Trying to match XR-640 with a HP FB700

[tedbragg]

I've split work loads between these two printers, and want to match one to the other so the colors are consistent. I know how to match a monitor to a printer, but not match two printers to each other. Is this even possible? How would I do this?

 

[balstestrat]

You profile both of them.

 

[cornholio]

That's not that easy. Of course you need to profile both. But you also need to limit the density and chromacity of the "stronger" one to the abilities of the "weaker" one.

 

[ColorCrest]

But you also need to limit the density and chromacity of the "stronger" one to the abilities of the "weaker" one.

Care to explain the particular process for those interested?

 

[cornholio]

Care to explain the particular process for those interested?

Sorry, but a in depht explanation would take too long here. (It's been written by others...)
You also need a decent spectrometer and software. If you are willing to invest in that, you probably invested some time to learn the basics of profiling.
There are books and online guides.

 

[The Sign Depot LLC]

To be honest, you probably don't want to make them match because of the compromises necessary to make it happen.

We've attempted to do the same thing with our FB500 and Roland XC-540. We found that our Roland has a beautiful gamut, especially on good quality calendered and cast vinyl. The FB on the other hand is pretty abysmal, especially on reds. You have a couple of options... Option A: Boost your FB gamut as much as possible by using 1200x600 Max DPI. Option B: Cripple your Roland gamut using the Simulation Profile option in a RIP like ONYX.

That being said, your first step either way is to profile the printers properly. A good profile tells the RIP how the printer prints. Once the RIP understands the printer, it becomes a matter of configuring the RIP for the desired results. ONYX has videos on how to use the Simulation Profile option to accomplish this.

But for us, we weren't willing to run everything at Max DPI. We also weren't willing to give up the color range of the Roland. We dealt with it for years. It's no longer an issue because we bought an R1000 which has a much better gamut. Our FB just runs banners now.

 

[greysquirrel]

If you go the profiling route...force the FB to run in cmyk mode only, and when you create your profiles make 4/c profiles for both...you will dumb down the colors of the Roland but honestly its not going to be a fun task if you have never profiled before. Find a tech that can do this for you...best money you will spend. You will need to drive both printers from the same rip. So if you are using versa works for that Roland, you will need to move it to Onyx.