Agfa Anapurna XL2 issues with correx corrugated plastic board

[bunstar]

We have a fairly recently installed anapurna wide format xl2 uv curing printer, and aside from issues with the media transport belt, we are having problems getting the ink to adhere to fluted board like correx, mainly on solids, it looks ok, but when we trim the board, the ink either flakes away, or tears, you can almost pull the whole printed ink area of of the sheet of plastic so you have a cling film like printed sheet. We have tried a recommended solvent pre-wash, and antistatic treatment, as agfa said it could be static (?), but we have tried it on several different makes of board but all with the same problem. its only on this type of board. the agfa engineer helpfully told us that these machines were never that good at printing this kind of thing, i just walked away and left him. lying there.....

any ideas???

[bfeury]

we had a similar problem. actually we ended up replacing about 40K worth of board in the field. Static is not the issue. They tried that on me as well. They also changed the UV lamp specs 3 times since i owned the machine. AGFA does not know how to fix the issue in fact they will make every attempt to call it user error. DONT BUY AGFA EQUIPMENT.

[creative]

Unfortunately it's not just an Agfa problem. We installed a Vutek about 6 months ago with the sole intention of printing on corrugated plastic only to find exactly the same issues you have found with exactly the same response from the the supplier. NOT HAPPY !!!!!

[creative]

I did come across this page that helped a little but didn't resolve the problem completely. Its not for our system but some of the information is good
http://www.oce-dgs.com/PrinterSuppor...%20Plastic.pdf

[Steve Werner]

There is a company in Canada called MatraPlast, I believe they've developed a digital corrugated that will help you. I believe they're in Quebec.

[Corey]

Some of these boards come from supplier with high levels of static. When they are handled by operators, the static levels increase dramatically.

In this particular case, in may not be a static issue. However, with most of the corrugated plastic boards this is the case. The key is removing the static charge from BOTH SIDES of the substrate. It's not good enough to just spray something on one side. The static also regenerates when it is handled by operators.

There's a 50" anti-static wand that is designed to pass over BOTH sides of the material, prior to printing on it. Great for flatbeds, hybrids, and other wide format machines. This is the large double wand from Staticure. Here's a video of the anti-static wand on YouTube: YouTube - Static Causes Printing Defects on Flatbed Printers - Static Eliminators

Hope this helps. Again, it may be that you aren't eliminating static from BOTH sides of the substrate. That's what is required with these substrates in particular.

Good luck!

[phyne]

It's not the static, it's the ink. These companies have to make the ink so it works on many substrates. Our first Vutek QS print with factory Vutek inks was terrible with flaking ink on coroplast. We switched to 3M inks and it was better but too expensive.

We finally switched to Triangle inks and the adhesion is excellent, and the ink is about 1/2 the cost of OEM ink. Give them a call and see if they have ink for your printer. Search for Triangle on this board.