HP Latex 360 Head Crashes

The company that I work for purchased an HP Latex 360 about 9 months ago and I still haven't figured out a solution to our issue. We run a lot of Ultraflex 12 oz banner material every month. The biggest problem we're having is head crashes. I have the vacuum set to 20, and even put it up to 35 to run a test on it and it head crashed. I can get through full rolls of the material, but when I attempt to run a 24x60 X Banner or just a quick set of banners, I have to hold the material by hand until I put it on the take-up reel. Can anyone help me out with this?

Your issue is basically related to the temperatures applied to cure the ink. in order to fix this issue, I will recommend you to reduce the temperature. this normally solves the problem.

However, if this doesn't work, I attach you the list below, which is a complete list of tips and tricks that can be used to prevent this issue:

1. Decrease curing temperature: main recommendation.

2. Load substrate into the Take-Up Reel. This helps to stretch the substrate and can help avoid it
becoming stuck on the output platen.

3. Decrease the Inter-Swath Delay if necessary, to avoid the media being under the curing module
for a long time.

4. Reduce the ink level. Follow this recommendation if the ink is not properly cured due to
temperature reduction.

5. In the event a single job needs to be sent and it is not possible to load the Take-Up Reel for it,
leave the leading edge hanging in the front of the curing module. The transition zone between print platen and output platen is critical to this issue; therefore, it is better to avoid passing the leading edge by this zone when printing.

Please let me know if this tips helped you.

We run Utraflex Jetflex 13 oz all the time, here are my print settings: 8pass, bidi, 105 temp, 100% color saturation. However, I have noticed that the heat still warps the edges of the material, so that it creates a convex distortion in the leading edge of my print. It seems like the otside 6 or so inches of the substrate stretch more than the center, creating like a ruffled edge that the carriage catches as it passes over. I have also noticed that sometimes it seems the material gets stuck to the smooth surface of the curing platten as it heats, so the take up reel can't pull it down fast enough and it creates a pile up wrinkle accross the substrate right in the path of the carriage. I got the same stock suggestions they gave you, which were not helpful. You could probably turn back the heat to about 95 and the ink levels to around 75% though without getting too much color intensity loss.

Hi again Mike-Ashville,

The problem you've exposed here seems similar or the same that the one of this other topic:

Head Crashes with banners

I'll like to ask you to follow the recommendations of exposed in the "Head Crashes with banners" topic, especially the one of using the Output Platen Protection which will really help you to avoid the head crashes.

Let me know if you've been able to get better results.