1200dpi on a L310?

[Vinyldog]

The ads for the L310 mentioned that it was capable of printing 1200 x 1200 but the highest res available on any of the profiles I typically use is 600 x 600. I use mainly 3M IJ40C or Grimco's house brand Brite-line.
I've been satisfied with print quality in all but a few instances, but just curious what the situation is.

 

[P Wagner]

There is a lot of confusion centering around resolution of the HP Latex 300-series printers. Resolution of the printer itself, is always 1200dpi in the carriage scan direction. When printing at pass counts below/= 16, the print resolution is 600dpi in the media direction (1200x600=720,000 addressable dots per square inch). At pass greater than 16, the resolution is 1200 (1200x1200=1,440,000 addressable dots per square inch).

All of this is different than the resolution of the print data that moves from the RIP to the printer, which is 600/300/150 ppi, depending on the print mode being used.

 

[Vinyldog]

Thank you for your reply. Very interesting and informative.
I'm printing 10P_100 on almost every job vinyl and banner. The one I've been using for the IJ40C is described as: 10_8P_CMYKcm_100.icc and the DPI is listed as 600 x 600 on Flexi (basic) but if I understand correctly the printer is actually printing 1200 x 600.

 

[eahicks]

Also if you use canned profiles, most are made for 600x600 printing....you won't find many that are higher than that. If you want one at 1200, you have to build yourself. But to me anything above 600 is overkill and may use much more ink.

 

[P Wagner]

The HP Latex 300 Series printers are fundamentally different than most other machines in this segment, in that the Latex 300s are ConTone (Continuous Tone) printers, where most machines are HalfTone devices. There are many ramifications around this, but the key one that pertains to this is that in a Contone printer, the calculation to convert from from raster pixels into dots occurs in the printer itself. With a halftone printer, that calculation takes place in the RIP.

The resolution that you are seeing in the RIP is referencing the resolution of the job's data file that is being sent to your printer by the RIP. The printer itself is converting that data into dots at a different (higher) print resolution.

Hope this helps.

Paul

 

[Vinyldog]

Good to know. I had thought maybe it had something to do with using intermediate vinyl rather than high performance (cast) or photo paper.

 

[greysquirrel]

The only way to print 1200x1200 on any 300 series or 110 is to print in an 18 pass mode...all others will default as mentioned to 600x1200, 600x600 and 360x360

 

[Vinyldog]

Sounds like a fun project for the weekend. I'll find a high rez photo, make an 18pass profile for it and see what it can do.

 

[Vinyldog]

did some experimenting with profiles today using the O.3165 int. vinyl. I found that using 8pass / 100 option it took 16min to print 32sq and using the 10p/110 it took 20mn. The difference appears to be totally in the feed speed because it took 3.8sec. for the carriage to travel both directions in either mode after the first few trips which took 5.4 seconds.
I set the heat at 219F for both runs and the print quality seemed slightly better using the 10pass.