Serious magenta cast on XC-540

[feckmo]

I'm getting a really serious magenta cast on pretty much everything I print on my XC-540. It's most obvious on grays and blues -- shifting grays to taupe/pink and blues to purple. I've attached a couple images to show the difference in the same file printed on the XC-540 and our Epson GS6000.

Any idea what could be causing this and how to fix it?

I just replaced the magenta printhead last week and I've tried different profiles, different media settings, and I relinearized our main material profile to no avail.

Any help or suggestions would be GREATLY appreciated.

--Jim.

 

[CS-SignSupply]

Nozzle check look good?

 

[feckmo]

Nozzle check look good?

Perfecto. I did all the alignment stuff in the service menu after changing the heads (bias/vertical, horizontal, bi-direction) and everything looks great. In fact, the prints are great except that they're pink.

 

[CS-SignSupply]

profile or rendering intents maybe?

 

[feckmo]

profile or rendering intents maybe?

Thanks for your help!

The profiles are the same ones I've been using for years, so I'm not sure if that could be the issue. As for rendering intents, I'm not sure where that is or where I'd change the settings for it.

I thought I might have somehow mucked up my Photoshop or Illustrator settings, but printing the same file that prints pink on the XC-540 prints just fine on the GS6000...

 

[feckmo]

FYI, nozzle check and bias/vertical adjust check are perfect...

I also tried printing from VersaWorks on two different machines in case it was the RIP, but the problem persists from both computers.

 

[feckmo]

Here's another example of what it's doing -- logo1.jpg was printed on the Roland and logo2.jpg was printed on the Epson and is how it's supposed to look. What on earth would cause the Roland to substitute color that way while printing black okay elsewhere?

Bizarre.

--Jim.

 

[Custom_Grafx]

Profiling your machine should fix your problem if all the nozzles are good and the such, all I can think, is that compared to your previous magenta head, this new one puts down slightly more ink for some reason? It probably shouldn't be doing that, but it is what it is... a custom profile would compensate for the extra magenta.

If you don't go that far, it could also just be a linearisation setting in your media profile, but for either fix, you will need a spectro like an i1.

If you don't have a spectro, try a whole bunch of different profiles and see if that makes a difference.

Rendering intents and the such are found in job settings in versa works, under the quality/colour management section. Keep trying a file you know is good, using US prepress default settings.

 

[Custom_Grafx]

For the drumart pic you just posted, please post the following.

* all your settings in versaworks listed in the "quality" and "quality/colour management" section, and which media profile you are using.

Also, how are you putting this file into versaworks? Do you print from your graphics program to Roland VW or do you save as an eps or pdf then drop it into VW?

 

[feckmo]

Profiling your machine should fix your problem if all the nozzles are good and the such, all I can think, is that compared to your previous magenta head, this new one puts down slightly more ink for some reason? It probably shouldn't be doing that, but it is what it is... a custom profile would compensate for the extra magenta.

If you don't go that far, it could also just be a linearisation setting in your media profile, but for either fix, you will need a spectro like an i1.

If you don't have a spectro, try a whole bunch of different profiles and see if that makes a difference.

Rendering intents and the such are found in job settings in versa works, under the quality/colour management section. Keep trying a file you know is good, using US prepress default settings.

Thanks for the input! I do have an i1 Publish Pro, but I have no real idea how to use it to do full-scale profiling. From what I understand, setting appropriate ink limits and such requires some real skill and/or experience.

I did re-linearize, but it didn't help.

I'm sure I have no idea what's really happening, but it sure looks like it's substituting magenta for black. The logo images are a perfect example. I know it mixes colors to get gray, but that seems like a LOT of magenta that has no earthly business being there...

 

[feckmo]

For the drumart pic you just posted, please post the following.

* all your settings in versaworks listed in the "quality" and "quality/colour management" section, and which media profile you are using.

Also, how are you putting this file into versaworks? Do you print from your graphics program to Roland VW or do you save as an eps or pdf then drop it into VW?

Settings:

Media Type: CALIBRATED 8-6-2011 - [RIPC] AR Vinyl Baseline
Resolution: 720 x 720 dpi
Mode: CMYKLcLm (v) +PASS
Halftone: Dither
Interpolation: Nearest Neighbor
Direction: Bi-Direction
Head Speed: 1000 mm/sec
Color Management: Pre-Press U.S.
Profile: Pro3v2EcoMLcLmH_PGCT_v720x720.icc

Otherwise, I save all files as an EPS and import them into VW. That's the way I've always done it.

Thanks again!

 

[Custom_Grafx]

That media type/profile looks like a custom made profile? I would suggest using one of the canned profiles in VW like "Generic Vinyl" usually up the top of the list and see what happens.

Let us know!

 

[feckmo]

That media type/profile looks like a custom made profile? I would suggest using one of the canned profiles in VW like "Generic Vinyl" usually up the top of the list and see what happens.

Let us know!

Yeah, it was just a re-linearized version of the GCVP profile, I believe. I did try the actual GCVP profile and got the same result.

 

[Custom_Grafx]

Learning to create your own custom icc's would be great! It does take a little while to get the hang of, but definitely worth it! Especially since you have the gear!

Here are the instructions.

Do you use corel or illustrator?

 

[feckmo]

Thanks for the link! I'll definitely give that a shot. Even if I don't get a perfect profile, it *should* at least improve the situation, right? If it does, I can work on creating better profiles. If not, I'll know there's a bigger problem somewhere else. Oh, and I use Illustrator to create the EPS files (Photoshop for everything else).

So, there's no concern that the printer itself is the issue? Has anyone ever seen anything like this before?

Thanks again!

 

[Custom_Grafx]

I'm not sure, am a bit stumped. There is something going on with a setting somewhere along in the workflow and your colour settings possibly.

 

[feckmo]

And the plot thickens... After re-checking the Fill test print more closely, I'm seeing a TON of blowout and banding in my Light Cyan head only. The test print and bias/vertical prints are still perfect. No weirdness there and no clogged nozzles or deflection anywhere.

Sorry for the large photos, but I hope they help. Has anyone seen this before? Could this be causing my magenta cast problems? I swapped printhead cables and ran a couple powerful cleanings on that bank which didn't help. Thanks!

 

[feckmo]

Update:

Problem solved! After thinking about the problem, the magenta cast issue started slowly and progressed over time. I could "correct" it to some degree by changing color settings in VersaWorks, but that was not a long term solution.

That said, I figured the problem *must* be hardware related since it didn't happen all at once and got worse over time. Given the blowout on the Light Cyan head, I replaced that, re-calibrated everything and the problem disappeared!

Thanks again to everyone who helped.