Need Help Flexiprint basic / HP latex 310 color consistency

[CMGman]

Hello, Any help or suggestions would be helpful. Our issue is with color consistency on our HP latex 310. We are printing primarily on HP everyday satin canvas and using the HP everyday satin canvas profile with 16 pass through Flexi Print Basic. We are experiencing a day to day change in color consistency with our outputs. We have tried a variety of other profiles with the same results. We have the media set for long run consistency on the printer. I am not sure what I may be doing wrong or if the issue is with the RIP or the printer. It is very frustrating. We run color calibration often and in general the color calibration box is always marked as OK. I am attaching a few photos that illustrate our issues. All four canvas outputs are from the same ripped file in flexi. The file has already be printed and in the rip, all we are doing is resending and we get a variety is color outputs. Our printer is located in a controlled environment with an consistent average temp of 74 and an average humidity of 40. This has been an issue we have been struggling with for over a year. The time and materials have been extensive. We have replace the maintenance carriage and several of the print heads one this time. Also I am printing out of Adobe CC on a Mac and sending over our network to our PC with Flexi on it. Thank you

 

[dypinc]

You need to re-calibrate everyday or right before you run this canvas if these are really color critical. And yes you need to set long run consistency in the Media Preset. Not sure what you mean by setting it in "ICC set"? Another thing to try is to turn on your Print Confidence Strip which is the color bars of all 6 color at the side and beginning of you prints. Flexi may my use a different name for these color bars.

 

[CMGman]

You need to re-calibrate everyday or right before you run this canvas if these are really color critical. And yes you need to set long run consistency in the Media Preset. Not sure what you mean by setting it in "ICC set"? Another thing to try is to turn on your Print Confidence Strip which is the color bars of all 6 color at the side and beginning of you prints. Flexi may my use a different name for these color bars.

I will look through Flexi, I don't recall seeing a setting to add the bars, but I will check. Thank you.

 

[CMGman]

You need to re-calibrate everyday or right before you run this canvas if these are really color critical. And yes you need to set long run consistency in the Media Preset. Not sure what you mean by setting it in "ICC set"? Another thing to try is to turn on your Print Confidence Strip which is the color bars of all 6 color at the side and beginning of you prints. Flexi may my use a different name for these color bars.

I did find the setting to print CMYK bars along the left and right sides. I will run some tests today utilizing them. Thank you!

 

[jfiscus]

I cannot help you, but I wanted to add that I struggled with VERY similar issues and they turned out to be un-solvable and we sold our latex and went back to solvent. One thing that may work is running 5+ ft of "garbage" to warm the printer up and change the environment before you start your actual print. But, who can afford to throw away 5 ft of material/ink before every print?

 

[CMGman]

Thank you for the input. No one seems to have a solution, least of all HP. I am feeling like dumping it as well.

Thanks

 

[Solventinkjet]

The more I hear about Latex the more I am baffled. They scream from the rooftops that it requires less maintenance than a solvent yet I see on signs101 every day people complaining about having to change the heads so much, random maintenance errors that prevent you from printing even if the test print is fine (this is ridiculous), you have to color calibrate every day?!, you have to put in 220 power, optimizer heads to allow it to print on materials solvent already can which is just another expense to think a about, and I am also hearing about a special plasticizer roller you need to use because the much higher heat causes the vinyl to sweat plasticizer?!. Yes I am a dealer who competes with HP and am generally in the solvent world so take this with a grain of salt but that list above sounds like a major hassle and PITA.

 

[P Wagner]

PM sent to the OP

Jordan, I would be happy to have a chat to discuss your questions in detail. PM me if interested, and I'll get you my cell.

 

[CMGman]

The more I hear about Latex the more I am baffled. They scream from the rooftops that it requires less maintenance than a solvent yet I see on signs101 every day people complaining about having to change the heads so much, random maintenance errors that prevent you from printing even if the test print is fine (this is ridiculous), you have to color calibrate every day?!, you have to put in 220 power, optimizer heads to allow it to print on materials solvent already can which is just another expense to think a about, and I am also hearing about a special plasticizer roller you need to use because the much higher heat causes the vinyl to sweat plasticizer?!. Yes I am a dealer who competes with HP and am generally in the solvent world so take this with a grain of salt but that list above sounds like a major hassle and PITA.

When it works, it works great but when it doesn't it is a real PITA. I have spent much more time on problems than anyone should. I have a few more things to try, we will see.