z3200ps head strikes on vinyl

[gregfowler]

Hi again, last time had a lot of help and really appreciated the answers. This time I am trying to run a vinyl banner 40" x 8' long and I appear to be getting what I would describe as "head strikes" on the material that are leaving streaks. There is heavy coverage, basically large colored letters on a balck background. I have tried both as regular stock and heavy stock in the setup menu and didn't seem to make a difference.

I will point out that  we didn't purchase the heaviest vinyl, it is a 15mil scrim and I can see some buckling of the vinyl as it enters the paper path at rear of machine. Are there any tricks or ideas as far as how to avoid this on  vinyl scrim?

[gregfowler]

from what I can tell after a frustarting afternoon, the vinyl material appears to be feeding incorrectly from the roll, as I can see it kind of scrunching up from the rear as it gets close to the rollers. The further in I get with the print the more the material pckers and causes the print head to hit. I did reload the vinyl being extra careful to feed it straight but it still does this scrunching. Maybe it's a roller pressure setting somehow?

[Roscolo]

What are the specifics regarding the vinyl, manufacturer, etc.? I have done extensive printing with a z3100 on HP Adhesive Vinyl with zero problems.

[gregfowler]

This isn't adhesive vinyl, but regardless it's an off brand I believe...dtec AQ Matte WR Scrim Vinyl 15mil.

[Randy Carone]

Two things to try:
1. Pre-feed the entire job, then scroll it back. Or, short of that, at least loop the banner in front of the feed roll so the printer is not pulling the full roll when it feeds.
2. Feed out a bit of banner and using butterfly clips on the front of the banner, hang modest weights (or a broom stick) from the leading edge, which will pull the media tight across the print platten.
Good luck, let us know how you resolve the problem.

[gregfowler]

Well another learning experience in regards to the vinyl. We ended up advancing the vinyl through the machine until we had enough (approx. 8 ft.) then cut it off the roll at the rear of machine and then reversing the vinyl back through the machine, letting it drape to the ground at the rear of the machine. By not having it feed from the roll this solcved the bunching up problem and it printed perfectly. I also removed the roll spindle from the machine before printing just to make sure it didn't interfere with the feed.

I do have another issue now which is that the image although dry to the touch can still be easily rubbed off. I have taken a hair dryer to a scrap section to see if that helps and it did actually a bit but I really don't want to use a hair dryer for an 8 foot banner. Is it normal for the image to remain somewhat "undry" on vinyl using Vivera inks? Is it possibly the no name brand of vinyl we are using is causing a drying issue (although specs say it is for aqueous inks)? Is there some sort of fixitive for vinyl when printed with aqueous inks? Many thanks for help on the feeding issue!