• I want to thank all the members that have upgraded your accounts. I truly appreciate your support of the site monetarily. Supporting the site keeps this site up and running as a lot of work daily goes on behind the scenes. Click to Support Signs101 ...

Looking For Better ValueJet 1604 Flexi Profiles

T

Tim Harrelson

New Member
Hi,

Our ValueJet 1604 is up and running! The only problem is (and of course it's a biggie) we only received the cookie-cutter profiles that came with Flexi and a few we scavenged online.

And even with these out-of-the-box profiles we've mismatched to our media, we are still getting excellent color.

But the printer is printing painfully slow. On one of the 1440 settings, it only printed about 20 square feet an hour - OUCH!

Something seems amiss in the profile because I didn't even realize it could print that slow. And I doubt it is the computer because it's a new dual-core processing screamer with 2 gigs of ram. Most of our files RIP in what seems like only seconds.

We are not new to digital printing. But I am completely unfamiliar with the additional settings (wave settings, passes, heat) in the Mutoh and which combination will provide the optimal balance between quality and print speed.

I'm using Flexi for my RIP and 95% of my printing is split between;
  1. 13 ounce glossy scrim banner material
  2. Glossy Intermediate Digital Vinyl
  3. Glossy Cast Digital Vinyl
I know the brand of vinyl does matter in the profile because profiles are specific to the media (among other things). But I would like to "open her up" and see what she can do with some profiles that have been optimized for speed. Someone who's seen first hand what this printer can really do with the right profile!

Please pardon me if this is a breach of etiquette (and if so, disregard this post) ...

Would anyone here be willing to share the profiles that are working so well for them?

Specifically, the "medium" 720 X 720 and the "high" 1440 X 1440?

Thanks for your time!

Best regards,

Tim Harrelson
art@signsRus.com
1-800-899-6272
 
D&Tgraphics

D&Tgraphics

New Member
Are you printing uni-directional or bi-directional? Try,

Print Mode: Graphics 2 and in your profile, make sure you choose the one that says Bi-Directional. That should speed things up.

By the way, what are you printing that need 1400x1400. The 720x720 quality is great for the banners and vinyl that you said you do. Just curious.
 
DRPSignsNGrafix

DRPSignsNGrafix

New Member
check the bi-directional setting other then that. 1400x1400 will print real slow. It's just the way it is. it's putting a lot of ink down tight so it's making more passes.
 
P Wagner

P Wagner

--
Be aware that the ValueJet 1604 (64 inch) and 1204 (48 inch) are able to use the same profiles, much like the Roland VersaCAMM SP 30 inch and 54 inch can. This is because in each case, the only difference between the units is the media width (at least from the output profile's perspective).

The 100 inch Valuejet cannot share the same profile as it is a 6 color device rather then a 4 color printer.

Bob
 
T

Tim Harrelson

New Member
Where's the sweet spot?

The 1440 setting is on unidirectional.

But even on 720 X 720 Bidirectional, the speed isn't even close to what I've seen mentioned here of 130-140 sq. feet per hour.

I just looked at speed comparison chart and it seems the only way to achieve those results is in it's very lowest resolution setting.

Setting the speed issue aside for the moment, what are your favorite settings that balance the speed with print quality?
  1. Which printing mode? (i.e. "Graphics 2")
  2. Resolution? (720 x 720?)
  3. Number of Passes? 4/2
  4. Bidirectional?
  5. Fine Wave?
Is any there anyone here actually printing 140 sq. feet per hour in "Banner 4" mode? If so, does the image quality hold up to scrutiny?

Thanks again for you input!

Tim
 
R

randya

New Member
Tim Harrelson said:
The 1440 setting is on unidirectional.

But even on 720 X 720 Bidirectional, the speed isn't even close to what I've seen mentioned here of 130-140 sq. feet per hour.

I just looked at speed comparison chart and it seems the only way to achieve those results is in it's very lowest resolution setting.

Setting the speed issue aside for the moment, what are your favorite settings that balance the speed with print quality?
  1. Which printing mode? (i.e. "Graphics 2")
  2. Resolution? (720 x 720?)
  3. Number of Passes? 4/2
  4. Bidirectional?
  5. Fine Wave?
Is any there anyone here actually printing 140 sq. feet per hour in "Banner 4" mode? If so, does the image quality hold up to scrutiny?

Thanks again for you input!

Tim
Click to expand...

We only use 1440 modes for some backlits, and specialty coated medias (i.e. glossy coated poly films) and this is pretty rare.

Certainly look at your RIP settings, there are very, very few profiles for 1440,
if you are using Flexi, make sure that you chose a "Preset" in the Color Management tab and not a media.
You should not normally change the "Media" for a "Preset".
You can drastically change output if you do.
Changing the "Media" in a "Preset" will often discard the existing Ink Limits and color correction and put too much ink down for the print.


Here is the speed chart breakdown:
http://www.mutoh.com/products/ValueJet/PrintSpeeds.html

Here are some resources for profiles and links to the Diamond Shield profiles from Mutoh:

http://www.mutoh.com/kb/entry/19/

"Show quality" - what we print at trade shows and for demos is typically is 720x720 8 pass bi directional wave 1.
 
Last edited:
Matt Cuellar

Matt Cuellar

New Member
If you've got the time and energy, learn to create them yourself. There's nothing worse than trying to track down profiles, and most of the time the canned profiles are quite poor. You'd have to invest about $1,500 for a handheld spectrophotometer and software, but believe me, well worth it. If that's too much to ask, network yourself with a company close by that offers onsite color management.

We can create customer VJ profiles for you, but we're in Seattle so the turnaround time wouldn't be as quick as a local distributor. Email or PM if you want more info. Good luck!
 
C

ChiknNutz

New Member
If you do end up using an outside service for profile creation, I have to give props to Matt and UnicaDigital. I had them come to my shop and teach me about profile creating and such...EXCELLENT service and support :thumb:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top