S60600 Head Strikes

[Glavin_ID]

Hey all,

Head strikes aren’t anything new but we have one that we can’t seem to get rid of. It’s in the same spot on the left side of the machine. We tried all different settings with suction, tension, roller pressure and still getting them. Temp on the print platten is 109 (same as it always has been). The only way we can get it to go away is applying some tension on the media once it is out of the print area. Running Avery 1105 and never had this issue in the past with this material. Photo attached. Anyone got advice?

 

[Ewan yu]

That blue looks so nice in the light

 

[Ewan yu]

Is the media being laid flat? I mean, are the rear feed and the front take up properly aligned? During movement, misalignment could cause the media to shift, form a bump, and hit the printhead

 

[Ewan yu]

It’s most likely a media issue, not really a machine problem

 

[Glavin_ID]

Everything is set up the same way it always has been. Media isn't even on the take up reel when it starts happening.

We are going to try a fresh roll of film to see if that changes anything.

 

[Ewan yu]

OK

 

[Joseph44708]

Shop Temperature

 

[swordguy3222]

We get this here in the winter months, when humidity gets low. Sometimes its the stock, but if your humidity is below 20% the media will be wavy like that. We had to get a large humidifier for the shop to get it back up. Try increasing humidity.

 

[unclebun]

Have you cleaned the bottom of the media hold down? Might have adhesive stuck on it.

 

[Glavin_ID]

Have you cleaned the bottom of the media hold down? Might have adhesive stuck on it.

We have not, I will check it out. Thanks!

 

[Glavin_ID]

We get this here in the winter months, when humidity gets low. Sometimes its the stock, but if your humidity is below 20% the media will be wavy like that. We had to get a large humidifier for the shop to get it back up. Try increasing humidity.

Good thought, we have never had a ton of humidity issues in this room (we have in other rooms for sure) but it's been so damn cold here it could have just hit that tipping point.

 

[Solventinkjet]

Good thought, we have never had a ton of humidity issues in this room (we have in other rooms for sure) but it's been so damn cold here it could have just hit that tipping point.

That could explain it. If your vinyl is starting cold and then heating up on the printer faster than spec, it causes buckling from the vinyl, adhesive, and backer heating up at different rates. You might want to get a space heater to warm the room up for an amount of time to heat the vinyl up slower before printing.

 

[FCD]

Ours tends do this sometimes when it’s really cold out. Usually just need to adjust print room temps or printer temps.

 

[Jetpack Stickers & Labels]

We started getting occasional head strikes on one of our S80s, left side, started getting worse and worse. We hold temp at 70 F and humidity at 50% year round. Then started getting tons of errors - media load error, carriage wouldn't park over the cleaning caps. Got a local tech to come out, and he adjusted the head height. He explained that the parts that slide along the carriage rails wear out with time. Slight adjustment to the head height and back in business. No strikes, no errors. Maybe something to check into.