Retractable Banner Stand PET Wrinkling After Curing

[AGinVT]

Hi everyone and thank you in advance for your advice. I have been in this business for 10 years and this site has been a great resource throughout the years.

We recently produced and replaced (5) large PET banner stand graphics. The panels came off the printer looking great, cured overnight and were loaded this morning. Between the time our quality control gave them the thumbs up to about a hour later, the material has completely wrinkled (see photos). We've all had the issue where banners are not loaded straight or pinched all the way a and a small ripple forms in one corner. This is over the entire surface of all (5) banners, nearly 24 hours after printing.

There are what look like wide roller marks on some of these, but no rollers were used and the cartridges were not damaged. I pulled one all the way out and inspected it myself and saw nothing unusual, except some minor cracking of the leader piece that comes from the cartridge.

Three of us with a total of 50 years experience looked at these and we're all at a loss. Has anyone experienced anything like this (post-curing)? Any ideas? We have a few days before this project is due, but I am a little hesitant to reprint all of them before finding a solution.

The printer was one of our Epson Resin SureColor R5070 and the material was the same Ultraflex PET Supersmooth grayback we've been using for the last 8 years.

 

[petepaz]

what type of printer were they run on?
i use a 13oz ultraflex smooth banner material, printed on our roll UV printer and don't have any issues.
maybe an ink issue?

 

[MarkSnelling]

looks more like the material is warped than wrinkled? Too much heat? maybe running a latex or something?

 

[bpp]

Hi everyone and thank you in advance for your advice. I have been in this business for 10 years and this site has been a great resource throughout the years.

We recently produced and replaced (5) large PET banner stand graphics. The panels came off the printer looking great, cured overnight and were loaded this morning. Between the time our quality control gave them the thumbs up to about a hour later, the material has completely wrinkled (see photos). We've all had the issue where banners are not loaded straight or pinched all the way a and a small ripple forms in one corner. This is over the entire surface of all (5) banners, nearly 24 hours after printing.

There are what look like wide roller marks on some of these, but no rollers were used and the cartridges were not damaged. I pulled one all the way out and inspected it myself and saw nothing unusual, except some minor cracking of the leader piece that comes from the cartridge.

Three of us with a total of 50 years experience looked at these and we're all at a loss. Has anyone experienced anything like this (post-curing)? Any ideas? We have a few days before this project is due, but I am a little hesitant to reprint all of them before finding a solution.

The printer was one of our Epson Resin SureColor R5070 and the material was the same Ultraflex PET Supersmooth grayback we've been using for the last 8 years.

I have the same problem with the same printer and media. I stopped printing on my Epson and only print with my mimaki UV. I need to play with the heat and if you can dial it down let us know.

 

[AGinVT]

I have the same problem with the same printer and media. I stopped printing on my Epson and only print with my mimaki UV. I need to play with the heat and if you can dial it down let us know.

We switched to Epson resin printers a little over a year ago and a few materials did need some extra calibration and this was one of them. Similar issue mentioned earlier. Either too hot and wrinkled or not hot enough and not cured fully. The print manager was able to get the passes, temp and timing down to get good results.

If it were an ink or curing issue, it would be a pretty easy solve. Unfortunately, the graphics came off the printer looking perfect. They dried over night and looked great in the morning. They were then loaded nice and flat with not issues. But once they were rolled into the units and then pulled back out, they waves/wrinkled showed up.

We have a lot of experience adjusting print settings and profiles. In my time at the shop, we have gone from a Versacam to an Rolland Ecosolvent to HP latex and now Epson resin. This material has been tested and this profile has been used for over a year with no issue.