dark grey printing brownish

[Tony McD]

Pulled up a job today I have printed several times that has a dark grey background. Set it to print, came back and the dark grey is brown.

Did a nozzle check and the black isn't very good, but I knew it wouldn't be.
Had a head strike a few years ago, and some nozzles havn't fired since, but it has been printing fine after the head strike
despite the missing nozzles.

Test print shows the cyan, magenta, and yellow are working as they should.

So I've done a manual cleaning, and two heavy power cleans.
Nothing so far has helped.

It will print 100% black and the print is black, but 80% black prints as a medium brown.

Any ideas on what else to try?
Thanks

 

[player]

Mess around with the colour values from your rip?

 

[splizaat]

If you're using versaworks go into the color clickers and take the magenta down about two clicks --- possibly click the cyan up one. What you've got is a really warm grey -- so you need to cool it down with cyan. Keep in mind this is universal though and will affect entire print.

If its a vector file, what are the CMYK values of the grey? You can take the magenta down and cyan slightly up in there a well. If it's THAT bad with no color correction, my guess is that the grey has magenta in it... if anything, these rolands go green on greys

 

[player]

You could also try different profiles.

Don't forget to check your test samples in the light they will be viewed (ie- outside) and laminating will also shift the colours depending on the lam.

 

[Tony McD]

I have tried a couple profiles using vinyl and photo paper.
Have also tried different shades of grey, they all print brown, but it will print pure black.
Looking again at my test print, looks like more of the black nozzles aren't firing.

The file I need to print has some lime green in it also, wouldn't changing color values in versaworks
would mess that up.

The cmyk values for the grey background are 62 53 53 25
I have printed this file several times before with good results.

 

[splizaat]

Yes changing values in Versaworks will change color of entire print...

What happens if you change the grey value to 0-3-0-76 (seems fairly close on monitor - although that means nothing)? Try that just to see what happens and test print....report back.

53 seems awfully high on magenta to expect grey, even tho it displays grey on a monitor. If you print with above values it'll at least tell you if your printer is even capable of printing grey without it going brown

 

[Tony McD]

test print with the cmyk values 0-3-0-76 comes out about the same brownish.

 

[splizaat]

Wow... media/profile?

Is there any kind of mask over the top of the grey section? Or did you start a brand new file with just a grey stripe and print that for 0-3-0-76?

 

[Tony McD]

The 0 3 0 76 was a new page in corel x3 set to those cmyk values.
Cmyk and rgb files was also a new page.
The big black box is 100 % k.
This just started...printed greys fine Monday.

Also made the files in x6...printed the same brown.

I was thinking it might be the black print head...head soaking it tonight.

Also need to order a cut carriage cable, get the 0.0 media size sometimes.

 

[splizaat]

Yikes - if it's a fresh document, then I'm out of ideas.

What document TYPE? pdf? eps? And what rip?

Could be an ICC issue too, but I doubt it....

 

[JMPrinting]

This may sound pretty basic, when I have issues with my Xerox printer, I run a calibration, **** down for 15 minutes, shut down RIP, computer as well. Boot it all up, run a few prints and usually clears up...I know it's not the same equipment but start small if you haven't.

 

[JMPrinting]

Shut down.

 

[splizaat]

This may sound pretty basic, when I have issues with my Xerox printer, I run a calibration, **** down for 15 minutes, shut down RIP, computer as well. Boot it all up, run a few prints and usually clears up...I know it's not the same equipment but start small if you haven't.

That's also a good suggestion...I don't think it'll fix but it's worth a try. Unplug the actual power cord from the printer for 30 minutes and restart the rip computer. Try printing again....

Let me ask you this -- aside from the GREY in that print job, are all the other colors coming out ok? Have you tried a different print profile altogether?

 

[Bly]

Custom profile > Linearise when neutrals drift > Job done.

Print heads and environments change.
You need to be able to compensate for that.

Will it cost you money? Yes.
Will it save you time and money? Yes.

 

[Fatboy]

Please supply an image of a nozzle check

 

[Tony McD]

The printer has been shut down, and unplugged several times in the last couple of days, and also the computer and rip.
Hasn't made any difference so far.

I print straight from corel to versaworks...been doing it this way for 6/7 years.
Versaworks is version 5.1.1

Here's a nozzle and test print of cmyk.
(not a good photo....cmy looks much smoother)

Clamped of the drain lines at the cap tops...filled with cleaning fluid and rested the heads on it overnight.
Didn't make any difference in the black.
I think maybe the black head is just shot.

 

[Tony McD]

I have tried several other things today with no luck.
The overnight head soak didn't seem to help much with the nonfiring nozzles.
I will do it again, and let them soak over the weekend, maybe that will help some.

One more question...
Is it possible the missing nozzles in my black printhead is causing my greys to be brownish?
Or is there another problem I haven't found the answer to yet?

Thanks for all the help.

 

[player]

Your black looked pretty baron to me. When did you last change the caps?

You could try soaking a swab with cleaner, and just barely touch the bottom of the black head with it. No pressure, no rubbing or shaking. Hold it there for as long as you can. The slight touch allows the cleaner to get into the nozzles. After this do a medium clean. Then try printing strips of 100% black. It may help.

You have plenty of ink in the black cartridge? Are you using OEM or 3rd party inks?

 

[Tony McD]

The black printhead problem started from a head strike about five years ago on banner material. Has printed fine since, but I always print in HQ mode. I've never changed the captops, it never showed symptoms of needing to. Have always done a manual cleaning at least once a week. Have replaced the wipers, t sponge, misting sponge etc.. a few times. The black ink was one of the first things I checked and it was getting low so I put a new one in before all this testing started. Has only ever had Roland ink in it. I will try the swab on the head Monday if the weekend head soak doesn't help.
Seems to print OK as long as there's no grey in the file.

Since greys are a mix of colors...if the black isn't putting out enough could that cause the grey to be brownish?

 

[what the]

Have you tried cleaning the encoder strip

Use rubbing alcohol and your cleaning swabs to clean the encoder strip, If this is dirty, it will feed information wrong to the print.