Toner scratching off 100# Gloss Stock...

Running iGen3s (2). We've run into this issue before but I wanted to see if any of you had good suggestions.

The piece is a 2-sided, heavily saturated (100% black and some spots) piece on 100# Gloss Cover stock. If we were printing one-side, toner adheres to the stock well enough. 2-sided is where we start running into issues with the second side scratching off.

We tried both machines, different stock weights, and turning IP on, tightening the fuser roll, and changing out the transfer/detak wires. Results were varied but pretty much the same result.

*I will say that the toner doesn't just flake off - we have to put a bit of force (rubbing, or fingernail to) on it.
*Other stocks doesn't seem to have an issue.

Would like your thoughts and any possible solutions for those who've run into this issue.

Thanks much.

Jae

 

If you really need to try and scratch off the ink then is it an issue? The ink is just plastic that is melted onto the surface of the media. The ink is not absorbed into the media at all like offset printing.

Do you have the enhance image permanence option? It is my understanding that this option slows down the iGen to try to get the ink to bond/fuse better.

 

Does the piece have to go through a folder? If not: If you have to "pick" it off...not just rub it, I usually would just say it's ok.

If your stock is REALLY coated, there isn't much for the toner to cling to.

you "could" up the thickness of the stock in substrate settings. I have a stock I had to do that with. Worked just okay...

IE: make new fake stock in the front end and max it out.

 

Hi Jae. We run 100# Gloss Cover all the time on an igen4. Like Stiv and peels said, it is normal for you to be able to scratch toner off on this gloss coated stock. The reason it fuses better on side 1 than side 2 is because after it runs through the fuser the first time, the entire sheet has a light coating of fuser oil on it which will make side 2 not fuse quite as strongly.

If, however, you can easily rub it off, that is a different issue.

Things you can try: enhanced image permanence mode (if you have it) as Stiv mentioned. This will slow down the speed of printing to allow the paper to stay in the fuser long. It works better with rough stocks that don't transfer and fuse well. It may only be slightly better.

Verify the media settings are correct for this stock...it runs about 20 degrees hotter for thick paper. And like peels said you can cheat it and tell it it's 120# or something.

Also, check your fuser roll and make sure isn't very unevenly worn or it doesn't have a scratch in it. This can affect toner adhesion. A contact arc setup wouldn't hurt either.

Most likely, however, even with the machine within spec it is not uncommon for this to happen...even on Xerox paper.

 

I've noticed some brands of paper are easy to peel as well, even if everything is in spec.

Try a different brand of paper of the same weight and see if the issue is still there.

Everything richman said you should try, definitely.

 

Thanks for all the suggestions. We've tried everything mentioned with some results being better than others. We ended up going with a different stock (100# Dull). We really only see this when the particular piece requires a lot of solid toner to be laid down (black is the worst). No issue with the toner rubbing/flaking off on the Dull.

 

Well, here's an update. The steel rollers (right underneath the fuser roller) had been picking up some toner and just caking on. The tech suggested changing out the lamp inside the steel roller and so far so good. Possibly the cause of the toner scratching off. Not sure yet but maybe it'll help someone else.

 

UPDATE: Found that if I change the paper coating to "Gloss" instead of "Satin" the toner does not flake off. Even though the paper description is set to "Satin", I've been printing all jobs on Satin (or Silk) stock with "Gloss" in the media setting for the specific stock.