HP Latex White Ink Print Modes 

Thanks!

Reach out to me at lee.manevitch@hp.com and we can discuss.

What "this" print mode are you talking about? In general yes - Smart Choke MUST be turned on because the diameter of the white ink drops is slightly larger than that of the colors...so even if registration is perfect, there will be white ink peeking out. Start with 4px and adjust from there. If it's misaligned by a lot, though, that's a head alignment issue.

All my photos are from paid stock websites, so I can't provide them, but you can probably find some good images on sites like Unsplash.

If you want white and color to print at the same time - and there's no overlap between white and color - then Spot mode is what you need. Have you tried that and you're having issues? PS second surface so don't forget to reflect your image!

im using onyx and ive tried spot mode, but when we do it, it prints the white circles and floods white over the top of the colored circle@@LeeManevitch

Are you also adding white in Onyx? It's either/or - if you create white in Onyx you can't use your designed white, and vice-versa. From your description, you need to design the white outside of Onyx and then don't do anything in Onyx to create white. If you want to send me your file, email it to youtube@manevitch.com and I'll send back a quick video of how it all *should* work.

Yes - all these modes are available on the R-Series and the 700/800 W roll-to-roll printers.

In Flexi, yes. That functionally still isn't offered from Onyx. That's for the 700/800 - if you're asking about the R Series then yes...hundreds of people have been doing that for years now with no issue.

Spot prints white and color at the same time, and that's not negotiable. So if you print both in the same place they will mix. The reason the other modes exist is specifically so there is separation between white and color - both in terms of time (drying) and also by dropping additional Optimizer between layers. If those modes weren't necessary to create, I promise the development team wouldn't have spent as much time as they did making them work. 😄

@@LeeManevitch thanks, I’m currently using underfloor white at 100% and the 700w is slow. I’m just trying to figure out how to get faster print speeds with out compromising the opacity of the white. Do you have any tips?

White density in any print mode is controlled by the number of passes, so unless you can get by with lower density (which you can't in this case) there aren't any additional "knobs" you can change to make the printer move faster than it does. About the only advice I *could* give is that if you're not maximizing your carriage (printing 36" media, for example) or maximizing your layout efficiency, then you can see gains that way. Max throughput on the 700W in Underflood at 100% white density is 32 square feet per hour, and that assumes a full-width roll with full-width graphics. If your workflow and job specifics allow you to change to Overflood (white over color) then you'd see that throughput change to 65 sqft/hr but if you're printing on nontransparent media then that's a no-go. It's a delicate balancing act when white is involved...if it prints too fast then the white and color will mix, or the ink won't fully cure. Both of those outcomes are way worse than having to wait for a print to finish.

@@LeeManevitch day 2 with the printer and I already want to just print these jobs that need white on my Edge FX printer lol 😂

If you're running 15" punched vinyl on your 700W I think I found the problem. 🤣

No, and there is no ability to retrofit to include white. The 335 is a third-generation Latex printer and white is a fourth-generation technology.

Yes; all but 5-layer sandwich mode, which is not offered on the new HP Latex 700 W and 800 W. That mode might be offered in the future, but I have no idea if or when that will ever be released.

@@LeeManevitch 👍

UPDATE: 5-layer sandwich mode is available on the Latex 700/800 W platforms.

@@LeeManevitch hi, when I try the 5-layer sandwich mode with my 800W HP with a different file for the second "face" I get a error when I click on "print now". the file goes on the lower window and onyx doesn't send it to the printer.

@@diegotiveron3108 You probably need to contact Onyx about this but if I recall there's an issue with sandwich mode printing when using PDF and cropping or scaling the file(s). So if that's what might be going on you may want to try saving as EPS instead and seeing if that helps. But it does appear to be RIP-related so get in touch with them. they're great people and while the people who answer support calls can't rewrite software they definitely can give you strategies for fixing the issue from your end.