Media Arches while printing and drying

Hello to all,

We have this issue while printing. Little background: We are a Traffic Control Service Provider with a Print Shop. We print up our own signs, custom sign relating to road construction, road closures, side closures, etc.

Our biggest issue at the moment is that we have this 3M Reflective Material that when loaded into the printer, arches in the drying area to the point that it touches the top portion where the heater/fans are and smears the ink before it dries.

Today, we tried some generic paper material for a small project. We have projected uses for it in the future too. But the issue with this is in addition to arching at the dryer, it also arched in the printing area causing the print head to touch/slide across the media, also smearing the ink.

I'm assuming I need to create a custom print profile and make lots of test prints to solve the issue with the arching/wrinkling in the print area. Any ideas on what can be done to fix both issues?

Hi @KostyaPono,

Without knowing the printer model, it is a bit difficult to answer your question. I will assume that this is an L365 + Traffic signage SAI RIP (this is the only bundle that can print traffic signage with 3M media in a certificate way).

The main recommendation is to advance media around 20 cm before printing, trying to have media out of the output platen in order to avoid the situation described by you. If this is not acceptable, you might need to contact HP support to clean the impinging chamber and try to improve the situation.

I hope this helps.

I have the same problem on my 3600
HP 5yr air vinyl still arches and can catch on the screw heads on the platten Even though I use edge guides and increaed the Vacuum Seems to be a design fault with these screw heads catching the media Does not happen on Oracal or LG ONLY way to overcome it is to advance vinyl past that point (500mm wasted each time I print...Including end after rewind totalling 800mm what a waste of material !