QTR-Quadtone RIP

"As an aside. I am not using all Epson inks, nor am I using all shades of grey(i.e. Jon Cone's peizo inks or MIS inks) but rather a hybrid of Jon Cone's ConeColor and his Selenium shades for the LK & LLK, along with the Epson PK."

If that is a stock Cone ink setup he should have basic curves available.  If its not a stock setup you are on your own.  I am just at the basic level so I'm using factory inks that QTR has stock curves for.  I can just print with them or try to improve them.  


Thanks for the mention of the Datacolor group I was unaware of it.


"  ...and it is time to print out the QTR 21step.tif  you will find that the steps are  too small to use with the Spyder3print device. I brought the QTR 21 step wedge(found in the program file) into PS and it measures 2x7.675. That sould be plenty big to measure.  "

Its not the overall size but the size of the steps.  The measuring portion of the device is rather large relative to the steps.   The larger Paul Roark step wedge works well.
 

" But does it get printed out in PS or through QTR." 

Print out in QTR using your curve.

 
 " Make a print of this in QTR using your curve....
 What curve?"
 
There are stock curves provided by QTR.  I use the ones for my stock inks and EEM paper.  With your combination of inks I don't know where to start.  Sounds like an advanced situation.  If Cone doesn't have curves for your inkset, starting with a basic inkset that has stock QTR curves would make things much easier for you to learn on.

  
" With the Spyder3print software installed go to:
 You can open the txt file with Excel and graph (Insert>chart>line) the results to see if the curve is smooth.
 
 Ok. I have Excel, but have never used it and don't know how(or I'm not doing it correctly). I have Excel 2007. What is the data suppose to look like?"

More experienced users than I will have to comment on that.  I only know that the L data should be a straight line.