Printing tips

CAUTION: Synthetic media commonly used for inkjet printing can build up a static charge, especially in environments with low relative humidity. This charge can pose an electrostatic discharge (ESD) hazard to persons, the printer, and other equipment. It can be safely discharged by draping a grounded chain or tinsel over the top of the media, or by wiping the media with a solution of 90% isopropyl alcohol and allowing it to dry for five minutes before printing. A relative humidity of 40%-60% will greatly reduce problems with static electricity.

●Rigid cut-sheet media — use only flat, unwarped, undamaged sheets, with parallel opposite edges and 90° corners. For optimal image quality, use smooth-surfaced media. Images printed on porous media will lack fine detail.

●Curing continues for 24-48 hours — the UV ink will continue to cure for a day or two after printing. Maximum durability and adhesion is achieved when the ink is fully cured.

●If you print on the media drive belt, clean the ink off the belt as soon as possible. The longer that ink remains on the belt, the more difficult it is to remove. To remove ink from the belt, moisten the ink with isopropyl alcohol, let stand for a few minutes, and wipe with a paper towel. Carefully remove any flaked ink from the area.

●To avoid printing on the media drive belt when printing edge-to-edge (0 margin) jobs, you can affix dark-colored masking tape on the belt where the sides of the media will be. Remove or replace the tape periodically as ink accumulates on the tape.

●Do not attempt to adjust the vacuum level for the printheads. It has been factory adjusted for best performance.

●Lighter, smaller media rolls — for lighter, smaller rolls of media, you can use the rigid media tables and media rollers to feed the media like rigid media.

●Printing on reflective media will reflect UV light onto the printheads, which will cure the ink over time and clog the ink jets. To minimize this:

◦Do not keep reflective media loaded on the printer when not in use.

◦Perform a manual purge after printing on reflective media.

◦Visually inspect the printheads via the service door for ink buildup or ink curing, If observed, clean the printheads (see Clean the print head orifice plates (bi-weekly) on page 70).

●To load reflective media, the General Media Setting “Visible to Printer” should be set to

Visible.

●The margins for print jobs sent from the Onyx RIP cannot be set from the RIP. The margins can be adjusted once the print job is stored on the printer, or white space can be added to the document before it is sent to the RIP.

●To reduce printing artifacts when printing on Corrugated Plastic (Coroplast) or Polystyrene (Sintra) sheets, try creating a custom media type with the lamps set to Low, Low. Note that this setting could reduce the gloss of the print.

26 Chapter 4 Printing jobs

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