Seeking your expert knowledge

[Kemble]

I have a customer that is looking for a 40" x 72" black banner with their 3 color logo (red, grey, lt grey) printed on it on both sides. The customer would like to use the black fabric material that construction company's use for privacy that hang on fences to keep prying eyes out of the construction area. The environment where the banner will be hung up will be exposed to high wind. I have a few questions for you experts.

1) What is that material called?
2) Is this something I can print on my HP R2000?

Thanks !!

 

[MarkSnelling]

colored PVC mesh? you can get it in black, white, and maybe a few standard colors. I've got customers who wholesale it should you need some printing done.

 

[JBurton]

Sounds like you really want a windscreen banner, or mesh. Ultraflex makes one printable, I run it through the hp 560 just fine, after wasting 5' to wrap it onto the take up reel. It really likes to buckle under heat, so I don't know if I'd try it on a flatbed.
If you're clever, you can then mount the printed material in the laminator, route it through to the take up reel, and use the backer take up reel to strip all the liner off without needing to manually rip it all off.
If you have a router too, save the backer to cover exposed vacuum areas, it's has a perfect mixture of being flexible enough to suction into cavities for a tight seal, but also 'fragile' enough that if the router hits it, it will break rather than stretch and wrap around the bit. I used some of it to hold down 20 2x6's flat so I could shave 1/4" off of one end, then proceeded to cut right through the backer as I cut the wood.

 

[MrDav3C]

Interesting post, can you print on both sides of mesh?

 

[JBurton]

I don't think any mesh offers that, but potentially yes. On the 560, you can swap out the platen to a tray for fabric printing, so you might find a mesh coated both sides for latex, but you'd need to use that tray otherwise ink will get everywhere. This particular media has a film on the back to prevent the ink bleeding through, and you have to remove it after printing.
Oddly enough, I always pull product from fellers because their site is fast, but they don't seem to carry it anymore, and the other Ultraflex mesh they do carry isn't latex compatible. GSG has it listed still: https://www.gogsg.com/2397675/product/y/ultraflex-strip-mesh-pro-ltx

 

[balstestrat]

Forget mesh on R2000. Don't even dream doing it double sided.

 

[DL Signs]

UltraFlex UltraMesh is a two sided for just that application, but... It's only available in 126" & 196" for grand format printers.
Sub them out to a company that prints them, go hang em' & collect a check.

 

[Creative Sign Guy(s)]

Sounds like you really want a windscreen banner, or mesh. Ultraflex makes one printable, I run it through the hp 560 just fine, after wasting 5' to wrap it onto the take up reel. It really likes to buckle under heat, so I don't know if I'd try it on a flatbed.
If you're clever, you can then mount the printed material in the laminator, route it through to the take up reel, and use the backer take up reel to strip all the liner off without needing to manually rip it all off.
If you have a router too, save the backer to cover exposed vacuum areas, it's has a perfect mixture of being flexible enough to suction into cavities for a tight seal, but also 'fragile' enough that if the router hits it, it will break rather than stretch and wrap around the bit. I used some of it to hold down 20 2x6's flat so I could shave 1/4" off of one end, then proceeded to cut right through the backer as I cut the wood.

Works fine on the HP FB550. Infact, I have had zero problems. The HP latex 300/500 series printers will carriage strike sometimes, so I never print mesh on them.

 

[Boudica]

UltraFlex UltraMesh is a two sided for just that application, but... It's only available in 126" & 196" for grand format printers.
Sub them out to a company that prints them, go hang em' & collect a check.

Interesting... the mesh banner we use has a liner on the back to catch the ink that goes through the holes. How would that work double-sided?

 

[JBurton]

Interesting... the mesh banner we use has a liner on the back to catch the ink that goes through the holes. How would that work double-sided?

Probably a fabric platen, something like the 560 has. You pull the regular platen with holes out, drop a different one in with a trough filled with cotton, then all the over spray falls in there. How you go about unloading and rotating a 126" roll is probably a trade secret for grandformat101 users...

 

[JBurton]

a liner on the back to catch the ink

BTW, if you're still stripping those by hand, you can get creative with the laminator, mount the mesh in the laminate position, tape the backing to the liner take up reel, and feed the mesh through the laminator. It takes some finagling to get it to strip as fast as it feeds, but it beats the crap out of laying mesh face down and dragging it across the table while trying to peel liner. (our ink always scuffed when we did this)

 

[Boudica]

BTW, if you're still stripping those by hand, you can get creative with the laminator, mount the mesh in the laminate position, tape the backing to the liner take up reel, and feed the mesh through the laminator. It takes some finagling to get it to strip as fast as it feeds, but it beats the crap out of laying mesh face down and dragging it across the table while trying to peel liner. (our ink always scuffed when we did this)

Nice tip, but there's something satisfying about stripping the mesh banner liner. It's rubbery, and soft, and .... I enjoy it.

 

[JBurton]

Nice tip, but there's something satisfying about stripping the mesh banner liner. It's rubbery, and soft, and .... I enjoy it.

Do you enjoy running through 7 banners separately, or a whole roll at a time...
But really, that stuff (the backing) is really nice for CNC vacuum coverage, though I don't think you guys mess with that, but it rips out in pieces instead of stretching, and yet has an airtight hold down. It's stronger than visqueen, and doesn't stick to itself. Plus its rubbery and soft!

 

[Boudica]

Do you enjoy running through 7 banners separately, or a whole roll at a time...
But really, that stuff (the backing) is really nice for CNC vacuum coverage, though I don't think you guys mess with that, but it rips out in pieces instead of stretching, and yet has an airtight hold down. It's stronger than visqueen, and doesn't stick to itself. Plus its rubbery and soft!

We don't have CNC capabilaty in-house, so you are correct about that. We actually don't do a lot of mesh banners - just onesie twosie requests a couple times a year. So i'm still in the "this is fun and somehow satisfying" stage. If we had a huge run though, The satisfying part would fade, and I might get creative and use the laminator!

 

[DL Signs]

Interesting... the mesh banner we use has a liner on the back to catch the ink that goes through the holes. How would that work double-sided?

For two sided you use an ink collection system like JBurton described. It has an absorbant replaceable pad that goes in it, and the vacuum pulls the ink into it, away from the material. It's mainly a grand format thing for doing mega large banners like you'd see hanging in stadiums, hence the material only coming in 126" & 196".