HP Latex L26500 - Color Shifting in Greys

[spectralargeformat]

I'm printing 30 posters on our HP latex and the posters have a lot of grey in them. I just noticed that about half the posters we printed have a lot more magenta in the grey than others.

The black ink cartridge is getting low can that contribute? Although the last one that came out of the printer looks fine but the one before it did not.

Any ideas? I've been using the same profiles/media. I'll print 2 copies, cut it off, and print 2 more. The way i've been running it, i've been ripping then printing each copy. (running caldera)

 

[J Hill Designs]

do you have to reRIP each time?

 

[P Wagner]

I'm printing 30 posters on our HP latex and the posters have a lot of grey in them. I just noticed that about half the posters we printed have a lot more magenta in the grey than others.

The black ink cartridge is getting low can that contribute? Although the last one that came out of the printer looks fine but the one before it did not.

Any ideas? I've been using the same profiles/media. I'll print 2 copies, cut it off, and print 2 more. The way i've been running it, i've been ripping then printing each copy. (running caldera)

In my experience, with the HP Latex machines this issue would likely be directly related to printhead performance. Printing gray involves all colors firing in proportion to each other. If you are seeing color shifts in the middle of the long print run, it would be attributable to nozzles dropping mid-print. In this case, with the gray shifting to pink, i would suspect the C/lc head(s) as the problem.

 

[Dennis422]

are you printing color bars on the side?
I would try printing with those

 

[spectralargeformat]

any ideas of how to prevent this?

 

[chafro]

I would bet is a head related issue. Sometimes heads stop firing during a print. It can even be the lights colors, grey reflect this kind of problems the most.

Its most likely a cyan or light cyan head. Just replace it and you are good to go.