Why So Tense? Head Strike Prevention on a Wide Format Printer

Could a Head Strike Really Be Related to Proper Media Tension?

When the words “head strike” come to mind, probably the last thing anyone would think of is media tension but the reality is that it could very well be the cause of those head strikes.  Throughout my years in the service department with Mutoh America Inc. www.mutoh.com I have encountered media tension problems time and time again with some of our customers who weren’t even aware that our printers have different media tension settings.  Media tension can cause all kinds of unwanted occurrences when you are trying to get your jobs out the door so knowing your specific printer’s tension settings can play a huge part in getting successful and accurate prints out to your customers as well as cut back on that unwanted lost/waste material.

(1638 roll holder – Roll can spin freely with tension bracket disengaged-no tension)

Each roll to roll ValueJet has some sort of media tension adjustment on them but not all of them are adjustable so it is important to reference your user manual for your specific machine so that you understand the different tension settings and how to engage or disengage them.  Take the 1638X for example, this model is adjustable and there are 3 different tension settings that you can set on the machine.  The first one is no tension at all.  With the tension, bracket disengaged the roll will spin freely and have no resistance.

The second and third are with the tension bracket engaged. You can add 1kg or 4kg of tension to your material by setting your damper knob accordingly.

(1638 roll holder – Tension bracket engaged-this will allow the user to set either 1kg or 4kg of tension)

(With damper knob in outer position adds 1kg)

(With damper knob in inner position adds 4kg)

With all of these different settings available you can see that it is easy to possibly set your machine up with incorrect tension and not even know it’s happening.

Side Effects of Incorrect Tension Settings

What are the side effects of having incorrect tension settings?

• Media skewing
• Media buckling
• Head strikes
• Inconsistent job lengths

Keep in mind that almost all of the roll to roll ValueJet’s with adjustable tension have two separate roll holders so it is important to adjust both of them to the same setting and not just set one as that will cause uneven tension.

Uneven tension is one of the more common occurrences and can cause any of the above-listed side effects. So if you are experiencing any of them and your machine has adjustable tension then it might be a good idea to take a look at the back of your printer to see how your roll holders are set.  Also, the phrase “more is not always better” applies to media tension as well.  Sometimes too much tension can put excess strain on your machine and material which can cause head strikes, media buckling or your jobs to come out different lengths due to grit roller slippage.  But this isn’t the case with all materials, some materials like a little tension and run better through the machine with a little drag behind it so you will have to test your machine and material to see what best suits your needs.

If you thought the roll holders were the only place where tension can be added then think again!  Our optional HD take-up system has additional weights that can be added to them to either add or reduce the tension so it’s always best to check the user manual if you are unsure about all the different tension settings for your machine.

Load Media The Right Way on a ValueJet

No More Bad Tension – Just Good Tension

Media tension may not sound like it’s on the top of the list of how to make good prints but it is definitely an important subject and can certainly make the difference when trying to get the best output possible.  So the next time you get a head strike don’t tense up, relax and check your media tension!

Backlit Junkie Gets His Fix Using Dye Sublimation

ISA ended Saturday at 4 pm. And I just wanted everyone to know that I got my ‘fix’ for backlit dye sublimation at the show.

The light box was a TREMENDOUS hit, and even if the pics from my phone don’t do it justice, I saw so many other people taking pictures of it, that I lost count.

These were both printed on Mutoh’s ValueJet 1948WX, our high-speed printer for all things dye sub.  https://www.mutoh.com/products/valuejet-1948wx/

The same printer we used on our mugs in my last blog. https://www.thinkmutoh.com/mugging-it-up

The same printer that ISA (https://www.signs.org/isasignexpo) attendees were wowed by its incredible performance and aggressively competitive show pricing.

We often give show attendees incredible pricing for making their printer choices at the show. So if you haven’t been to a show you should check out show schedule.  https://www.mutoh.com/company/events/ And check the other on this page as well, our Training, Wrap Classes and Dealer events.

It is such a thrill to see your own artwork pop so much with dye sublimation backlighting.But it is just as much a thrill to see others appreciate it while educating those who don’t know what dye sublimation is on the incredible opportunities it presents itself in the market. In fact, most of our booth was dye sub backlit.

The ValueJet 1938TX signage is backlit dye sub as were all of our other booth signage.

And the seascape image next to the signage is Chromalux (https://www.chromaluxe.com/), Tobe Hall and the people at Unisub provided that piece of art for our customer enjoyment and Ryan Holtzman from Chromaluxe provided a Point of Sale style announcement of their new product –  EXT metal  (EXT for both EXTended life for outdoor photography, and for EXTerior signage), that looked as bit as crisp and sharp as you would expect from these guys.

And of course we were handing out Mutoh glass cleaners on Vision Microsuade S/660, again supplied by my friend Mike Sanders, whose Pacific Coast Fabrics merged with Top Value Fabrics (https://www.topvaluefabrics.com/index.php)last year.

These are great giveaways that people keep and use.  Mike is one of those guys who I consider my extended family in the industry. So now let me introduce you to my other brother Mike, Mike Compton at Top Value Fabrics.

I recently sat in on one of Mike’s webinars on…………….yes…………backlit.

If you are a member of SGIA (https://www.sgia.org/), like we are, get online and check it out. 

Here is Mike and I standing in front of another both made with back litbacklitlimation.

Oh yeah, the backlit fix is in……….

Mutoh America Launches New Water-based Textile Pigment Ink

Mutoh America Inc., a leader in wide-format inkjet printers and cutters, has announced they have launched a new Mutoh manufactured ink “TP-11” for their Direct to Textile printer, the ValueJet 1938TX.

“The TP-11 Ink is Mutoh’s original textile pigment ink tuned for direct printing onto natural coated fabrics for a wide range of applications,” shares Brian Phipps, president and general manager of Mutoh America, Inc. “It provides an optimal balance between high-quality images and durability.”

TP-11 Ink provides the perfect balance between high-quality images and durability.

It is non-hazardous and environmentally friendly and is available in four colors (CMYK) or seven colors (orange, blue, and green) for rich, vibrant colors.

The inks are packaged in large-capacity 1L bags for improved work efficiency.

TP-11 Ink is now available for sale through authorized Mutoh resellers across North and Latin America. For pricing and sales inquiries contact your authorized Mutoh reseller or find one at http://www.mutoh.com/dealers. 

Mugging it up!

RTFM

Yes, the first time I had to look that one up too. Something about ‘reading’ the freaking manual. Something I am want to do after everything else fails.

So here’s the story.

We recently got a mug press for dye sublimating coffee mugs. Kevin Lumberg From Johnson Plastic (https://www.johnsonplastics.com/) was instrumental in helping us out. (Be sure to check out the dye-sub blanks and imagine the possibilities dye sub has to offer)

This was primarily to do our own coffee mugs for the office and to have mug capabilities. So I ‘read’ the manual, set the press up, did some test prints and sublimated a couple of mugs. Results looked pretty good, so as I am want to do, I had to see just how much I could push the limits of the press size-wise.

I wanted to cover as much of the mug as possible. What I found is that there was a reason there was a

template and that the press, like all presses, has some limitations on the perimeter. And if you get too close to the edge of limitation, it is just not going to sublimate cleanly.  There just isn’t enough heat generated to give a clean edge. So I backed off the size and went back to the template.

I made a few ‘personalized’ mugs using my own artwork, after all, personalization is what digital printing and dye sublimation are all about.

And of course, this is where I pushed the limit on the mug press.

RTFM SOME MORE!

The manual clearly states that the mug press needs to be cooled down after extended use. But it doesn’t really state why. So ‘reading’ the manual, can be different from understanding the process. The reason is similar to the edge effect above.

Heat and heat dissipation.

For the edge effect above, there is not enough heat to heat the part of the mug that is not covered by the heating element.

In the base effect below, the bottom of the mug acts as a heat sink drawing heat away from that area giving incomplete dye sublimation. As the whole mug press heats up over an extended time, the thermocouple thinks the ‘mug’ is actually hotter than it really is.

So after letting the heat press cool back down, per the manual, great results are easy to obtain.

As I said, the idea was for us to do mugs for our own use. Ryan Arakaki, our Advertising and Events Manager created some nice artwork for the mugs that included a round feature. However, when sublimated this round feature turned into an oval.

Yes, of course, I could have done the math to determine the amount of distortion expected on a cylindrical surface.  http://archive.bridgesmathart.org/2012/bridges2012-513.pdf

And then claimed it was anamorphic art.  But instead, I just eyeballed it in Photoshop.

GET HELP FROM A PRO

So I turned these over to Andy Lewellen, our Mar-Com & Promotions Admin who actually did the real work to make our mugs. I think normally, this is where I would provide a link to the Mutoh store where you could buy these mugs, but right now the only way you can use one of these mugs is to stop by our Phoenix location and visit in person.

However, if you have any of our various dye sublimation printers from the VJ-628 Virtuoso (https://www.johnsonplastics.com/sublimation/sublimation-equipment/sublimation-printers/sawgrass-virtuoso-vj628-large-format-sublimation-printer) to the high speed 4 headed 1948WX that I used for my images, all you need is a heat press and some mugs to make your own.

Find out more about our Dye-Sublimation printers by using these links:

https://www.mutoh.com/products/valuejet-1624wx/

https://www.mutoh.com/products/rj-900x/

MUTOH Releases 1638UR Roll-to-Roll UV Printer Video

MUTOH recently showed off its new 1638UR Roll-to-Roll UV printer at the International Sign Association show in Orlando, Florida. The ValueJet 1638UR roll to roll printer provides real production based UV-LED performance at an affordable price. It’s staggered dual print head design provides fast print speeds and the dual UV lamps, on both sides of the print heads, provide exceptional cure times allowing for higher production speeds. The CMYK plus white and varnish ink options are ideal for printing backlit, custom wall covering, POP displays and beautiful signage. Flexible UV-LED instant dry inks, no VOC’s and fast print speeds make the ValueJet 1638UR by Mutoh the smart choice for any print shop.

Get more info here: https://www.mutoh.com/products/valuejet-1638ur/

Digital Printing and Printer Maintenance: What the Traffic Sign Industry Needs to Know

Scott Chapman, Senior Global Marketing Manager, Avery Dennison Reflective Solutions

May 22, 2018

“Simple, but proper, maintenance will keep your printer at its best, and leave you smiling, knowing you’ve made the right investment in technology.”

In many areas of the country, stepping into a traffic sign shop is something done at your own risk. Shops located in small public agencies are often located in the back of the general maintenance shed. Yes, behind the dump trucks, the snow plows and maintenance benches. I know, I’ve visited my share over the past thirty years and have a stack of oil-stained slacks to prove it. Don’t get me wrong – our industry also has a number of impressively organized – and clean – facilities around the country – private and public agency alike. And done right, all are capable of producing long-lasting, quality traffic signs.

And viewed in today’s eyes, our traffic signs have roots in some pretty unsophisticated production equipment. Remember the “one-arm-bandit” squeegee tables and steel-rule dies for cutting Highway Gothic letters for street name signs? The industry has evolved, but we still look at computer-cut overlay film production with wide-modern eyes in the same way that cro-magnon man viewed fire, or the way Mr. Watson expressed surprise at hearing “Mr. Watson – come here – I want to see you” at the other end of Alexander Graham Bell’s first telephone call on March 10, 1876. And all the while forgetting that the commercial graphics industry largely walked away from both forms of production in favor of wide-format digital printing years ago.

In fairness, reflectivity and durability demands of today’s traffic signs coupled with digital ink limitations have largely prevented production methods from evolving sooner. Only recently have advancements in ink and overlay films been achieved that make the production of specification compliant, and durable digitally printed traffic signs a reality. We’re here now, so welcome to the modern era of traffic sign production!

Digital printers, whether our own TrafficJet™ or other dedicated traffic sign printers, differ from common desktop inkjet printers in many respects. While “plug and play” is a hip and appealing phrase, it’s really out of place in the context of our industry. Call it aspirational, but don’t call it reality. Wide-format digital printers are more complex – far more moving parts with more complex ink and delivery systems, as well as substrate varieties, than your office desktop printer pulling from a stack of office supply copy paper.

Unfortunately, some shops getting into digital printing for the first time are often given an incorrect understanding of maintenance needs, hearing descriptions that some are “maintenance-free”. But as airplanes love to be airborne, printers are happiest when they are doing what they are designed to do, print. And the more the better. But downtime, and maintenance, are a reality for all printers. Each printer manufacturer provides instructions for daily, weekly, and monthly maintenance. And in many cases, daily maintenance – as short and simple as 10 minutes a day, is often the most critical to perform.

Many factors go into selecting the right printer for your operation. Remember to make a commitment to follow the manufacturer’s maintenance schedule. Maintenance procedures are not difficult to understand or follow, nor should they intimidate or prevent you from adopting this new technology. Simple, but proper, maintenance will keep your printer at its best, and leave you smiling, knowing you’ve made the right investment in technology.

To learn more about Avery Dennison Reflective Solutions, visit us at: reflectives.averydennison.com.

Stay up-to-date on all the latest from Avery Dennison. Connect with us on Social Media.

Want more information on the MUTOH TrsafficJet? Just ask:

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Trends in Design for 2018

Design Trends for 2018

Okay, I h0ught I’d give our readers a little insight into the design trends for 2018. Now if you are not a designer, and I certainly am not, this is a really good collection of videos to help you see what real designers see as the 2018-202 trends in design. Use these suggestions when you create your signage or graphics and You’ll be right up there with the top tier of design professionals!

15 Trends in Graphic Design for 2018

Capitalizing on trends in design and business is a great way to assure your success. In this video, I’ll describe and illustrate 15 Trends in Graphic Design for 2018. Join me in exploring the best trends you can use to build your brand! ——————————————————————————————

This video is targeted to my channel’s audience of entrepreneurs, designers, creative professionals and anyone interested in brand strategy, business planning, design, trend, marketing and communications.

——————————————————————————————

Philip VanDusen is the founder of Verhaal Brand Design, a strategic design and branding consultancy in the New York City metro area. He is an accomplished creative executive and expert in strategic branding, graphic design and creative management. Philip gives design, branding, marketing and business advice to creative professionals and entrepreneurs on building successful creative practices and brands. ——————————————————————————————

Interior Design Trends 2018

Discover the Top 10 interior design trends of 2018 in this must-watch guide to decor your home. D.Signers reveals what’s trending in interior design, colors, furniture, metals, nature, wall art, wood, tropical vibes and ideas to beautify your spaces. Become an expert in a few minutes watching this video. This Top 10 was created by Professionals Experts from D.Signers Group. Website: http://www.dsigners.net

5 HUGE Graphic Design Trends in 2018❓

I Wish I Knew This When I Started: Logo Design

Lessons learned from starting a design company. How to charge more for a logo design. Why do some designers feel guilty about charging for creative services? Why charge $50 for a logo? Why did you continue to charge so little? On this episode, Ben Burns joins us on the show as he recounts stories about getting started in design and charging clients $50 for a logo. He was happy and felt a sense of validation. Later on, he heard about other designers like Aaron Draplin charging $20k and thought “Wow! That’s amazing. But there’s no way I could charge that.” Is this a problem you’re facing? Then watch this episode. Find MrBenBurns here: https://www.instagram.com/mrbenburns/ https://www.youtube.com/c/mrbenburns Annotations: — 2:40 First logos and competing to work at spec via O Desk 5:18 Q: Why didn’t it occur to you to ask for more money? 8:47 Q: Have you ever run into a situation where clients ask you for more? 9:59 Value your time as more than a commodity, and don’t give it away for free. 12:00 Lack of symmetry in logic 14:18 The Difference is confidence in the value that you provide 15:20 You can do the same work, but you have to position it differently to charge more.

More from ThinkMutoh.com Soon!

Sometimes There is a Beauty in Making Things by Hand

The “ART” of Wallpaper Prints

While we are indeed trying to make it easier and more productive to place prints in textiles using a MUTOH ValueJet wide format printer, it’s good to remember where it all begins. The artist. I thought it might be fun to give the artist some press just to remind everyone that we have not forgotten you. So, in the next few paragraphs, read and watch the beauty form from one such artist in London.

Made in London: Daniel Heath

The “ART” of the MUTOH ValueJet

So there you go! A great article and video of a true artist. Think of how much more widespread his art could be using a MUTOH ValueJet wide format printer. Think of how much more TIME he could spend creating rather than producing the product. We respect and applaud his talent. I wish we all had it.  Just some things to think about.

Want to find out more about how a MUTOH ValueJet could help. Click Here: www.mtuoh.com

A PC Tech’s PC Tech – Why Consider A Fast Computer from SignBurst

Hi, my name is Earl

One of the funniest things about the show “My Name is Earl” is that he never took a photo where his eyes weren’t shut.

This seemed fitting in talking about another of my industry friends. Let me introduce you to a guy who opened my eyes to optimized PCs for the design and sign industry.

Casey Yonemura, the Graphic Design Computer Specialist at Signburst (http://signburst.com/).

Casey was working the SAI booth https://www.thinksai.com/) at ISA 2018.

The first time I met Casey was at a trade show, many years ago.

Mutoh was just focusing on car wraps and I had actually begun designing wraps for myself and Mutoh.

Mutoh is an industry leader in the car wrap field now and Mutoh sponsors Justin Pate’s Avery Wrap Classes around the country.  (https://www.mutoh.com/company/events/)

Justin’s an old friend of mine and I like to think I helped get these training classes off the ground in the early days.  (http://www.justinpate.net/)

What a Great Computer Can Do

So I was at a show and stopped by The Bad Wrap booth (https://thebadwrap.com/) where Casey was running a Photoshop demo using The Bad Wrap templates and full-size wrap designs.

It looked like a typical canned video commercial with images dragging in and being edited and popping up in the template. assumed this was all edited to look fast, because I had a pretty good PC at home and I knew my images took much, MUCH longer just to load, more to edit. was just about to keep walking when I overheard the conversation between Casey and the guy he was giving a demo to about loading another image, and I watched Casey load a full-size image into the template with a click of the mouse.

This was REAL TIME.

I had never seen anything quite like this.

And this was BEFORE SSDs and the like.

Yes, I built dozens of PCs over the years and thought I had pretty good insight on PCs, but nothing like Casey has. Stayed and watched the rest of his demo and quizzed him on how he was able to get this kind of performance out of a PC.

It boiled down to the ‘right’ quality components and his insights from contacts at Adobe and RIP companies that allowed him to optimize these PCs not only for design but for RIP performance as well.

What a Great Computer Can Do in Your Shop

I was impressed enough to do a testimonial for Casey:

Randy Anderson, Product Marketing Manager – Mutoh America Inc. – “I have to admit, when I first saw one of Signburst’s computers running Photoshop for vehicle wrap design at a trade show, I thought there was some trickery going on. I had never seen such large files open and process so quickly. I watched for about 20 minutes in awe as this system was working virtually in real time with huge files and many layers. We invited SignBurst to our demo room, and their computer RIP’ed files in seconds that took our in-house system minutes, truly impressive. The time savings and increased productivity for these systems can greatly benefit any production environment.”

His PCs are blazing fast, and can increase your productivity and Casey is a PC Tech’s PC Tech. Pair his computers with our already fast MUTOH printers and you just entered the good side of the Twilight Zone!

In Case You Don’t Cotton to Dye Sublimation

By Randy Anderson, Product Marketing Manager-MUTOH AMERICA INC

Printing on Cotton Fabric…Something to Think About

In case you don’t cotton to dye sublimation, there is always…………well………cotton.

Or wool, or even silk and other fabrics. Printing on cotton fabric with a textile printer of course just one choice.

The textile market is in a growth mode for digital printing. There is probably less than 20 percent of all textile now being printed digitally. Last stats I saw were around 3%, but talking to a supplier of single pass printers at the show, that number is growing at an incredible rate, and may currently be hovering around the 20% mark. And speaking of Mark

This is Mark Sawchak.

Expand Systems Fabric

Mark is standing behind a chair supplied to us for the ISA 2018 show (https://www.signs.org/) by Mark’s wife Ann. Mark and Ann are the driving forces behind their company Expand Systems LLC

(http://www.expandsystems.com/). And the chair they provided was a HUGE hit at the show.

The chair was covered in cotton printed directly with the pigment process and shows a wide range of color and style that direct to textile pigment printing brings to the home décor and upholstery industry.  The fabric used is Expands’ PREMex brand

of media, (http://premexsolutions.com/fabrics.html) which is a top quality line of fabrics suitable for a wide range of applications and industry.  All of our show images were printed on Expands’ PREMex linen and twill.

The following  images were printed on Expands’ PREMex linen and twill with an 8 color Mutoh inkset on the ValueJet 1938TX

Yes, I know I ranted and raved about how much attention the backlit dye sub got, but in all fairness, the combination of the chair and the backlit was THE nice attention getter and conversation starter for textiles in the Mutoh booth.

Expand Systems provides Digital Textile Printing Solutions that cover pretty much the entire gamut of digital direct printing.  From MS LaRio (http://www.msitaly.com/) printing at some 75 linear meters per minute to the entry-level and sample capable ValueJet 1938TX (https://www.mutoh.com/products/valuejet-1938tx/) printing at 7 to 28 linear meters per hour.

It still takes a minimum of fabric to make a run with a single pass printer so the ValueJet 1938TX for perfect for small runs, samples, prototyping and high resolution/ high-quality prints.

Imagine as a designer sending your latest designs overseas for sample printing, with no real control over your designs, your intellectual property.  Now imagine keeping your designs in-house and having absolute control over your ideas and designs, until production starts or product is released. All that is doable and inexpensive, with the Mutoh ValueJet 1938TX.

Perfect for Short Runs and Sampling

Want a sample,  a single image or a production facility? Mutoh has an answer. The ValueJet 1938TX is the culmination of over a decade of work around the Mutoh platform by companies like Yuhan Kimberly, Expand and Mutoh to produce an easy to use, effective, and inexpensive printer for the textile market.

You can sit on your designs (or just wear them) until YOU are ready to show the world.

If you are not ready for a printer of your own, there are many options to get your designs printed and fabric produced to make your own home décor items, craft items or just to stretch your creativity.

The Spoonflower Example

Spoonflower (https://www.spoonflower.com/) is one of Expands customers and have for years provided Spoonflower with Mutoh based textile printers for direct printing on a variety of textiles.

Spoonflower started with a single Mutoh based textile printer, and at one time had dozens of them running their production, and their orders typically fit inside a small envelope mailer – that’s how they built their business.

Some of their customers bought enough printed fabric that it made sense for them to purchase their own direct to textile and dye-sub printers and produce for themselves and other.

One of those customers is Dee Dee Davis of Décor Print, Custom Digital Textile Printing  (www.decor-print.com), who started with one Mutoh based textile printer from Expand Systems, and now has a shop that has multiple direct printers and dye sublimation to cover the full range of textile digital printing.

So with some 80% or more of textile NOT being digitally, and the rise of personalization hitting the home décor market and business branding market there is plenty of opportunities to produce and sell digitally printed textiles.

Be sure to visit our product website where we have numerous choices in textile printers available. www.mutoh.com