Best Practices for Printing an Overlaminate with Timothy Mitchell

HP Latex application specialist Timothy Mitchell explores uses and best practices for the versatile HP Gloss Polymeric Overlaminate. This product not only works as a typical overlaminate used to protect prints, it can also be printed and used as a clear media that works with the HP Latex Print & Cut Solution.

Mitchell suggests using the product for a project like a decorative border around the edges of a window. The clear media works well on windows and can be custom cut using the Print & Cut system.

For optimal results, Mitchell suggests raising the ink load to 200%. “If you were to build this at 110%, and you were to put it in a store window with strong lighting coming through it, it’s going to look washed out … because you have what is a translucent material in a window, and that light cuts the color back,” he says. “If you were to switch that same print to 200% and you put it in there, the colors are going to pop.”

He suggests building the ink signature the same way as a backlit. In the video above, he walks through the steps to do that, and shows how the printer color calibrates and then can create a customized or standard ICC profile, based on the type of Latex machine.

Mitchell also discusses other advantages of the product and how to get the best results. Watch the video above for all of his insider tips and tricks.

Easy Variable Data Printing with HP Print & Cut + SAi Flexi

Looking for a quick way to use variable data in your next print project? When the Suncoast Jeep Festival asked us to create 500 numbered decals for their event, we opted for an easy software and print-and-cut solution to get the job done.

Each Jeep that entered the event needed to be tagged with a decal, and each needed its own number, which was to be displayed on the windshield. We chose HP Latex Print & Cut Solution, which comes with SAi FlexiPRINT RIP software that makes variable data printing a breeze. For the decals, we chose to print on HP Optimal Gloss Air GRP, which has a removable and repositionable adhesive.

In the video above, we provide easy-to-follow, step-by-step instructions on how to set up your design file for auto-serialization numbering, as well as marking cut-lines for kiss-cuts and perforations, to illustrate how fast and simple making these decals was.

Working in tandem with the HP Latex Print & Cut system, the Flexi RIP software creates a barcode during the printing process, and the cutter will read and recognize this barcode, and is then programmed to know the exact pattern to cut and perforate — no additional programming is needed when moving the print job to the cutter.

While we chose a simple number serialization project, the Flexi RIP software could be used to swap out photos, graphics, logos or anything else to create individual or personalized prints for labels, decals or whatever your customer can dream up!

LEARN MORE: Watch this video to see how we created cut lines in Adobe Illustrator:

For more information about working with variable data, give a LexJet print specialist a call at 800-453-9538.

LexJet brandUP: Wheels Up at Suncoast Jeep Festival

In the LexJet brandUP tradition, we supported a community event with wide-format printing and dye-sub transferred graphics of all types to highlight event activities and direct foot — and vehicle — traffic for the second annual Suncoast Jeep Festival at the Sarasota Fairgrounds in Sarasota, Fla. (Watch the video above to see all the activity and printed projects.)

The Festival is a gathering of Jeep lovers from all around Florida who convene for two days of fun that includes obstacle courses, relay games, kids mini-Jeep courses, a Tug-O-Jeep competition, food trucks and a vendor area with Jeep styling options to trick-out your ride.

Even though there’s a saying that Jeep stands for “Just Empty Every Pocket,” somewhere between the lift kits, bumpers, lights, winches and other modification options, these folks were digging deep to help charities, too. A major purpose for the event was supporting organizations focused on mental health, first responders, veterans and children in need.

“The Festival is a gathering of vendors and community and enthusiasts to raise money for charities,” says Billy Elkins, the Festival co-director and designer for this year’s event graphics. “We decided this year that we were going to take it up a notch across the board. We got a lot of new activities and we also wanted to step-up all of our signage and take advantage of all the stuff that’s available to us in the graphic world today.”

That stuff includes things like panoRama Walk & Wall textured self-adhesive material that marked the finish line for the Tug-O-Jeep competition; HP Print & Cut and HP Adhesive Vinyl for event decals and mini-Jeep graphics; and Fisher Textiles for outdoor flags in the Jeepers Midway.

“This was a highly branded event, and we wanted to take it to the next level, and we were able to do that with all of the graphics we had,” Elkins says.

Visit Suncoast Jeep Festival to learn more, or call a LexJet print specialist at 800-453-9538 to learn how LexJet products can enhance your next event.

Timothy Mitchell: HP Adhesive Vinyl Is ‘Top of the List’ for Print & Cut

HP Latex Application Specialist Timothy Mitchell was on the hunt for an affordable, easy-to-use and reliable adhesive vinyl for use in the HP Latex Print and Cut system, and says he’s found the ideal product with HP Prime Gloss Air GP Adhesive Vinyl, available at LexJet.

Mitchell was looking for a vinyl for decals, stickers and other indoor applications, and says, “From what I’ve seen, it prints beautifully on the 500 series; printing beautifully on this 315 for my Print and Cut,” he says. “Nicely done. Recommended – it’s certainly something you would put at the top of the list for the Print and Cut application.”

In the video review above, Mitchell discusses how well the product works with the HP Latex pinch rollers at a variety of speeds and temperatures.

“This runs at the maximum temperature with no trouble from pinch rollers … no issues,” Mitchell says. “Even at maximum temperatures, this is a highly compatible material [for HP Latex]. I can run it at slower and faster speeds and put more ink on it … so my quality range is all the way across the board, and I like that.”

HP Prime Gloss Air GP is one of six products in the new HP Adhesive Vinyl and Laminates portfolio.

“This is a nice product, and it prints great,” Mitchell says. “There are a lot of selections within the new Prime category that’s just been released.”

To learn more about the HP Latex Print and Cut system, watch the video below: