Need Help UCJV300 white ink alignment issues.

[Sean@CedarHouse]

Running Rasterlink 6

We are printing white over CMYK on clear. The CMYK lays down first and then rolls back to print the white layer. The white and CMYK don't align on feed, white being off by 2mm. Scan is okay.

I've had cut issues with this printer as well. Sometimes it prints and cuts fine, as long as the print and cut area are less than 24 inches, and sometimes it's off on feed by 2mm.

I think these are related issues when the printer brings the material back for either the second print or the cut. I can't figure out why it's intermittent, although this time it's happening on every file I've loaded to test.

What I've done:

I've loaded different files for testing. Setting them up with white on top.

Updated firmware and software where needed.

Material is always on the take up because of head strike issues if I don't.

Design in done in Illustrator. Saved as EPS or PDF. Neither changes the outcome.

Any thoughts or ideas?

Thanks

 

[White Haus]

We ran into the same issue, and have moved to printing only out of Onyx thrive and only cutting our jobs on our Summa cutters.

Both rasterlink and the cut feature on the UCJV are quite useless as far as I'm concerned. It took a miracle for cmyk+white alignment or print/cut alignment to work, so we moved on and found other solutions.

Sorry, that's probably not what you want to hear. Hopefully someone has found a way to make these things work but I just ran out of patience and used proven RIP software and cutters to do their jobs rather than relying on software/hardware that seems like it was written by a 8 year old.

 

[Sean@CedarHouse]

Thanks for the response. I appreciate the feedback.

 

[TomK]

And I was so close to buying one of these printers! Thanks for the feedback.

 

[hand851]

You need a tech to align the white and the cut you can align.

 

[APCInk]

Hi all,

I have to ask why you're letting the printer roll back between layers instead of letting them all print at the same time? The printer is capable of doing a "virtual-stagger" on the heads and you can print up to 5 layers at one time (as shown here

)

We've worked extensively with the UCJV300 since they first came out and do date, I don't think we've had a single issue with white alignment. I usually set the white layer in RasterLink to choke by 2 pixels (so it doesn't bleed out past the color), but the alignment when printing simultaneously is so good, it's more force of habit on my part than any kind of necessity.

I don't want to say you're doing this wrong, but... if you're letting the printer complete one layer and then roll back, you're probably doing it wrong. I don't have Rasterlink up right now, but there is a checkbox that determines whether the printer rolls-back between layers or does them all at once.

Hope this helps

-DM

 

[White Haus]

And I was so close to buying one of these printers! Thanks for the feedback.

I definitely wouldn't discourage you from getting one of these. It's a great machine, and has performed very well for us. My complaints are really just with Rasterlink (easy fix if you're already running Onyx or willing to dish out some more $$ to upgrade) and the print / cut registration.

To be fair, when we first got the machine a year ago we were absolutely swamped and needed it running immediately. I realized there were issues with Rasterlink and print/cut accuracy and quickly found another solution.

I'm sure, as stated above, there are ways to get those things corrected and working properly.

 

[Sean@CedarHouse]

You need a tech to align the white and the cut you can align.

I appreciate the PDF. I've gone through and done these alignments several times. It still cuts off, sometimes. It seems the white and the cut ar off on feed exactly the same distance. Is there a setting or a physical "fix" that can be adjusted?

Thank you

 

[Sean@CedarHouse]

Hi all,

I have to ask why you're letting the printer roll back between layers instead of letting them all print at the same time? The printer is capable of doing a "virtual-stagger" on the heads and you can print up to 5 layers at one time (as shown here

)

We've worked extensively with the UCJV300 since they first came out and do date, I don't think we've had a single issue with white alignment. I usually set the white layer in RasterLink to choke by 2 pixels (so it doesn't bleed out past the color), but the alignment when printing simultaneously is so good, it's more force of habit on my part than any kind of necessity.

I don't want to say you're doing this wrong, but... if you're letting the printer complete one layer and then roll back, you're probably doing it wrong. I don't have Rasterlink up right now, but there is a checkbox that determines whether the printer rolls-back between layers or does them all at once.

Hope this helps

-DM

Thank you very much! I thought the printer required a roll back for white on top. I'll check this out today and see if this helps.

 

[Solventinkjet]

Material is always on the take up because of head strike issues if I don't.

Make sure your take up isn't pulling too hard. You can adjust the clutch to loosen it a bit. If the motor pulling the vinyl back has too much tension to pull against, it will throw off the feed. Also, make sure your vacuum is set to the highest settings so you don't get the rippling. If you are printing on material that isn't the full width of the printer, put transfer tape over the part of the platen you don't use so the holes are covered and you will get more suction as well.

 

[Sean@CedarHouse]

Thanks to everyone who responded and gave me a hand on this. I'm still learning the software and this printer. The roll back setting change helped the white over CMYK. So now at least I know I can do this job and cut it on the summa since the cut lines are off even after doing the adjustments that I can do.

I appreciate the help all. Thanks.

 

[InkHead]

Thanks to everyone who responded and gave me a hand on this. I'm still learning the software and this printer. The roll back setting change helped the white over CMYK. So now at least I know I can do this job and cut it on the summa since the cut lines are off even after doing the adjustments that I can do.

I appreciate the help all. Thanks.

I think the default settings for the pinch rollers when it cuts is to use the 2 outside rollers only. Make sure they are in the right spots otherwise you get tracking issues. I have had that happen before.

Now, I use all the pinch rollers during the cut. Since its UV, the ink cures immediately so no issues and no tracking issues. However if you have clear ink, sometimes you can see the roller marks it kind of smears the ink. Usually have to let it dry a bit more. Typically that happens on short jobs that you print and cut right away

 

[lubo1972]

Try to cut using marks. It is far better.