and then in the next load it can be 96.5".

Turning off omas... The length tools, even turning heat to the lowest just to test doesn't fix it. Doing length compensation in onyx helps a bit.. but still. Every load / reload is different....doing a manual media calibration after its on the take up reel will fix it until you swap the roll again. But then you waste a good 5-6 ft of media to attach it to the reel.

Our panels are always the same and align perfectly. So our problem isn't consistent lengths .. it's correct lengths.

It's a pain when we print stuff with borders, but that's about it. One of you guys should load a 1" 10 ft tape measure graphic on one of your prints and see how much / if it goes off... I think you'd be surprised as I really don't think it's a heat issue, more than it is a hps media tracking sucks compared to other brands.

Hope I'm wrong... But when we had a latex 10 we were told the same thing... The 560 uses less heat so it prints faster and all those length issues were gone because of it... Now I feel like we're hearing the same thing about the 800
Click to expand...
Hello Hello!
We are having the EXACT SAME ISSUE - actually have been fighting with HP for the last 3 - 4 months about it. It seems my prints are off somewhere around 1.094% give or take a bit. we actually run Flexi 3M traffic edition. Did you ever find a solution to this? is it only on the 3M prismatic profiles(thats how it is with us at least)? I actually see print length condensing on the HP banner profile as well.
 
balstestrat

balstestrat

Problem Solver
Megan Burkhardt said:
Hello Hello!
We are having the EXACT SAME ISSUE - actually have been fighting with HP for the last 3 - 4 months about it. It seems my prints are off somewhere around 1.094% give or take a bit. we actually run Flexi 3M traffic edition. Did you ever find a solution to this? is it only on the 3M prismatic profiles(thats how it is with us at least)? I actually see print length condensing on the HP banner profile as well.
Click to expand...
Have you turned OMAS OFF and done manual advance calibration?
 
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ikarasu

Premium Subscriber
Megan Burkhardt said:
Hello Hello!
We are having the EXACT SAME ISSUE - actually have been fighting with HP for the last 3 - 4 months about it. It seems my prints are off somewhere around 1.094% give or take a bit. we actually run Flexi 3M traffic edition. Did you ever find a solution to this? is it only on the 3M prismatic profiles(thats how it is with us at least)? I actually see print length condensing on the HP banner profile as well.
Click to expand...
Theres a few things you can do.

We find if you attach it to the take up reel before printing, the panels stay the same length - We did also run a media calibration while it was attached to the take up reel. It sucks... but at least for traffic we can cut the extra off and use it for screen printed, or signmaker stuff.

That said - Our 560 NEVER had a length issue. We could print panels months later that were 10 FT long and it'd match - It seems a lot of people did have issues with alignment though. on our 700... We print 3 4X8s that join together to make one 12X8, the next day we had to reprint and the panel was a good 1/4" from aligning...

Personally I don't think its the heat that does it, more the take up / feed system. Attach it before you start printing and do a media adjust before hand and it should be pretty accurate.
 
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Megan Burkhardt

New Member
See but that CANT BE. the issue. We attach take-up reel- literally calibrate take up reel. Still off.

Even more weirdly- it's off different amounts on the 3930, 4000, and temporary traffic black. And also prints entirely different lengths ripping through flexi 3 m traffic edition vs flexi (whatever the most decent version is) cloud based- why yes on the same roll...

When you say media calibration do you mean take-up? Or color calibration - I was told not to color calibrate on that media- because of the eye/reflectivity- doesn't work?

I tried a media advance calibration - tbh at least 3 of the rows looked the same on that damn reflective material. Hell I actually tested every single media advance setting, and physically measured them. Not 1 was accurate.

They have me literally scaling prints disproportionately. Or trying to apply a media advance adjustment through the rip. Which also doesn't work. And now HP is having me call flexi- cuz somehow it must be their fault. Not hps. I'm at my wits end with HP. I'm gonna download onyx and test print - just for shits.
 
M

Megan Burkhardt

New Member
balstestrat said:
Have you turned OMAS OFF and done manual advance calibration?
Click to expand...
Oh yeah 100% absolutely hell I even covered the OMAS with black vinyl at one point during tests. As a suggestion of a tech. Idk why that would matter if the OMAS is set to off.

Honestly my "best" theory is- with the OMAS off - the length is based off motor ticks- I'm not sure what motor to be honest. HP replaced the substrate feed motor(like where the new roll is loaded). And it's still off
 
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BigNate

New Member
I had some media loading issues on our 700 - but we also had noticed some size fluctuations on posters. The tech replaced the entire paper-path into then up to the pinch rollers. He also fully cleaned the knurling on the pinch roller, was going to replace, but the knurling was still sharp, just plugged with paper (vinyl) dust. The roll of posters I printed yesterday all measure the correct sizes.

From what the tech was saying, the knurled roller is the most critical for length - it is the only physical hold on the media to keep from slipping. The slick coating on the paper-path helps, we had warn off most some of the coating which was causing too much drag on the media.

What does the knurling on your pinch roller look like?
 
B

BigNate

New Member
CanuckSigns said:
That's horrible! how can it be off at both the top and bottom but in different directions?!
Click to expand...
if you stretch an image taller, then measure from the middle - are the dimensions of the top and bottom off in different directions? it looks like a simple y-axis length increase. Could be caused by tension, heat, or combination.
 
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Simon Peach

New Member
CanuckSigns said:
That's horrible! how can it be off at both the top and bottom but in different directions?!
Click to expand...
Honestly, no idea. - Our rep suggested we had stretched it by over-tensioning it on the laminator. - If you managed to get vinyl to stretch 30mm on release liner, the two would separate.

We’ve recently updated the firmware, no improvement. - I have now resorted to printing with the RMO unit of our 11 year old Arizona whilst we organise the return of this machine.

First and last time we ever have any involvement with HP. - 3 times I have been advised the case has been escalated with HP and I hear nothing from them, our reseller comes and collects bad prints, and shedloads of our material, then silence for months.

We recently ran a couple of prints on duratrans and have done some sandwich mode prints on penstick. - I cannot deny the prints were beautiful but if I cant tile on this machine, there really is no point in keeping it.

I wanted to love it..
 
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Simon Peach

New Member
Our final straw was when we had a huge fail with the alignments on a recent wall covering. -. We had to strip off the wallcovering and pay for decorators to make good and paint the wall again before running all 140m again on our Arizona.

Same file, same rip, same method on an 11 year old machine. - the prints were spot on throughout. - don’t let HP waste your time and material blaming the rip
 
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parrott

New Member
I absolutely despise HP for your same exact reasons. You want to love their machines, but they as a company make it impossible. Their too big to work with and could give two shits about any of their customers. It’s like buying a printer from the government and any issue is like initiating an act of congress. I want a company to appreciate my business, not try to pass off any issue that may come up.
 
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