Online Vinyl Banner Printing Myths and information - Part 2

Eco-solvent or Solvent Vinyl Banners -- vs -- Inkjet Vinyl Banners
Inkjet Vinyl Banners are only good for indoor use or short term outdoor use. They are not designed to be durable, scratch resistant, or UV resistant. Neither pigment inkjet vinyl banners and dye based inkjet vinyl banners are acceptable for heavy use. Inkjet vinyl banners are easily scratched, no matter how many coats of protection are used on them. If they are laminated they can be acceptable, but usually the cost of laminating and the higher cost of inkjet vinyl material makes this economically impractical.

Beware of Old Machine and Cheap Ink
Make sure you are working with a company using machines not older than 5 years old if they are printing digitally. Ideally, check for someone who has the latest model or one generation behind that to be sure that you are getting a print off of the latest technology. This is especially important if you are printing something with gradients, photos, pictures of people, company logos, etc.

The use of Proper Color Management and ability to match Pantone Colors
Properly calibrating the equipment, computers, and monitors are crutial in getting outstanding performance when printing wide format banners. The ability to use Pantone Colors is another thing you should inquire about, even if you do not need them. Pantone colors are a book (swatch book similar to ones used for choosing Paint colors) of universal colors across all possible outputs. For example, Coca Cola has a pantone color for their logo's red that must be the same no matter where it is printed or what it is on. The ability of a shop to match Pantone colors is a good indication they have an effectively color controlled workflow.

Check the printers Reputation, Clients, and References
Many shops use referrals as a major source of new customers and depend on their reputation to grow their business. Many others do the opposite, leaving unsatisfied customers and moving on to the next number in the phone book. To prevent against ending up the latter, do some research on the prospective company. A good Google search on the company name and domain (i.e. Search for "Company Name" and "companyname.com") to find out if anyone is ranting and raving about their service. Don't be put off if you find a few bad reviews out of overall positive ones, but if people are only saying negative things you should avoid that company. You can also ask the company for a list of clients and references if the job size and cost are significant enough to warrant it.

The $.99 per Square Foot Banner Companies Advertising Online
I receive a lot of questions about why some companies are significantly more expensive than companies offering vinyl banners for 99 cents a square foot. Often times these are "Billboard" Quality printing -- prints made on machines designed to quickly products printing that will look good from a distance. If your application is such that people will never approach the banner (like a billboard), these banners will work great and I would highly recommend them. If you will have people approaching your banner, such as at a trade show or inside an office, I would not recommend this printing type as you will be able to clearly see the different pixels and it will not look very attractive from a few feet away or less.

Online Vinyl Banner Printing Myths and information - Part 1
Online Vinyl Banner Printing Myths and information - Part 2

Elevate Printing - Vector Banner Creator for designing online Vinyl Banners

Elevate Printing has just announced the release of its Vector Banner Creator™, an online application to allow anyone to design vinyl banners online and have them instantly printed. Creating a professional quality vinyl banner in minutes is simple with this application. It currently works with vector files (.ai or .eps) to make sure your image can be scaled to create banners up to 10 feet wide. The program allows you to resize your image or logo and reposition it on the banner. While the Vinyl Banner Creator is still in Beta version, they are offering free stuff and coupons if you send Elevate Printing your comments, bugs, etc. Future updates are due to support adding text, changing background colors, and adding multiple images. All their banners are created with high resolution printing onto top grade 13 oz vinyl.

More information and banner printing specs can be found here: Printing Information - Vinyl Banners.

Try out the Vinyl Banner Creator HERE.

Comparison: Photo-tex media vs Fab-tac media (Part 1)

Magiclee (by intellicoat) has a new product out named Fab-tac as of late 2007 due to compete directly with Photo-Tex media. Photo-tex is a removable and reposition able adhesive fabric that works wonders for a wide variety of creative marketing purposes and specialized display needs. We will post a comprehensive comparison between photo-tex and fab-tac in the upcoming week after we have the initial tests and comparison completed. So far, having used both, here are some initial thoughts on photo tex vs fab tac:

Fab-tac is porous, allowing air to escape through and easily get rid of those unsightly air bubbles. Photo-tex is more difficult to apply, very similar to applying adhesive vinyl (but with the chance to start over, at least).

Photo tex specs are extremely difficult to find. The Photo Tex Group's website is horrendous. So bad I can't even link to it. Fab Tac is manufactured by Intellicoat, and at least they have a spec sheet on there Magiclee website (here).

Fab Tac doesn't seem to be for sale online. This makes price comparisons challenging. Photo-Tex, although expensive, is available from a wide variety of places and can be purchased online.

More Photo Tex versus Fab Tab comparison information later this week!

HP Z3100 - more paper loading tips (part two of incorrect load trick)

Another use for my Designjet Z3100 Tips and Tricks post the other day.

Part One - Post on HP Z3100 Paper Loading Trick (avoid the error message)

The most hated HP Designjet Z3100 error message I see is the “Rewind the roll until the front edge is visible” message. Seriously, this is the most frustrating message I could get after I just spent time feeding paper into the back of the printer and dealing with the auto paper detection (and if you have it against a wall like our set up, you have to slide it back up against the wall). If it is ever telling you to do this, the work around or paper loading trick will work here. Lift the paper release, pull the paper forward to match the blue dotted lines, and set the paper lever down. Now press the Red X button a few times until you see “Lift Lever” on the screen. Press the X a few more times until you get back to the home menu screen and at the top it displays “Paper loaded incorrectly. Remove paper”. If you can’t get back to the home screen, try pressing the menu button and that should work (depends on what version of the firmware you have).

Now continue on with the rest of my tip (Paper Menu // Paper Load) and you should be good to go. If you missed it, read Part One - Post on HP Z3100 Paper Loading Trick (avoid the error message)

Strive for Perfect Printing!
-Michael

HP Z3100 "Paper loaded incorrectly: remove paper" work around and fix

I just spent 10 minutes trying to autoload the paper, I have no intentions of removing it. If you have this issue with your designjet Z3100 or Z2100, there is an easy fix to this. This also works if you would like to manually load the paper by lifting the paper release lever and bringing the paper to the blue dotted lines in front. Once the paper is aligned, lower the paper release handle. The dreaded error "paper loaded incorrectly: remove paper" will pop up. Ignore this, Press X instead. Once the menu pops up again, choose Paper >> Paper load. It should read the paper back in and you should be able to continue as normal, avoiding the hassle of starting the auto load over again. This has saved me a great deal of time since I figured this out. There are many other practical uses for this, such as if the front of the paper is slightly damaged and won't auto feed through the printer normally or if the cut isn't perfect along the front edge.

Happy Printing.

*Update: Part Two of Incorrect Paper Load Trick has more useful info on this.

What's the Difference between US & Foreign version of Wide Format Printers & ink?

Last week while replacing an ink cartridge on the Epson 9880, I looked on the blue sealed bag and it said "For China Only" and "For Japan Only" on the same bag. I've heard of people complaining of receiving "Chinese" ink in their printer (which they were worried was not genuine Epson ink due to the bag and the new clear / white cartridges) but never of this. So after a little digging, I discovered that basically the allocations between the countries for certain printers is constantly changing based on estimated sales in that location. The main difference between different versions of printers are the power cords, manuals, and thats about it. Most printers now accept both 110V and 22oV, much the same way computers can accept both. The only difference being the cord that connects the printer to the outlet, which is obviously country specific.

Before you start thinking about driving across borders to pick up a great deal due to the exchange rate, remember that once outside of their home countries many printers no longer are covered under warranty and often times you can not claim rebates once they've left. Just a fair warning. In response to those getting printers with ink inside marked for other countries, this is no big deal. Most of this inks are in fact universal.

I know that the Canon IPF X000 and X100 series, the Epson Stylus Pro '880 Series, and the HP Designjet Z3100, Z2100, and Z6100 automatically will switch between 110 V and 220 V and work fine with either.