HP LATEX REDDISH HUE on prints. HELP PUSHING DEADLINE NEED HELP ASAP

[depps74]

I have been gettin a reddish/ magenta hue on my prints. I got a deadline and it could not have happened at a worse time. Any ideas? My friend said it looks like a printhead issue. I ran the cleaning, and all diagnostic tests. I upped the optimizer which seemed to make it worse. I am gonna try using a different profile. Thing is black and white prints are fine. But the reddish issue seems to be getting worse.

 

[Christian @ 2CT Media]

Have you tried color calibrating?

 

[Bly]

How many ml have the heads done? Change them if more than 3 litres.

 

[signman315]

On top of my agreement with Bly, look at your colors under natural light. In our shop if it looks a little pink in the shop lighting it's perfectly neutral under sunlight. I do the trick with my guys all the time...have them look at a print in the shop (greys show it most) and it's terrible and pink, then I'll walk them outside with the same exact piece of vinyl and watch their eyes light up when it flips to neutral right before their eyes, it's like magic to them haha! Bottom line is that whatever spectrum of light is being reflected off of your print has a HUGE difference on what your eye sees. So be sure to always test color accuracy in the environment where the graphics will be displayed.

 

[Christian @ 2CT Media]

On top of my agreement with Bly, look at your colors under natural light. In our shop if it looks a little pink in the shop lighting it's perfectly neutral under sunlight. I do the trick with my guys all the time...have them look at a print in the shop (greys show it most) and it's terrible and pink, then I'll walk them outside with the same exact piece of vinyl and watch their eyes light up when it flips to neutral right before their eyes, it's like magic to them haha! Bottom line is that whatever spectrum of light is being reflected off of your print has a HUGE difference on what your eye sees. So be sure to always test color accuracy in the environment where the graphics will be displayed.

While this is a common problem, it's a completely controllable issue when using GCR and better protocols for your color management. We have recently been introduced to a whole new profiling and management methods that has changed the way we look at color and how we profile.

In the OPs regard I would run a color calibration on the machine to reset his baseline and then try changing heads.

 

[Asuma01]

Assuming your print heads aren't clogged. Whenever my color shifts I just have the machine run a color calibration. If that doesn't work then its time to start changing out print heads. Change the print heads that have the most usage first.

 

[signman315]

While this is a common problem, it's a completely controllable issue when using GCR and better protocols for your color management. We have recently been introduced to a whole new profiling and management methods that has changed the way we look at color and how we profile.

Teach me haha! We aren't experiencing any color calibration or consistency issues, but if you have a method that allows the same print to look the same under different lighting conditions then I need to know how it's done. I've taken some color management classes with Grimco and Epson but have yet to learn any method that allows the same print to appear consistent across different lighting sources...

 

[Christian @ 2CT Media]

Teach me haha! We aren't experiencing any color calibration or consistency issues, but if you have a method that allows the same print to look the same under different lighting conditions then I need to know how it's done. I've taken some color management classes with Grimco and Epson but have yet to learn any method that allows the same print to appear consistent across different lighting sources...

There is always some color shift with lighting but maximizing your GCR (while taking account the graininess in light colors) will help aid in color shift. XRite color freak and G7 classes are really helpful... I am by means no expert we are more recently getting more in-depth with color control to better our environment.

 

[dypinc]

There is always some color shift with lighting but maximizing your GCR (while taking account the graininess in light colors) will help aid in color shift. XRite color freak and G7 classes are really helpful... I am by means no expert we are more recently getting more in-depth with color control to better our environment.

If grain is not an issue then maximize GCR and don't use lc/lm as it is prone to ink starvation in some situations due to the use of only one printhead. The trade off minimizing grain by using low GCR and lc/lm ink is that you need to slow doing the printer to avoid possible ink starvation and you really need to keep a close watch on calibration and a failing lc/lm printhead.

 

[signman315]

It seems like this could be a whole thread in itself...dypinc and 2ct seem to have some knowledge and experience with color management that I/we would benefit from diving deeper into...next week I’ll start a thread in this regard...might be some existing threads but in my opinion might be some fresh things to learn...but anyway it’s beer thirty here in the sticks of upstate NY and I’ll pick your brains next week if you’re willing Cheers and good weekend to all!

 

[ColorCrest]

On top of my agreement with Bly, look at your colors under natural light. In our shop if it looks a little pink in the shop lighting it's perfectly neutral under sunlight. I do the trick with my guys all the time...have them look at a print in the shop (greys show it most) and it's terrible and pink, then I'll walk them outside with the same exact piece of vinyl and watch their eyes light up when it flips to neutral right before their eyes, it's like magic to them haha! Bottom line is that whatever spectrum of light is being reflected off of your print has a HUGE difference on what your eye sees. So be sure to always test color accuracy in the environment where the graphics will be displayed.

Seems you may have gross lighting in your print area. Not fair to any of y'all to go unchecked. GE Chroma 50 tubes from the hardware store? If you want the best, try a world authority; GTI Graphic Technology down the road from you.

 

[dypinc]

It seems like this could be a whole thread in itself...dypinc and 2ct seem to have some knowledge and experience with color management that I/we would benefit from diving deeper into...next week I’ll start a thread in this regard...might be some existing threads but in my opinion might be some fresh things to learn...but anyway it’s beer thirty here in the sticks of upstate NY and I’ll pick your brains next week if you’re willing Cheers and good weekend to all!

You might be better off doing a search of all the times (and it has been a lot) this has been brought up in the past, regarding using lc/lm when only necessary to minimize grain and the best GCR settings to use for different situations depending on the final look you need. The third generation printers utilizing only one lc/lm printhead does present a color consistency challenge in some situations that we really did not see in the 1st and 2nd generation which used 2 lc/lm printheads.

 

[ColorCrest]

In the OPs regard I would run a color calibration on the machine to reset his baseline and then try changing heads

Actually, this procedure is backwards. No use in calibrating to suspect heads only to switch to fully functioning heads. One would need to recalibrate all over again if the original heads were faulty.

 

[ColorCrest]

If grain is not an issue then maximize GCR and don't use lc/lm as it is prone to ink starvation in some situations due to the use of only one printhead. The trade off minimizing grain by using low GCR and lc/lm ink is that you need to slow doing the printer to avoid possible ink starvation and you really need to keep a close watch on calibration and a failing lc/lm printhead.

If this is so, no amount of calibration is a true remedy to a mechanically misbehaving machine. At the end of the day, the method is inferior at best, and probably well beyond the OP's ability as I understand the original post anyway.

 

[dypinc]

Actually, this procedure is backwards. No use in calibrating to suspect heads only to switch to fully functioning heads. One would need to recalibrate all over again if the original heads were faulty.

I would not call it backwards since we do not know the usage of the printhead. Only in high printhead usage would I consider your approach practical.

I found the nature of Latex printing to be more like toner based printing that solvent or aqueous inkjet printing. Latex like toner/static transfer is much more susceptible to environmental changes including what that does to media. And thermal printheads change with usage so calibrating first is probably the better approach unless the printhead has very high usage. If you don't re-calibrate first to see if that brings the color back in line you could be spending a lot replacing printheads.

 

[ColorCrest]

My friend said it looks like a printhead issue.

I think you should be able to trust your friend.

 

[Christian @ 2CT Media]

Actually, this procedure is backwards. No use in calibrating to suspect heads only to switch to fully functioning heads. One would need to recalibrate all over again if the original heads were faulty.

Why would you jump to new heads when it could simply be a widening of the thermal ribbon that can be compensated for by telling the printer its new condition? That's actually HP's recommendation when color shifting becomes apparent.

Btw I'm not challenging you, I'm just trying to understand your thought process as we are gaining knowledge in this area.

 

[dypinc]

a mechanically misbehaving machine

You have a point there. Besides ink starvation, lack of enough redundant nozzles if some get clogged when only 1 printhead is present. This is why I have long complained about this mechanical oversight in the 3rd generation and newer, leading to my comments about not using lc/lm if it is not necessary.

Also the comments of max GCR use here have more to do with view light temps than with actually machine color consistency.

 

[Bly]

We've found most latex print quality issues are easily fixed by replacing heads.

 

[depps74]

While this is a common problem, it's a completely controllable issue when using GCR and better protocols for your color management. We have recently been introduced to a whole new profiling and management methods that has changed the way we look at color and how we profile.

In the OPs regard I would run a color calibration on the machine to reset his baseline and then try changing heads.

What is this whole new method? And what is a GCR?