SP300 media buckling under roller?

[geckophoto]

Can anyone help me figure out why at times I print and the vinyl buckles slightly under the pinch roller and then ink smears?

I run media tight off the roll and have also tried to pull it out and let it hang loose while printing. Doesn't happen all the time.

I see it buckle as printing and can hit pause, then hold it in place on the front edge area and lift release lever then lower it again and buckles do go away then I resume printing. Just dont raise the clear shield and I am goid to go, but I gotta watch it print in case ut starts to buckle?

Some pics of what is happening, mostly at the right roller too. But at times it will buckle in the center too.

 

[Zoogee World]

I have this issue sometimes as well, always seems to have relation with heat. Have you tried reducing the heat and see if it helps any?

 

[weyandsign]

I stand behind the printer and hold the sides of the vinyl down flat while spreading outwards for about a minute while it's printing. Once it's flattened out you can let it go by itself.

 

[ToTo]

Have you installed correct pinch rollers?
Left and rightmost are conical to stretch substrate. If you have straight ones or mixed up left and right you might have this issue.

 

[ToTo]

Left and right are identical, but mounted other way…

 

[FrankW]

How old are your pinch rollers? Sometimes the rubber dissolves from the metal core.

 

[geckophoto]

Rollers are good, Ill try lower heat usually have at 45/40. Noticed when I put banner media in it did it ut if i held down front edge coming out it was fine, but let it go it buckled slightly at roller.

 

[S4mxdotcom]

Is the roll sliding or moving on the tube or holder? The material can become a little skewed if the roll itself moves even a little bit. I remember my SP300 did not hold the rolls as tight as my VS640. and most of the time I had buckling and head strikes it was from the material being a little skewed or the heat being too high. I know its pretty basic , I apologize if its insulting your ability but it sounds like you are pretty new to printing because you called the head strikes "smudges". Have you noticed if it happens more or less with certain print profiles? You might have the heat too high . The smudges are from the print head hitting the material. It can damage the printhead. I would check the rollers first like Toto posted. And make sure the material is lined up and not able to move side to side. My Sp300 had plastic rollers that went int the ends of the tube the vinyl was rolled on, and they sat on metal tubes and just had a collar that could be adjusted to keep the rollers from walking to the sides. I got mine second hand and the first owner had changed the holder setup to a newer style similar to my VS640 that I've had better luck with. The plastic rollers on metal tubes style holder seemed like it could let the rolls move side to side easier than the way the VS640 holds the rolls. Is it doing it more often on longer prints ? on certain materials? Longer prints might be the alignment, on certain materials might be a profile issue with too much heat. Or one of the other things people have posted.

 

[netsol]

my sc545-ex has been doing this lately
i changed the outer pinch rollers
ignored the center rollers (those erings piss me off!)
i will chane them as well
i certainly have an issie with those plastic rollers, as well, as stated above, the roll slides side toside, just enough

 

[Terry01]

When was the last time you removed the front and cleaned the built up dust and grime off the fans that are used for vacuum ???

 

[netsol]

vacuum is FINE, i always keep track of that