Static and spitting on a Vutek QS3200

[tbirdboy]

Running 98x48 sheets of Coroplast and every few prints I get some spitting on the print. Just a few drops here and there but the print is essentially no good. I clean the media with a anti-static wipe and that seems to kill it most of the time but I still get some spit every few sheets. I interrupt one job with another running Sintra, 72x40, and can bust out 12-14 sheets without a drop. What gives?


Thanks in advance.

Vincent.

 

[VladCanada]

You know the reason of issue!
Air humidity - check it first and try to increase it up to 55-65%.
Check the ground - power cable connection, green or green/yellow wire and power wall outlet for ground connection.
If the paper table made from plastic - apply some aluminum self-adhesive foil and connect it with any ground screw.
Many other things could be applied to machine as an extra antistatic precautions: antistatic brushes, rollers, bail chains and so on...
Coroplast is a real static charge generator, I heard a lot of operator's complaints that they become absolutely nervous at the end of their shift after tonns of sparks from their bodies to any metall parts in the room after manipulations with sheets of Coroplast.

 

[tbirdboy]

Thanks for the tip. I'll check into a humidifier of some sort.

 

[costeastefan]

Ionizing

Ionizing

Maybe a ionizing air gun will be helpful. is work for us.
Simco, eliminating static charges with ionising air guns

 

[tbirdboy]

Interesting. Never seen one of those. Have to look into that as well, especially if it's cheap.

 

[costeastefan]

Not so cheap. We spend about 1000 EUR for this. But is really working.

 

[tbirdboy]

Wow. That's roughly $1300US. Maybe not.

 

[myshop]

is your manometer set correctly? with fluctuations in temperature you will need to fine tune this on your Vutek. If memory serves...when the heads are dropping ink you need to raise the numerical value (make it a higher negative), so if you're running -.20 try bumping it to -.22. Bumping it up too much will cause the heads to suck too much and as a result you'll have nozzle drop out, so you need to find a good balance. If you're only getting a few drops intermittently, i would suggest just bumping it -.01 to start.

 

[myshop]

i forgot to mention you adjust the manometer by adjusting the vacuum pressure in the under compartment, not on the the manometer.

 

[tbirdboy]

I totally forgot about that. On the 2360's we had a manual knob, using a gauge tapped into a line, we would get it set so that it would drop in but wouldn't cause any dropout of jets...Thanks.

 

[VladCanada]

Oh... one of the uncle Murphy's laws!