Luminous Landscape Forum

Raw & Post Processing, Printing => Printing: Printers, Papers and Inks => Topic started by: gregfowler on June 24, 2009, 02:27:46 pm

Title: z3200ps long print job
Post by: gregfowler on June 24, 2009, 02:27:46 pm
Hello, I have a question regarding printing a rather large banner/poster on the z3200ps. Is it insane to attempt to print something 38 inches by 97 feet long on this machine? We have a job that is basically a family tree on a light green background and are running into some ink blobbing/smearing issues about 70 feet into the job. HP support has said it may be the printheads over heating as the job is going (takes about 12 hours on normal setting on Satin Photo paper).

Bottom line is are there any suggestion on how to print this on this machine and avoid ruining the next one we try? I am thinking of just lifting the lid to pause printing for five minutes every hour or so if it is indeed a heat issue. Thanks for any insight!
Title: z3200ps long print job
Post by: framah on June 24, 2009, 04:16:24 pm
How about restarting the file shortly before the smearing started and then splice the two pieces together.

That way you won't have the overheating problem and you will not have wasted all of that paper and ink and time.
Title: z3200ps long print job
Post by: Ernst Dinkla on June 24, 2009, 04:25:54 pm
Quote from: gregfowler
Hello, I have a question regarding printing a rather large banner/poster on the z3200ps. Is it insane to attempt to print something 38 inches by 97 feet long on this machine? We have a job that is basically a family tree on a light green background and are running into some ink blobbing/smearing issues about 70 feet into the job. HP support has said it may be the printheads over heating as the job is going (takes about 12 hours on normal setting on Satin Photo paper).

Bottom line is are there any suggestion on how to print this on this machine and avoid ruining the next one we try? I am thinking of just lifting the lid to pause printing for five minutes every hour or so if it is indeed a heat issue. Thanks for any insight!

Best method would be to interrupt the data stream every hour or half an hour. Whatever driver you are using (can't be the PS3) there must be a pause function on it. Make a trial on a short piece as the printer could end the job when the pause takes too long. Lifting a lid is another way to do it.

I find the answer on overheating a bit strange. It is hard to imagine that the heat is building up over 8 hours or so. If that is the case then forcing some air through the printer should be enough to let it last more hours. The panel for knife replacement can be removed. A blower there to keep the print area cooler ? Not too much that the droplets fly around. Maybe a sensor at that panel has to be fooled but I do not think there's one there.


met vriendelijke groeten, Ernst Dinkla

New: Dinkla Canvas Wrap Actions for Photoshop
http://www.pigment-print.com/dinklacanvaswraps/index.html (http://www.pigment-print.com/dinklacanvaswraps/index.html)

Try: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Wide_Inkjet_Printers/ (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Wide_Inkjet_Printers/)






Title: z3200ps long print job
Post by: Colorwave on June 25, 2009, 12:08:49 am
A 97' wide family tree sounds like a lot of relatives to me!
What sort of image are you feeding it?  Vector based, I assume?
I can't offer much help, except to say that if you are having heating issues you could rig to the door to stay open, like I have mine, and direct a gentle fan on the carriage from outside.  I bent a paperclip like wire to hold the arm that senses when the door is open or closed in the down position, so I can check on prints or paper alignment without stopping the printing process.  It is a small lever that is pressed down by a plastic protrusion on the underside of the lid that the wire holds down.  You just have to make it like a U shape, to allow the plastic protrusion to pass between the two pieces of wire.  Mine is taped into position, so it can easily be removed for operations that require the printer to confirm the door has been opened, like printhead replacement.
I was under the impression that a lengthy pause would cause a noticeable band in the print.  Have others found that to not be the case?
Best of luck.  Tell us what winds up working for you.
Title: z3200ps long print job
Post by: neil snape on June 25, 2009, 09:05:42 am
Colorwave;s ideas are sound. Save your print head plugs , you know the orange things. Place one in the smoked plastic top cover sensor for running open. Run a fan into or onto the print head parc side.  

Yes it is very likely it is overheating. It's not the first time I've heard of it, nor is it something unknown to HP engineers.

Problem is if you open the cover for a pause you will introduce slight spray errors which are mostly a differing density between end print and begin printing. Otherwise there is a time out that will eventually cancel the job. I can't remember the time out set but is 10 minutes right for any power users out there?

If there were another way, since it's PS, could you tile it onto multiple tiles and pause every so many tiles to let the print heads cool?
Title: z3200ps long print job
Post by: gregfowler on June 25, 2009, 09:10:04 am
Quote from: framah
How about restarting the file shortly before the smearing started and then splice the two pieces together.

Yeah that was our first thought but customer didn't go for that option.


Quote from: Colorwave
A 97' wide family tree sounds like a lot of relatives to me!
What sort of image are you feeding it?  Vector based, I assume?

Yes Vector based (Illustrator file) and this thing is ridiculously long, seems like almost everyone has 8 kids!

I am going to attempt the job again today and will go with the thought that I will stop it every hour or so by lifting the lid and let it sit for 5 minutes. Hopefully it doesn't cause an issue and I'll let you all know how it works.
Title: z3200ps long print job
Post by: gregfowler on June 30, 2009, 10:20:04 am
Just wanted to follow up on my post. We ran the 42" x 100' job again and did a couple of things differently. This run I used the fast/draft mode as quality seemed acceptable for this particular job. I also stopped the printer by lifting the lid every hour for about 4 minutes for the entire 7 hour job. In the end that worked out fine and didn't have any print quality issues. Thanks for the suggestions everyone!
Title: z3200ps long print job
Post by: Colorwave on June 30, 2009, 12:51:42 pm
How was the final print handled and mounted to the wall?  I'd love to see a photo of it in it's final incarnation, if you have one.  Glad to hear it all worked out.