Setting | Description | If too low | If too high |
Substrate advance | Your printer was calibrated at |
compensation | the factory to ensure that it |
| advances the substrate |
| accurately when using supported |
| substrates in normal |
| environmental conditions. |
| However, you may find it useful |
| to adjust the substrate advance |
| when printing in an unusual but |
| stable temperature or humidity |
| level, or if the |
| sensor is not working. |
You may see horizontal banding or grain.
You may see horizontal banding or grain.
Input tension | Tension is applied to the |
| substrate from the input spindle. |
| It needs to be constant over the |
| full width of the substrate, thus |
| substrate load is a critical |
| operation. |
The substrate skews and may become increasingly wrinkled in the printing zone. Also, substrate advance may be irregular, resulting in horizontal banding.
The substrate may be permanently deformed or damaged. Substrate advance problems may appear in extreme cases.
Vacuum | The vacuum applied to the |
| substrate at the printing zone |
| helps to hold the substrate down |
| on the print platen, keeping the |
| distance to the printheads |
| constant. |
The substrate may lift up off the platen and touch the printheads. This can smear the printed image, cause vertical banding, cause a substrate jam or even damage the printheads.
For sticky substrates, friction could be too high and substrate advance irregular, resulting in horizontal banding or irregular grainy patches.
Bidirectional | Specifies whether printheads |
| print in both directions, when |
| moving from left to right and |
| from right to left. |
If Bidirectional is selected, the amount of ink fired per unit of time is larger, and therefore print quality defects such as coalescence and banding may occur, especially at the sides of the plot. However, printing speed is high.
If Bidirectional is unchecked then the printing is unidirectional and the speed is relatively low.
TIP: You are recommended to keep Bidirectional selected in all cases, increasing the number of passes if necessary to avoid coalescence and banding.
High ink level | The maximum quantity of ink will |
| be laid on the substrate (the |
| High ink level option available |
| only when the number of passes |
| is 10 or more). The ink quantity |
| may be reduced by the RIP color |
| profile. |
If not selected, colors may look
If selected, there can be excess of ink and some problems related to poor drying and curing.
TIP: Select High ink level for backlit and some textile applications, or if you want high color saturation.
settings Substrate
44 Chapter 5 Substrate settings | ENWW |