Can't get my HP 315 to print a solid black.....

[depps74]

I got a job that is a solid black with some colored lines in the middle of all black. The prints I am getting are dark grey at best. I tried kicking up the darkness, but its still not even close. I tried a "no color correction" setting, Is this an ink thing? IS there a way to increase the black without disrupting the colored lines?

 

[AF]

RGB file?

 

[Sindex Printing]

Have you tried printing rich black.
Cyan 60
Magenta 40
Yellow 40
Black 100

 

[dypinc]

I got a job that is a solid black with some colored lines in the middle of all black. The prints I am getting are dark grey at best. I tried kicking up the darkness, but its still not even close. I tried a "no color correction" setting, Is this an ink thing? IS there a way to increase the black without disrupting the colored lines?

What RIP are you using?
Does it have the ability to replace colors so that your printing 100% printer black only with no CM involved?
How does the 100% black of your calibration target look? That is the darkest black your Latex will print.

Don't try the rich black as posted above. That is way too much ink lay down for Latex and will only result in a muddy looking black.

 

[studebaker]

I've solved that problem by using Black in the LAB color Space/palette in all my artwork... It works much much better than RICH BLACK on Latex printers. "RICH BLACK" is too much ink for latex printers, you will have uncured spots if you lay down that much ink.

 

[burgmurk]

I just looked up the last 'black' i printed on my 360, it was c60m60y50k85. the rip has set that value based on an input of 100k, and it looks beautiful and has no uncured spots.
A properly calibrated system can absolutely do rich blacks, and it'll always look better than 100k

 

[dypinc]

I just looked up the last 'black' i printed on my 360, it was c60m60y50k85. the rip has set that value based on an input of 100k, and it looks beautiful and has no uncured spots.
A properly calibrated system can absolutely do rich blacks, and it'll always look better than 100k

Really now? That black (c60m60y50k85) looks better than the 100% output black of your calibration target?

 

[jwilde]

I've found that the following will work best for a rich black.
C - 30
M - 30
Y - 40
K - 100

 

[dypinc]

I've found that the following will work best for a rich black.
C - 30
M - 30
Y - 40
K - 100

Input or output? In all the test I have done with output values 100% K was better looking than any value with the other inks added.

 

[dypinc]

Since I had some SAV loaded (GF 201) and the black test squares file was still in the RIP I thought I would test this again. 12pass Ink Density 120. Used the three values posted on this thread plus 100% K only set as output values the other values remain as various builds on rich black input values that were color managed.

The 100% K only output value still looked good, except c60m40y40k100 and c78k64y73k95 which was CMed from 0-0-0 RGB, might just looked slightly better, but It is all most impossible to tell a difference. I suspect with lower ink densities it would be harder to get a good black with a rich black mix.

I can't recall if I did a test on fabric (I suspect I did) where the Ink Density was set for 260 so maybe a rich black output value would benefit in that situation.

 

[jwilde]

Sorry for the late response here, I'm still navigating how this stuff all works and found a red bell at the top of my tool bar. That means something I guess...

Anyway, those are input values that I use for a cmyk colorspace. If you are designing in rgb (which is mostly for webspace) you will likely need to convert before you go to press. If you let your rip convert it will provide different values than if you convert through your design software. Not knowing your current softwares and color management setup makes things a bit difficult. We use adobe products and Onyx for our RIPs and you have to match your colorspace settings to both work spaces. We use Web coated SWOP v2 and adobe rgb 98 I believe.

I almost never rely on the use of color adjustments in the RIP.

 

[dypinc]

I almost never rely on the use of color adjustments in the RIP.

If you know the characteristic of your printer then setting output values is the best way to get the black you want and to help nail high gamut spot colors. Why monkey with your input file? Make a new color library or save your setting in your spot color libraries then you don't have to do color adjustments in your RIP. But you do have to create proper output profiles for each specific media to get correct color on all other color elements.

As for using CMYK input profiles. Why do that when your printers gamut is probably larger that the CMYK input profile? Why not take full advantage of your printers gamut by having the RIP convert from input RGB to the output profile be it CMYK or RGB.

 

[ExecuPrintGS]

In onyx we replace any black in the file with a 30/30/30/100 for a rich black... turns out great.

 

[ColorCrest]

If you know the characteristic of your printer then setting output values is the best way to get the black you want and to help nail high gamut spot colors.

How do you do this?

 

[dypinc]

How do you do this?

What RIP are you using?

 

[Carlos Valencia]

I got a job that is a solid black with some colored lines in the middle of all black. The prints I am getting are dark grey at best. I tried kicking up the darkness, but its still not even close. I tried a "no color correction" setting, Is this an ink thing? IS there a way to increase the black without disrupting the colored lines?

Good morning. Try replacing the black printhead, also you can try suctioning out any air bubbles that you might have in the ink lines, you might also have to replace the ink nozzle and seal in the carriage assembly. thx Plottermaster