Digital Print Media

Maintaining your large format printer ensures that jobs are completed on-time and prints are of the highest quality. 

Updated: 6/14/2018 – Your wide format printer will only work well if it is properly maintained. When you rely on your printer for your business, regular maintenance is vital. It is the kind of thing best done preventatively and regularly, instead of waiting for something to go wrong.

To keep your wide format printer functioning well for a long time to come, follow these tips for print head cleaning and more. You will also find a well-maintained printer makes better prints!

Supplies for Printer Maintenance

Have these supplies in stock for maintenance and repair. Each one plays an important role.

• Gloves: Wear latex or nitrile gloves when performing printer maintenance. It is important to avoid direct contact with chemicals such as ink and cleaning solvents.
• Eye Protection: Similarly, safety goggles protect your eyes. Just in case printer ink or other solvents splash, you will be glad you have the coverage!
• Shop Wipes / Industrial Wipes: Paper towels are a must-have for quick clean up of any spills or messes.
• Print Swabs: Print head swabs are one of the most important supplies to have on hand. These are used to clean the hard to reach areas of your wide format printer. When you use print swabs you can extend the life of your print heads and improve print quality.
• Print Head Wipes: Use a polyester, lint-free wipe, with attributes similar to those of cleanroom wipes. Use these to clean print heads and other sensitive materials and areas of the printer.
• Spray Bottle: Use this for careful, accurate spraying of your cleaning solvent. You should always refer to your specific printer manual for acceptable cleaning solvents.

Referring to Your Manual

The manual for your printer will give you specific instructions for maintenance. This includes how often you should clean and maintain your printer. It will also let you know which supplies and cleaners suit your specific machine. While some of these products are universal, like safety goggles and gloves, others will change with your printer make and model.

Other Maintenance Considerations

Factors like the environment in which your printer lives impact maintenance and cleaning. Think about the operating temperature and humidity — higher or lower levels can change your printer’s efficiency. The cleanliness of the area also matters.

Have questions regarding this topic? Leave a comment below to start the discussion.

We ask our customers why they outsource rather than print in-house. The top 3 reasons are:

• We lack the necessary space for all of the equipment.
• It is more cost-effective to outsource.
• It is a large project.

Below are 3 main points to take into consideration:

Cost

Typically, Short Run refers to projects of around 5,000 pages. These projects include the initial ones to think about bringing in-house so you can save costs.

Many printers are operating short run projects on a likewise digital printing press you’d be if you took the task in-house.

If you’re operating a 500,000-page project, however, outsourced printers may leverage printing technology, which can drive the cost/page down lower than you may print in-house on digital presses. Often, businesses order a larger amount to drive down the price just to find that they have to make changes to the paperwork six months down the road and still have a multitude of copies which now are obsolete.

The capability of printing on demand while operating jobs in-house permits you only to print the amount required, work under tight deadlines, make updates to a document, and generate new versions without the expensive premiums of proofs, setup, larger run sizes, and waste.

Color

Starbucks green, McDonald’s yellow, Coca-Cola red. These colors immediately bring these brands to mind because they have been so successful and consistent with their marketing.

Many companies have certain Pantone colors within their branding and logo shades, and the capability of replicating those exact colors while printing in-house usually is met with skepticism. In working with Fiery, colors may be repeatedly and accurately matched, irrespective of which program or application the projects are being printed from.

Workflow

Did you ever outsource an annual report or training packet? What about a task which involved putting together various printed tabs and sections, or which requires booklet finishing or GBC punch for a polished, professional appearance?

Although the task may appear complicated and not a job which would be cost-effective to take on in-house, technology today permits for in-line finishing like GBC punching, booklet-making, and trims which create the appearance of full-bleed booklets, all with one push of a button.

Workflow abilities permit you to program the task before printing, so that as you compile various printing and sections on tabs, all things come out without you needing to piece all of the sections together.

If you’re planning to do a makeover for your house or want to give a boring wall some life, consider a wall graphic. Apart from adding wonder and beauty to the interior, wall graphics also can be helpful in covering holes or patches on a wall. It may conceal some spaces in the wall while also making it gorgeous. If you’re considering wall graphics and want more information, take a look at these tips.

Use your interior style as a basis

If you choose to have a modern interior, make sure that the wall graphic also will appear modern. You also can consult the professionals as to what would appear right in your kind of interior. We offer full customization, so we can provide whatever you need to match or contrast with the intended space.

Bedroom wall graphics

If you have children in your home and want to place wall graphics in their bedrooms, we recommend allowing them to choose their own. Some parents have avoided wall graphics which have a lot of details and appear too realistic in favor of letting their kids choose graphics that would assist in widening their imagination.

Wall graphics for children’s bedrooms are typically lively and colorful. Your children’s favorite character may feature in an excellent wall graphic.

An adult’s bedroom, on the other hand, may have graphics depicting scenery and additional designs that interest the bedroom’s owner. White and black graphics are a current trend. However, there is plenty of opportunity to go wild with color. Wall graphics with pale colors tend to be better for bedrooms as they are less stimulating, but we will be guided by your needs and desires.

Living room graphics

For the living room, large wall graphics would work best if there’s a large and empty wall. Use colors present in your living room, so the colors complement and coordinate with one another. This will help ensure that large wall graphics inside your living room look great as backdrops for furniture and additional items.

Bathroom and kitchen graphics

When picking kitchen and dining area wall graphics, many people steer toward images of fruits, utensils, and other items related to food. For your bathroom, you might pick wall graphics of rivers, waterfalls, marine animals, and anything which may be connected to water. This makes sense, but we encourage you to be individual. If you have a unique idea, we’d love to hear it and we can make it happen.

3-D printed Floor Graphic Inspiration – Here are several 3-D floor graphics that were produced using photography:

Dolphins in the water hanging out in the laundry / bathroom

Star fish and corals ocean bottom floor graphic paired with a tropical-themed wall mural

Beach sand and water floor graphic with matching wall mural transform this room

Efficient advertising may be one of the best purchases to get folks to notice your company and branding. If you really want to get their attention, floor graphics can be ideal. Check out these helpful ideas to design eye-catching floor graphics.

Choose a high traffic area where the floor graphic can’t be missed.

Choose High Traffic Spaces for Placement

Select an area depending upon the purpose of your campaign or ad (hashtag promotion, location of a product, sale, opening announcement). Floor advertisements do not necessarily need to be placed close to a store or only work for brick-and-mortar businesses.

If you have a desire to promote a website or cause that targets locations in which your targeted audience spends time, floor graphics may be very effective. Keep in mind that they can work particularly well in places where folks stroll around with their heads down, listening to music or browsing their phones.

Stand Out Creatively

Innovative floor graphics will differentiate your business from the rest. Go for customized shapes, bold colors and short, clever copy to maximize the impact of every “impression.”

Keep it Brief

This black and white floor decal is simple, bold and stands out. Printed on AlumiGraphics GRIP

Keep your message direct and simple, depending upon the purpose of the floor decal. Think of the graphic’s size, the location, and purpose before deciding on the copy. Questions or general imperatives requiring instant action work best.

Use Contrasting Colors

Contrasting colors in design help to emphasize the portion of the message requiring the most attention. Also think about how to contrast colors in the design with the ones found inside the environment in which the floor design is going to be placed. Consider the type of floor and color ahead of time.

Get creative with “illusion art” such as this beach floor graphic. Photo Credit: https://www.mactac.eu

Make Quality Your Best Ally

Choose a floor graphic made from quality materials. The best selection is going to be one which offers a slip-resistant layer. High-quality may be measured through durability, so pick an option that is going to stand the test of time for the remainder of your campaign.

Design two-dimensional or three-dimensional floor graphics

Concentrate on visually-appealing graphics, as well as strong supporting elements. Two-dimensional and 3D floor graphics will attract more attention because consumers are surprised and appreciate a special product presentation. Two-dimensional and 3D floor graphics are usually more appealing and attractive than flat, traditional floor graphics, yet the design ought to really fit your marketing goal.

3D “fisherman” floor graphic in a retail store aisle – Photo Credit: https://www.mactac.eu

Whether you are printing photography, display graphics, or artwork, selecting the proper material is critical. You should find the proper balance of functionality and aesthetics to highlight, preserve, and transport your visuals.

Photographic and Fine Art Printing

Let us now take a look at photographic and fine art printing. Usually, photographers or artists ask us what kind of paper they should be using. With a multitude of various photographic and fine art papers on offer, making a choice may be more challenging than you’d think.

Here’s a brief guide:

Inkjet Prints vs. Digital C-Prints

First, you’ll want to decide whether you’ll be using inkjet prints or digital c-prints.

In a C-print, the C stands for chromogenic, referring to the procedure through which color photography is developed. C-prints include color photographs. A digital C-print is generated on an RGB scale and has a specific aesthetic set that most photographers prefer. They’ll carry the exact same DNA as the original photographic laboratories, except the refined technology of today of exposing film with light is done through the use of a digitized file as its negative; and the end print is the photo sensitive paper that receives the light-transferred picture.

On the flip side, inkjet prints are pigment based and generated on a CMYK scale. Therefore, these colors are bolder and have more of a “pop.” An inkjet printer is common in an office and personal setting, though specifications are amazing for commercial usage.

Photographic Papers

The staples of photographic paper include glossy and matte. Matte papers feature non-glare finishes that are good for photos that have detail and texture, whereas glossy papers are coated and feature shiny looks that work well for images that have high contrast. If you’re frequently handling your photographs, matte paper probably is the better choice because it does not pick up fingerprints the way glossy paper does.

Metallic paper gives photographs a pearly, three-dimensional effect. Additional popular photograph papers are fiber, luster, and deep matte. And there are display films, too, like duratrans and duraclear.

Inkjet Papers

Inkjets, AKA a fine art giclée print, is generated on a broad array of fine art canvases and papers that range from rag paper to photo paper, vinyl and watercolor paper.

Window graphics offer a low-fi way to attract customers with all the impact of a high-tech solution. Storefront advertising is an effective marketing method that has been around for a long time. It works well in conjunction with other marketing, or on its own.

Vinyl graphics are effective because they easily draw in passersby. Even if someone was not planning to drop into your business, a great window graphic can be enough to attract attention. Using this cost-effective advertisement, you will get a big impact from a small investment.

The Benefits of Window Graphics

Vinyl graphics are inexpensive compared to fixed signs. They are easy to change and easy to remove. It is simple, therefore, to use vinyl graphics as a year-round advertisement or to adjust your message for special sales or events.

Permanent signs often require permits from your city. These graphics, however, do not permanently alter the space in any way. This means that they install easily without having to deal with the paperwork and cost of pursuing a permit.

Small businesses, retail stores, restaurants, service providers, hotels, and storefronts from many other industries benefit from vinyl graphics. Sharing the right message, you can reach out to your customers and potential new clients whether your business is open or closed. You will always be advertising, and always attracting attention with well-made graphics.

Special Graphic Applications

Unique graphics draw even more attention to your business. Try metallic vinyl graphics for a touch of elegance. Frosted graphics add beauty and privacy at the same time, at a low cost. You do not need etched glass when you have this removable film! Perforated graphics also add privacy without compromising on light quality.

Any of these special graphic applications, and others, can be adjusted to meet your specific space and branding requirements. These graphics are flexible and customizable for each and every business space.

Wide format printers are perfect for creating graphics of all types. Basic graphics, specialty films, and any other vinyl media come out beautifully with a high-quality printer. We can help you create the graphics that elevate your business, or provide you with the machine you need to do it yourself.

Window graphics are easy-to-use and highly customizable. They are a cost-effective way to transform a location. Try a graphic to see how it enhances the customer experience. It may even change the way you do business, as well as your bottom line.

When installing vinyl graphics on a window, the wet method is a useful way to promote longevity. Knowing this method, you can easily add window graphics to the outside of your space and keep them looking great.

Wet Method Installation Tools

To start with, you will need the right number of people to install the graphic! This is not a job for one person. It is best if you have another set of hands for accuracy and assistance.

Masking tape is another important tool. Other types of tape, including transparent tape, can damage the vinyl. Masking tape is ideal as it allows for transfer without damage.

A squeegee, glass cleaner, and paper towels ensure that your installation surface is in the best condition possible. A tape measure assists with exact positioning.

Using the Wet Installation Method

The first step in this installation method sets the stage for a successful graphic transfer. Use the glass cleaner to create a spotless surface. Let it dry thoroughly, and be aware of the temperature and humidity for best results. You want a warm environment, over 65F, with low humidity.

Use your tape measure to find the center point where you want the vinyl graphic to lay. When it is marked, pull back an inch of your graphic’s paper backing, and fold it down. Place the graphic adhesive side down onto the window. Use your squeegee to smooth it over, without removing the additional backing. Use the masking tape to hold this area down once you are done with the squeegee.

Your installation partner should then lift the decal away from the window, while you remove the additional backing. Work in six-inch increments, ensuring your graphic adheres to the window with the tape. Spray the decal with water as your assistant lifts it away.

Your partner should then lay the decal onto the window. Peel your backing as you squeegee, top to bottom, six inches at a time. When the decal is completely applied, squeegee it again from the middle to the edges. A paper towel over the decal helps avoid scratching.

Take off the tape and squeegee that area. Finally, wipe down the decal with your paper towel. Squeegee any remaining air bubbles away.

Installation on Other Surfaces

The wet method also allows for vinyl graphic installation on places like vehicles, walls, and doors. You do not need to spray the decal with water in this instance.

With forethought, preparation, and patience, you can install vinyl window decals like a pro.

HP Latex printers are perfect for high-quality printing applications. They work rapidly, efficiently, and cost-effectively. When you need durable prints for indoor or outdoor uses, Latex is a great choice!

So what are key differences and similarities between these two 64″ printers from the HP Latex 300 Series? Let’s compare the HP Latex 335 and the HP Latex 365:

Key Differences:

• L365 Print Speed: up to 978 sq ft/hr vs L335 Print Speed: up to 538 sq ft/hr
• 8in Touch Screen on the L365 vs 4in Display on the L335
• The L365 comes with ink collector for printing fabric
• The L365 comes with the i1 spectrophotometer and allows custom substrate profiling
• The HP Latex 335 comes with SAi FlexiPrint HP Basic Edition RIP. The L365 does not come with RIP software but can be purchased separately
• The L335 is offered in a print & cut bundle

Key Similarities:

• Both are 64″ wide printers
• Both are designed to handle larger, heavier media rolls
• Takeup reel is included with both printers
• Automatic X-axis cutter standard on both machines
• As with all HP Latex Printers, prints are instantly dry, ready to laminate. Printing is also orderless and do not require additional ventilation, unlike solvent and eco-solvent printers. Latex inks are also ultra durable and scratch resistant, ideal for outdoor graphics such as vehicle wraps

HP Latex 335

HP Latex 335 Print and Cut edition is designed to provide seamless communication between printer and cutter.

The Latex 335 printer is affordable and versatile. Sized 64 inches wide, it has the ability to handle large and heavy media rolls. A take-up reel and automatic X-axis cutter improve functionality as well.

When you print with the L335, you will get fast speeds, and, better yet, a completely dry print when it emerges. This is great for meeting deadlines!

The L335 comes with SAi FlexiPrint HP Basic Edition RIP. This lets you use the design-to-print workflow. You can send jobs from your design application to the print queue, or drag and drop. The L335 comes in a print and cut bundle so you can complete your job faster and more accurately.

HP Latex 365

The L365 comes with an ink collector for printing on fabric (such as this backlit fabric display).

The Latex 365 is also 64 inches wide, and able to handle large and heavy media rolls. It too is equipped with a take-up reel and automatic X-axis cutter. Front to back registration lets you automatically print double-sided products with the same great speed and accuracy. This highly versatile printer will wow your clients.

The main difference between the L365 and the L335 is its speed. The L365 prints at up to 978 sq ft/hr vs the L335 at 538 sq ft/hr. It also comes with a larger eight-inch touch screen versus a four-inch display on the L335.

Because the L365 can print on textiles, it comes with an ink collector for printing fabric. It has the i1 spectrophotometer and allows custom substrate profiling. For more technically complex print jobs, the L365 may be a better choice.

The L365 does not come with RIP software. However, you can purchase this program separately.

Learn More About Latex Printers

For the full technical specifications of each printer, check out the brochures for the Latex 335 and the Latex 365. You can also get pricing and additional information about the Latex 335 here. Learn more about pricing and details for the L365 here.

Documentation:

• HP Latex 335 Brochure
• HP Latex 365 Brochure

PERMACOLOR ColorGard LUV Application Example

Mactac has announced improvements to their line of PERMACOLOR ColorGard LUV overlaminates. Already considered to be some of the best laminating films on the market, the improvements elevates this product into an even highly level of performance. ColorGard LUV films offer protection from abrasion, moisture and other potentially damaging effects in both indoor and outdoor environments. Additionally, as an added benefit these films enhance the vibrancy of the graphic.

Among the new improvements are:

• Increased outdoor durability up to 5 years
• Color shift resistance
• ColorGard LUV films now have unmatched superior adhesion and wet-out over challenging UV inkjet prints

Applications:

• Photographic prints
• Transparencies
• UV screen printed images
• Latex, Solvent, Eco-solvent and Water-based Inkjet AND especially UV inkjet prints

Why Use High-Performance Laminating Films?

Laminating are used to protect printed graphics from light, dirt and moisture both indoors and outdoors. It should also be known that not all laminating films are created equal. Low-grade laminating films can bubble, crack, warp, and cause graphics to fade. A high-performance overlaminate, such as PERMACOLOR ColorGard LUV by Mactac offers UV protection, superior flexibility/conformability, superior adhesion, long-term protection, and graphic enhancement.

Learn more about PERMACOLOR LUV Overlaminates

The following are answers to commonly asked questions about environmental recommendations for HP Latex Wide Format Printers.

• Relative humidity range for best print quality: 40–60%, depending on substrate type
• Relative humidity range for printing: 20–80%, depending on substrate type
• Temperature range for best print quality: 20 to 25°C (68 to 77°F), depending on substrate type
• Temperature range for printing: 15 to 30°C (59 to 86°F), depending on substrate type
• Temperature range when not in operation / storage of HP Latex Printer: -25 to +55°C (-13 to +131°F)
• Temperature gradient: no more than 10°C/h (18°F/h)
• Maximum altitude when printing: 3000 m (10000 ft)

NOTE: The printer must be kept indoors.

NOTE: If the printer or ink cartridges are moved from a cold location to a warm and humid location, water
from the atmosphere can condensate on the printer parts and cartridges and can result in ink leaks and
printer errors. In this case, HP recommends that you wait at least 3 hours before turning on the printer or
installing the ink cartridges, to allow the condensate to evaporate.