Need Help Mimaki JFX200 Printers & ONYX RIP Compatibility?

[RAnders]

Hi! We have two Mimaki flat-bed UV Printers, a JFX200-2513 and a JFX200-2531. We currently use RasterLink 6 as our RIP software but we want to start putting a color management system in place so we can calibrate the machines to match color-wise. They both use LH100 inks, the 2513 is set to CMYK + Clear & White, and the 2531 is set to CMYK. We’ve contacted our dealer and they want to set us up with Mimaki Profile Master 3 and an i1 Pro 1 Colorimeter (yes, we know- discontinued by X-Rite) as the MPM3 only supports the i1 Pro 1 & 2 Colorimeters. We contacted X-Rite and their guy is trying to push us into an upgrade to Onyx Thrive RIP and an i1 Pro 3 as the i1 Pro 2 will soon be discontinued. We’ve heard from our dealer that Onyx does not work well with Mimaki Printers. They’ve even told us that Onyx has told them that Onyx doesn’t work well with Mimaki. We’d like to go with the most up to date colorimeter, the i1 Pro 3, but the only way it’s looking like we can do this is to go with Onyx. We contacted another Mimaki dealer and they said they don't have any experience with their customers using Onyx. Anyone with experience with Onyx and Mimaki Printers care to chime in?

 

[Zendavor Signs]

We just bought 2 Mimaki UV printers, JFX-200 and UCJV300-160 roll printer. We are in the same boat. Dealer knows practically nothing about Onyx and we hate Rasterlink. I never realized how awesome Onyx is until dealing with this. We have printed from Onyx to the Mimaki printers, but the profiles available are worthless. We do not know how to build custom profiles from scratch.

 

[RAnders]

I never realized how awesome Onyx is until dealing with this. We have printed from Onyx to the Mimaki printers, but the profiles available are worthless. We do not know how to build custom profiles from scratch.

We're going to be able to make our own profiles - my question is more to how Onyx does with the Mimaki Printers - Our Mimaki Dealer is saying that Onyx and Mimaki aren't really compatible and they have too many issues when printing. They even said they had an Onyx person in to discuss this with them and they got told it wasn't worth it on the Mimaki Printers.

 

[Zendavor Signs]

We're going to be able to make our own profiles - my question is more to how Onyx does with the Mimaki Printers - Our Mimaki Dealer is saying that Onyx and Mimaki aren't really compatible and they have too many issues when printing. They even said they had an Onyx person in to discuss this with them and they got told it wasn't worth it on the Mimaki Printers.

I talked to a Mimaki rep directly before buying it. They told me Onyx will run the printers, but functionality could be limited. Whatever that means, I am presuming maybe with the layering of the special inks (clear, primer, white, etc). He really pressed hard for RasterLink though. I have not heard anything about issues with printing through Onyx, but I get the impression that we'll be out on our own if we use Onyx. I am really disappointed in the lack of support of Onyx with Mimaki.

 

[Solventinkjet]

I'd see if you can get a free trial and run the JFX on it. Onyx is generally a full featured RIP so I don't know why it would be limited on the JFX but as you said it might be some Mimaki specific feature they just don't have programed. I'd be willing to bet it works fine though.

 

[dmoore]

We too have a JFX200-2513 EX and while we are new to large format printing, my 20 years of IT experience tells me this software is junk. It feels more like a visual basic application from the mid-2000s than something modern and the "translation" issues being Japanese is yet another issue. Our main issues are with production and the ability to load up a custom jig for one item, then layer on the drawing to the jig and print direct from the RIP software, something that Rasterlink can't do. I really would love to know the experiences of anyone that has used Onyx PosterShop with a JFX200.

On a side note, it does indicate that it is supported:

https://www.onyxgfx.com/devices/mimaki_jfx200-2513/

 

[White Haus]

Onyx will play with Mimaki printers, but if you're messing with layered printing the drivers are not 100% compatible.

We just went through this with our new UCJV - Spent a full day with a tech here just to create a profile that was compatible to print CMYK + W. We basically had to trick it into printing layers by trial and error.

I know part of the issue is that the UCJV is "too new" so Onyx hasn't worked out the kinks yet, or that's their excuse anyways. Our tech has several cases open with them in this regard.

With that being said, run far away from Rasterlink, even if it means dropping 10k on Onyx Thrive and an X-rite 1i. At first I cringed at the expense but after we received a couple of days of color management/profiling training, I'm glad we did. We've created some nice profiles for our UCJV and although we have a long way to go, we have a (very) basic knowledge of the process.

If anyone else needs any info regarding Onyx + X-rite 1i + Mimaki printers, I'd be happy to share our experience.

 

[White Haus]

We too have a JFX200-2513 EX and while we are new to large format printing, my 20 years of IT experience tells me this software is junk. It feels more like a visual basic application from the mid-2000s than something modern and the "translation" issues being Japanese is yet another issue. Our main issues are with production and the ability to load up a custom jig for one item, then layer on the drawing to the jig and print direct from the RIP software, something that Rasterlink can't do. I really would love to know the experiences of anyone that has used Onyx PosterShop with a JFX200.

On a side note, it does indicate that it is supported:

https://www.onyxgfx.com/devices/mimaki_jfx200-2513/

I feel your pain. Rasterlink is a joke and they should be ashamed to include this "software" with their equipment. This is our first Mimaki (UCJV) and the build and print quality is very impressive, but the software and firmware side of things is horrible. They need to hire some real translators and developers and maybe their OEM rip software will be half as good as Roland Versaworks.

Onyx has its quirks too but is miles ahead of Rasterlink. Once you get the hang of it, it's worth the expense and learning curve and I promise you won't find typos or loosely translated errors on a daily basis like RL.