Onyx/Oce Colorado communication issues

[iPrintStuff]

Hey All, real head scratcher here.

Basically I’ve been running an oce Colorado on onyx 18.5 for around a month now, had some teething problems but now it’s taken a full bite!

The printer is not networked itself, it’s connected through an Ethernet cable to the pc, the pc has two network points (one for the printer, one for the internet). All of this seems well, I can ping the printer and it seems happy enough.

As far as onyx goes, everything seems to be in working order, I can see the synced media’s, delete them, look in the configure printer menu, do an ip/tcp test and it comes back happy. The pc can definitely see the printer and communicate with it.

BUT.. whenever I print a job, it sends it, then said job doesn’t seem to make its way to the printer, no error, no sign at all that there’s any problems, just disappears and doesn’t end up in the print queue.

Anyone had this before/knows how to fix it? It was running fine for weeks, then went for lunch, came back and it wouldn’t print any more. Tried everything I’d expect to get it going so if anyone has any ideas, let me know!

 

[flyplainsdrifta]

have you tried turning it on and off again? *joke*

any chance youve updated the system software or something changed with your access? ive had things go screwy when one of our rip comps updated on its own. usually have things turned off when it comes to updates so it took us a bit to figure out what had happened.

 

[iPrintStuff]

Haha, tried that! Had the machine, the pc and them both off at the same time (just in case).

In the case of the pc updating, it wasn’t connected to the internet when I left it (our onyx has been a bit screwy since the start, works better when I disconnect it from the internet). So I doubt that could be the issue.

Just baffling me that everything is working as it should until I hit print. Have tried installing it as a new printer etc. Even tried it on a new pc today, exact same problem - that’s why I didn’t put it in the software bit specifically, it’s almost like the printer isn’t accepting the jobs for whatever reason.

A little extra problem, I had deleted some profiles from the media manager the other day, but in the list of media’s in the “configure printer” it was still there. So whenever I tried to sync the media’s with the printer, it crashed onyx. Every time. That was Saturday and it’s been a nightmare since. Though I did eventually fix that! (reinstalled the problem media then deleted it again).

 

[Snydo]

I've only been using Onyx since December but have not experienced that yet....you've probably already checked this, but dig deep through all your printer settings in Onyx and make sure files aren't going to a hot folder or some weird place instead of to the Colorado. Are the files showing up in the RIP job list after printing? I delete mine manually every month, so if I need to reprint anything its just drag and drop.

 

[iPrintStuff]

Yeah I had a canon guy remote in and do all that generic stuff but I’d already cleared the “work” folder, it was definitely going to the Colorado and not printing to a folder etc.

We eventually got it working today, reinstalling a generic 1640 print install file (that we had already tried a few times) but this time it works, then let’s me send files over whenever I disconnect the pc from the network. When it’s on the network, no files will end up at the Colorado. Not ideal but if it means I can print all my work before screwing around with it. Imma do that! Now canon get to blame our IT lol

 

[Colorado owner]

Yeah I had a canon guy remote in and do all that generic stuff but I’d already cleared the “work” folder, it was definitely going to the Colorado and not printing to a folder etc.

We eventually got it working today, reinstalling a generic 1640 print install file (that we had already tried a few times) but this time it works, then let’s me send files over whenever I disconnect the pc from the network. When it’s on the network, no files will end up at the Colorado. Not ideal but if it means I can print all my work before screwing around with it. Imma do that! Now canon get to blame our IT lol

We have found the file transfer to be temperamental to say the least and totally relate to your issues. Hopefully these very frustrating experiences will be weeded out with time. In our view the release of the Colorado 1640 was done too early with not enough Beta testing in a real working environments.

 

[iPrintStuff]

We have found the file transfer to be temperamental to say the least and totally relate to your issues. Hopefully these very frustrating experiences will be weeded out with time. In our view the release of the Colorado 1640 was done too early with not enough Beta testing in a real working environments.

Couldn’t agree more with this. Once I get a roll on and it starts printing, it’s a dream. It’s everything other than that, that still feels a bit sketchy.

A few things that should have absolutely been sorted prior to release, the ink levels on the machine, engineer told us not to trust them at all! (Just said when it asks for a bottle, give it one). Ink is supposed to have a 2.5l reservoir but 1l gets it from 50% to 100%???

Not being able to print on media that’s print side in, literally just needs the roll to be taken in the other way!

Another thing that annoys me is the tension bar, when we’re printing on super expensive media and need to use about 1.3m just to get it on the bar, it’s a huge waste of money.

On top of that, there’s about the same length at the end of the roll that I cant print on. Naturally with the design of the machine I can get why I can’t print on say the last 300mm-400mm (so anything printed has enough media to be cured) but in real world it’s more like 1m for us. The minute it unwinds from the roll it stops.

The cleaning, while not a massive issue, canon told us it was a monthly occurrence but the machine asks for it at least once a week. Guessing they just didn’t put the test machines through their paces.

 

[sti05808]

This is my least favorite machine in our shop and I feel your pain, we have the same issues. Printing to the colorado causes random crashes which sucks when you have another job actively printing on another machine. Even though its our fastest machine, it just sits there because most of the materials we print on have poor adhesion. This is also using canon tested materials and their profiles. It was mentioned on this forum before that the colorado is just an expensive banner machine lol... i have to agree with this because its the only material that i can reliably print on.

 

[Snydo]

Another thing that annoys me is the tension bar, when we’re printing on super expensive media and need to use about 1.3m just to get it on the bar, it’s a huge waste of money.D
On top of that, there’s about the same length at the end of the roll that I cant print on. Naturally with the design of the machine I can get why I can’t print on say the last 300mm-400mm (so anything printed has enough media to be cured) but in real world it’s more like 1m for us. The minute it unwinds from the roll it stops.

The cleaning, while not a massive issue, canon told us it was a monthly occurrence but the machine asks for it at least once a week. Guessing they just didn’t put the test machines through their paces.

-Dont use the tension bar for standard vinyls/banner, if your printing very light material you may need it but for standard vinyls it is unecessary. When starting a new roll I have it advance about 1 ft. in Onyx before printing to avoid hand prints but after that you can start printing in the first few inches after a cut off. I love the take-up on the Colorado, far superior to any solvent or latex machines I've ran.
-The weekly cleaning thing is weird, my machine is 30 days between cleanings like clockwork. We run 20 to 30 rolls a week so this may be a factor if you are running way less or way more.
No problems with file transfer either, I have a pretty solid PC(Signburst Inferno) once Onyx is done ripping it the transfer is almost instant. It runs Onyx, Flexi, and Summa Barcode Server to 2 cutters all simultaneously with very few hiccups.

 

[iPrintStuff]

-Dont use the tension bar for standard vinyls/banner, if your printing very light material you may need it but for standard vinyls it is unecessary. When starting a new roll I have it advance about 1 ft. in Onyx before printing to avoid hand prints but after that you can start printing in the first few inches after a cut off. I love the take-up on the Colorado, far superior to any solvent or latex machines I've ran.
-The weekly cleaning thing is weird, my machine is 30 days between cleanings like clockwork. We run 20 to 30 rolls a week so this may be a factor if you are running way less or way more.
No problems with file transfer either, I have a pretty solid PC(Signburst Inferno) once Onyx is done ripping it the transfer is almost instant. It runs Onyx, Flexi, and Summa Barcode Server to 2 cutters all simultaneously with very few hiccups.

Don’t get me wrong, the take up is ideal. And even the media’s that canon have the tension bar turned on, I turn it off first go to see if it’ll let me run it without. However, the media’s that I do need the tension bar for, it wastes a lot.

What’s your opinion on the Colorado 1650? Pretty disappointed here to be honest. It’s like they’ve fixed all the quirks with the 1640 (including inks) and instead of making the relevant changes to the 1640, they’ve released a new machine.

Naturally I get that they’ll eventually release new machines with this tech, but the 1650 is the EXACT SAME MACHINE but with a different ink and a couple extra options. Not worthy of being released as a new line. Especially the option of being able to print on media on the inside of the roll, all of these things should be fixed on their 800+ existing machines before they go selling new ones.

Just seems very shady..

 

[Snydo]

Being an early adopter of any new technology is risky but as far as that goes we had way better luck with the Colorado than we did with the first gen HP latex machines.

I'm forunate that everything we produce only requires me to run about 10 different medias and everything is print side out. I tried the tension bar exactly once and havent moved it since, the small tensioner on the top works great for my needs.

I'm not so sure the 1650 is the exact same machine, I suspect there are some pretty significant changes in the UV curing process to allow for a gloss or matte finish option.

 

[lucentwraps]

Yeah I had a canon guy remote in and do all that generic stuff but I’d already cleared the “work” folder, it was definitely going to the Colorado and not printing to a folder etc.

We eventually got it working today, reinstalling a generic 1640 print install file (that we had already tried a few times) but this time it works, then let’s me send files over whenever I disconnect the pc from the network. When it’s on the network, no files will end up at the Colorado. Not ideal but if it means I can print all my work before screwing around with it. Imma do that! Now canon get to blame our IT lol

How do you like the 1640? I'm considering the purchase of the new 1650 and like to get your feedback.

Thank you,

Edmund

 

[Luke Handford]

I've found with our Colorado, it has this issue when the file is saved remotely (on a server) not saved locally on the computer, I usually put the file im trying to print on the desktop of the PC im printing from & try again.
I'm guessing the connection may dip in and out of where the file is coming from and causes it to fail the transer over to the Colorado..
Failing that... Sometimes opening the file in photoshop or whatever program it has come from, then resaving it sometimes does the job if it's come from elsewhere?

 

[iPrintStuff]

How do you like the 1640? I'm considering the purchase of the new 1650 and like to get your feedback.

Thank you,

Edmund

Honestly with the 1640 it still feels a little beta-ish and clunky. Once the machine is running, you can wander off and it’s a dream. It’s when it’s not going that the problems start. There’s just a few niggly things that an almost two year old machine should not be experiencing.

My biggest grievance currently is that if you, say, print half a roll then leave for the night (or an hour) - basically any time that’s long enough for the Colorado to go into sleep mode). Then the machine will forget where it is.

You then have two choices, either treat it as a paper jam, or let it cut through the last thing you printed.

There’s also a few annoyances on the 1640 like inks too shiny and it can only print on the outside of a roll (no media’s that are print side in). But these appear to have been solved by the 1650.

With all of that said, if you want a printer that has great speeds, you don’t need to babysit, has consistent output and a pretty decent gamut. All of that with very low ink costs and pretty low maintenance, then it is great.

We have a pretty big IT network so we’ve had a few problems with onyx, summa etc (like the one above) but I doubt you’d get any like the ones we had. If you have any specific questions, feel free to ask.

 

[Colorado owner]

Don’t get me wrong, the take up is ideal. And even the media’s that canon have the tension bar turned on, I turn it off first go to see if it’ll let me run it without. However, the media’s that I do need the tension bar for, it wastes a lot.

What’s your opinion on the Colorado 1650? Pretty disappointed here to be honest. It’s like they’ve fixed all the quirks with the 1640 (including inks) and instead of making the relevant changes to the 1640, they’ve released a new machine.

Naturally I get that they’ll eventually release new machines with this tech, but the 1650 is the EXACT SAME MACHINE but with a different ink and a couple extra options. Not worthy of being released as a new line. Especially the option of being able to print on media on the inside of the roll, all of these things should be fixed on their 800+ existing machines before they go selling new ones.

Just seems very shady..

It is very shady as the machine never ever delivered what it was sold to do. It cannot print onto self adhesive vinyls without compromising the product (turning brittle) and the take up is faulty and that makes the machine not fit for purpose. We believed Canon/Oce when they said they were going to address the issues with a new ink and a fix the take up but it all turned to bull dust. Instead they focused on a new machine that they now call "the flexible solution" while the 1640 was called and "One technology.No compromise". Not sure if we should laugh or cry while we wait for the law to run its cause.

 

[iPrintStuff]

It is very shady as the machine never ever delivered what it was sold to do. It cannot print onto self adhesive vinyls without compromising the product (turning brittle) and the take up is faulty and that makes the machine not fit for purpose. We believed Canon/Oce when they said they were going to address the issues with a new ink and a fix the take up but it all turned to bull dust. Instead they focused on a new machine that they now call "the flexible solution" while the 1640 was called and "One technology.No compromise". Not sure if we should laugh or cry while we wait for the law to run its cause.

We did complain to canon/oce pretty much stating exactly what you said, their response was that if you buy a 2018 model car, you don’t complain about the stuff that comes with the 19 model. Which is complete BS. They don’t tell you the 2018 model is eventually going to have all the bells and whistles then bring out a new machine instead.

AND they tell you that they’re bringing out the 2019 model instead of telling you they’re going to fix your current model.

“One technology, no compromise” is hilariously ironic.

It all just seems very sneaky from my perspective. Probably weighted out the pro’s and cons of selling the new machines vs the cost of fixing all the current ones and decided they’d spend less on lawyers..

 

[iPrintStuff]

Also, while I’m here. I fixed the communication issues, I was at the stage where the pc wouldn’t even let me open the printers web tools.

All seemed to be fixed with a new IP and it’s working great.

Not sure why canon needed to be different and make everyone get a PC with two network cards instead of just doing it the normal way. *shrug*