Printing GREY on my VersaCamm

[Elwood Moose]

Hey all... I am STUMPED.

I've heard this is a problem for others out there.. but have YET to find a soloution.

When printing and partial tones of black off of my VersaCamm 540V, I'm getting crazy hues of green in it.

I've made two sets of files that I run side by side.

The file consists of graduated black boxes....100% black, 75% black, 50% black 25% black etc..

The first file is 100% CMYK, all four colours at 100% to the max.then nudged down in the 25% increments.

The next fileIs 0%CMY and 100%K. I then run just the black (K) down in the same increments.

They are designed in Illustator, both in CMYK mode.

The problem is that after 75%, all of my "grey" boxes are actually green.. even when I am running straight black!!!

Technically, the ink should be pulled straight from my black cartridge, should it not??

I've done everything.. I've done a head clean, a thorough clean etc... I maintain this beast pretty regularly, and the effect is consistent before and after cleaning.

Anyone as frustrated as I am over this?

 

[Techman]

green tones is because the magenta is not up enuf or not in there at all.
Black is cymk,, not just k unless you so specify..

 

[ChiknNutz]

Oh boy.......having said this many times by now, but since you're new, I'll reply yet again. This is an overall Color Management issue. For one, Roland printers with canned profiles and RIP software, tend to use too much YELLOW by default, hence the green hues to your greys. This is common. Also, unless you are very sure that you are printing only black (by manually manipulating some settings in you RIP software), you likely are not using just black ink, as most colors (especially black) are printed with a mix of all colors to some extent. Even if you design a patch of 25% K, it likely is not just K when printed, because the RIP has final say on what IT thinks 25% K should consist of. The only real way to remedy this issue, is to create your own media profiles for each media you use. Printing neutral greys IS very difficult and is often times the acid test of a properly created profile.

 

[Elwood Moose]

Thanks.. any direction you can point me in to travel this path.. (I feel likethe young jedi knight, at the heels of Obi Wan....)

 

[ChiknNutz]

In order to make the profiles yourself, you need a spectrophotometer, such as the EyeOne Proof or similar Xrite. These are about $1200 on up for more advanced hardware. Further, you need the instruction in MAKING the profiles. This normally costs another $500 to $2000 depending on several things. If you're really handy, you can likely fumble thru it yourself, but you'll likely get frustrated w/o having some guidance. I assume you're using VW for the RIP, which I personally have never used, so I cannot guide you on the specifics of that program. If you're using ColorRip (same as Wasatch) or Wasatch, then I can help you out. Folks like UnicaDigital (member here) can provide this training too.

 

[javila]

When you send a cmyk file to your rip, it does not translate to actual ink usage. The RIP takes that cmyk file transforms it into the color space of the current profile, then remixes the color for the actual ink being used.

You cant turn off the color correction in order to print with just the black ink.

 

[Robert M]

Color management

In Versaworks, Hit Job settings, quality, and then change the "color Management" box to read "Signs & Display"

 

[Elwood Moose]

Thanks for the help guys... at least I know I'm not a COMPLETE moron for not being able to figure it out on my own.

And sometimes, just knowing you aren't as dumb as you seem, just may be the highlight of your day...

 

[KR3signguy]

Yes the EYE1 & Xrite's Monaco software!