Digital BW, The Print

Ed,

Be sure the right inks are in the system.  Print the purge pattern and be
sure the Cyan is the darkest gray (but lighter than black), Magenta the cold
toner, and hextone yellow the light gray.

Also, print 21-step test files with individual inks to check that the light
ink really is light.  To do this print 3 of the test files, each with only
one color activated.  You can do this with the Photoshop image adjustment
curves.  For one file leave the red curve in its default 45 degree position,
but pull the green and blue up so that they are horizontal at the top/light
end of the curve. This turns off those inks. (Be sure the driver is set to
"No Color Adjustment.")  Do a similar curve for each of the colors.  This
will print each color separately.  If one of the light inks is way off, the
resulting print will probably show it.  They should, obviously, be smooth
ramps.

As far as the clogging with Eboni goes, I'm afraid I don't have many ideas.
It appears to be sensitive to pollution, but I've never had a problem with
it once the dyes were removed from my parking pads.  One thing you might do
is mix the bottle thoroughly and then pour some Eboni into a test tube or
the like.  Let it sit for several days and see if it is separating.  If it
is, maybe the ink is defective.  If the ink is separating in you system, it
might cause the problems you describe.

I think the PiezoTones have had trouble with some sponges in carts.  Perhaps
there is a batch of carts out there that is causing problems with Eboni, but
I'm speculating.

Sorry to hear you're having so much trouble.  The system can work very well.

Paul
http://www.PaulRoark.com
_________________________________________

-----Original Message-----
From: Ed Mathews [mailto:ed@...]
Sent: Friday, October 17, 2003 4:59 AM
To: DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Digital BW] UT B&W update


     Last night, in my "I'm stupid" post, I wrote of my nozzle clogs and
poor results from the new MIS UT B&W cartridges.  Here's an update.
     I made 6 prints last night, on a variety of papers, and all showed
poor results with the new Roark UT curves and they all looked completely
solarized.  The last two had severe banding due to an obvious clog.  I
also tried loading the old VM curve on the last sheet, the results were
again really bad but the banding from clog was also so bad it was
difficult to evaluate.
     So I let the printer sit overnight.  This morning I came downstairs
and looked at the MIS packing slip, and found that it reads that they
sent me the Eboni black, which is not what I ordered - I ordered photo
black for use with glossy papers.  OK, no problem - maybe I'll just be
OK printing on matte paper.  So I opened up an image, loaded my old
favorite curve, the VM medium warm curve, and did a nozzle check.  Black
is about 80% clogged.  It took 5 cleanings to get it clear, but it
eventually did print a good nozzle check.  I made the 5"x7" print, and
although it's much warmer than the VM inks, it's decent with no
solarizing.
      I ran another nozzle check right after that, and black is now
clogged again.  About 10% this time.  This time it took only one
cleaning cycle to clear it.  So this time I loaded the old VM neutral
curve and printed another 5x7.  This time the tones are more to my
liking, and the print is decent again, but the shadows are all blocked
up and the print has way too much contrast.  Maybe I can work that out
with some adjustments.  I shut off the printer.
     Obviously, there are some issues here:
1.  MIS sent the wrong black (not a big problem).
2.  The eboni is clogging badly.  I've made about 8 5x7's and the
cleaning cycles have forced me to use more than 1/4 of the cartridges so
far.  Even the prints that are decent have some mild bleeding near the
edges.
3.  Paul's new UT curves for the 1280 don't work for my 1280.  Here we
go again with variations in the same specific model printers.

     I plan on calling MIS today and seeing if they will replace these
cartridges with standard VM cartridges and offer something to clean the
printer before I insert them.  I'm not interested in working out the
bugs because I need to make prints now.  I guess I'm going back to
coating the VM prints.

Thanks,
Ed
http://lightandsilver.com



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