Epson 4900 film not lining up?

[Doug S]

I've had this problem for about 6 months where I would have to fool with the micros on 5 out of 6 jobs.  I was thinking that the stops on my pallet jig was wearing. my printer was screwing up or any number of factors that might be the problem.  I'd even wake up at night thinking about it, it was driving me crazy.

I've been using fixxons film.  Last week I splurged a little and instead of paying $79.00 per roll of 17" waterproof film from fixxons, I paid $122.00 for the same size roll.  Between yesterday and today I had 6 multicolor jobs and only had to use the micros on 1 of the jobs and just 1 of the colors.  The film I bought was a 5 mil film instead of using the 4 mil from fixxons. 

I was noticing that the 4 mil film was stretching to some extent.  Sometimes being off all the way around.  The 5 mil doesn't.   From now on that's the film I'll use because the extra cost of the film is easily made up at the press.  I'm not knocking fixxons because it may work for a lot of printers but for me it wasn't happening.  Also, I was able to lower the droplet weight in accurip to get the same amount of opaque black. 

[Frog]

I've had this problem for about 6 months where I would have to fool with the micros on 5 out of 6 jobs.  I was thinking that the stops on my pallet jig was wearing. my printer was screwing up or any number of factors that might be the problem.  I'd even wake up at night thinking about it, it was driving me crazy.

I've been using fixxons film.  Last week I splurged a little and instead of paying $79.00 per roll of 17" waterproof film from fixxons, I paid $122.00 for the same size roll.  Between yesterday and today I had 6 multicolor jobs and only had to use the micros on 1 of the jobs and just 1 of the colors.  The film I bought was a 5 mil film instead of using the 4 mil from fixxons. 

I was noticing that the 4 mil film was stretching to some extent.  Sometimes being off all the way around.  The 5 mil doesn't.   From now on that's the film I'll use because the extra cost of the film is easily made up at the press.  I'm not knocking fixxons because it may work for a lot of printers but for me it wasn't happening.  Also, I was able to lower the droplet weight in accurip to get the same amount of opaque black.

Fool with the micros? If there was a film problem, that wouldn't have solved it.

[Doug S]

My film wasn't lining up on my FPU.  I did change the settings to the recommended by Jblue and it did solve it to some extent but my reg marks weren't lining up 100%.  I  always print an extra film to lay on my FPU table and tape it down but the subsequent films reg marks wouldn't match the marks of the first film.  They would either be too short, too long or even occasionally be out of whack all the way around.  When I noticed that a particular film wasn't matching, I would print another of that exact film "sometimes I would have to print as many as 10 films for a 5 color job".  Sometimes the reprint of the exact film would match up and others it would be off in a different way then the first film just like it.  I knew when they wouldn't line up on the FPU that there would be problems at the press.   When I said "fool with the micros"  I would just try to adjust it to where the amount off was even all around and not so noticeable. 

With the 5 mil film they match up quicker/easier and my setups so far have been 5 out of 6 perfectly registered so far so I'm pretty positive it's the film.  I went the longest with very rarely unlocking the micros so it was blowing my mind as to why I started having this problem then it dawned on me that I had started buying different film because of the savings.   Like I said the 4 mil film may work for a lot of printers but for me I'll have to switch to a 5 mil.  It could also be that the epson 7700 I have doesn't print the 4 mil as well as the 5mil.

[JBLUE]

There is that old saying " You get what you pay for " Its good for film and especially white inks...............

[JBLUE]

The little vacuum in there can pull the film down in the channel a bit causing drag and distortion. The key is to have it suck just enough to keep it off the print head.

 
[/quote]

That makes perfect sense.  I never thought of it that way.  Anyway, I've made the changes you've suggested and it looks like it has solved the problem.  If you are ever in Southeast Arkansas give me a shout and I'll owe you lunch or something.  Thanks again.
[/quote]

I will take you up on that!

I am glad it worked out for you. If anyone else needs help with it dont hesitate to get a hold of me. Happy to share.

Might as well throw it in there. 6 jobs today and only had to bump the micros twice. Once was my fault. I flipped the clamp release instead if the squeegee. Still it was almost dead on. Anyone can get pretty dead nuts setups if they take the time to do it right and have good (blue) machines.