Still having issues with red

[PolarBear]

Hi,
I posted a while back about issues with red on my Valujet printer. I have been out of the office alot with a new baby, so I haven't been able to dedicate much time to resolving the issue. As I have cleaned, checked profiles, etc, I am realizing that I simply can't get anything remotely close to a candy apple red, or other bright red.
I am aiming for something similar to #28 cardinal red in my Oracal swatch book. When I use that profile from Flexi-sign and do a print with no color correction, I am getting this mucky maroon color.
It appears most of the reds have a strong orange tint to them or that mucky maroon shade.
I have cleaned and cleaned this darn thing thinking there is another color mixing in. I just did a sample print of a pure magenta, pure yellow and pure cyan and it seems to have no issue. The pure black however has bands in it. The nozzle check shows a clean print pattern.

I am at my wits end. So, my first question is whether or not that bright red is possible on this machine. I can't believe it's not, but I don't want to waste time pursuing it if not.
Second, besides what I have mentioned above, what should I be checking?
Thanks in advance.
Lori

 

[SightLine]

Quite possibly just not possible using pre-made profiles. We make our own profiles in Flexi's Production Manager using an Eye-One and the results are dramatically better but some colors just simply not possible.

 

[Mikeifg]

for some reason i remeber messing with my diffusion setting and got the color your wanting but it was with my old falcon. havnt messed with the new one but reds are tricky

 

[FatCat]

You are not going to hit "cardinal red" from the Oracal swatchbook perfectly. I've got my Mutoh 1204 printer dialed in and can come very close - but will never be as deep and dense.

*Here is a sign I finished this morning as well as some decals;
http://signs101.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=162&pictureid=2727

The vinyl is Oracal 751 Cardinal red and the Area 51 decals are printed on Oracal 3651. The colors are close, very close - but not a perfect match.

Couple things to ask you;

Is your printer 100% functional and operating perfectly?
(Nozzle check is clean, no issues with inks migrating, etc.)

What RIP are you using?

What settings/profile?

 

[bob]

Yet Another situation crying for a color chart.

Print a Pantone color chart, you can create one right from Flexi, on whatever media you're using with whatever profile you're using. Use the 'No Color Correction' rendering intent.

Take both your fine new color chart and a sample of what you're trying to match out in the sun and see which color on the chart comes closest. If it's a choice between two, take the darker.

 

[d fleming]

Just a suggestion, try replacing cmyk red with rgb at 255-0-0

 

[ChicagoGraphics]

You can try this one to, C-0%, M-100%, Y-75%, K-4%

 

[PolarBear]

Thank you for the replies.
I started the whole process by printing a color chart and have nothing even remotely close that prints out, so picking a close color isn't working for me. That's what led me to think it was an issue with the printer in the beginning.

I am going to do a print tonight and try the 2 color options you mentioned. The original issue appeared when printing a C-0%, M-100%, Y-95%, K-0% and then I started doing swatches in increments of decreasing yellow. They lost their orange tint, but never brightened close to where I need to be. I don't think I tried adding to the K.

Can you give me more information about the diffusion and what you tried that worked?

To answer the post from FatCat, I am using FlexiSign, with the oracal 3651G_CMYK(variable) output profile.
I have also used no color correction on Oracal 3651G with CMYK (variable dot) I have cleaned and done a head soak. The nozzle check prints clean, but I don't know how else I could check for ink migration. Do you have suggestions based on that?

SightLine - can you give me any more advice on what you mentioned on creating your own profile?

I really appreciate the advice. I am relatively new to the digital print area and learning constantly from this forum.

Lori

 

[PolarBear]

next attempt

Ok, I tried a few of the suggestions mentioned.
The RGB red instead of CMYK red was better, but still a bit off of "bright" red.
The c=0m=100-y=75 k=4 was the closest to the red I am looking for. It is close enough for me to use for my current project.
Everything is still a bit "mucky", so I tried another cleaning and noticed something new. It used to be that when I put cleaning solution on the spitting pad where the head returns to between passes it would be sucked in and through. When I put solution in it this time, it just sat there and blended the inks. I haven't seen that before and I am not sure what to do with that.

Thank you! I really appreciate the help.
Lori

 

[mtroup]

I was having a problem with my Mutoh Falcon II Outdoor printing very light on some double sided banner material, the only way I managed to get an actual red to print to set the print count to "2 times" and it lays down more ink, but not enough to pool, etc .. the only thing is that is slows down the printing speed as its increasing the passes.