I use Mutoh Layout & Print2 -> Mutoh Layer Editor as my process for printing on a XPJ 461UF. I've been trying to use the print history in Mutoh Status Monitor for cost estimation of ink, but I noticed something really weird. On a color layer only print, the heaviest 2 ink usages are white (.43ml) and varnish(.1ml). The highest color is only .057ml. There's no white underprint on this, and definitely no varnish underprint or overprint. I'm hoping someone has dealt with this before and can help me get the cost estimates working correctly.
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P Wagner
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Assuming that the printer is configured with white and varnish inks, the printer must continually keep those ink channels serviced. This consumes ink, whether the ink is jetted to the substrate, or ends up in the waste bottle.
I would understand if it was a small amount, but white is tracking almost 10x the amount used as any of the inks that were actually used to print, and even varnish is showing more used than the highest color. Keep in mind this is tracking of a single print job that only has a color layer, no white or varnish layers.
P Wagner
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White ink is more difficult to jet than color inks, due to the colorant used to make white (titanium dioxide TiO2). Printers that have white ink available will need to service the nozzles/ channels that deliver white. This is done by regular automated cleaning cycles both while printing and periodically when not printing. This generally consumes significant amounts of white ink, and is one of the reasons why many users choose to put cleaning solution into the white ink channels (and not use white).
The only white ink on demand system that does not consume any ink during extended periods of not printing white is HP Latex - this is due to the unique ability for the user to physically remove the white PHs from the carriage and store them in an offline chamber that services the white printheads for extended periods of time.
The only white ink on demand system that does not consume any ink during extended periods of not printing white is HP Latex - this is due to the unique ability for the user to physically remove the white PHs from the carriage and store them in an offline chamber that services the white printheads for extended periods of time.
I would get that if the statistics were per day or per week, but the stats are for each print job. Also, I have jobs with white underprint that show as less white used than some of the color only prints. From looking at multiple jobs of data, it seems to account .1ml of white and varnish as waste ink on every print regardless of if they were used and .055ml of each color. What I can't figure out is why a color only print would then say .4ml of white used unless it's mixing white into colors to make light colors...which would still be strange since the printer could have run in a config without white and still printed on white media.
balstestrat
Problem Solver
Could you take couple screenshots of some random jobs that show the amount of ink?
I'm curious to see how it displays it.
I'm curious to see how it displays it.
I'm pretty sure it does include that, but the amount is around .1ml for white and .055ml for color. Color is easy because on an all white print that is the approximate number you always get. White is based on the lowest I found across medium size print jobs that shouldn't have had white at all. Also, the cleaning pump doesn't run after each print job, so waste should be pretty small. Even if it did, the 461UF is a single head machine, so I would expect white to just be 2x color because of the 2 channels. The station can't pull from just white or varnish. It doesn't explain why a print with only a color layer would show .43ml of white consumed. First screenshot is Mutoh Status Monitor on that job, second is Mutoh Layer Editor on a color only layer print (no white underprint, overprint, mixed, or anything that should include the white channel or varnish channel). The actual data for the layer printed doesn't even include white or varnish channels, so I can't imagine it deciding to mix white in to create colors. It shouldn't even care if the image had pure white unless a white layer was added.
