Dear Peter. If the printer was sitting for an extended period of time and then you did prints/nozzle-cleanings without agitating the ink tanks (if it’s a CISS) than there is a chance that you have printed out the black pigment post-settling. This can also happens over time bit by bit with gravity feed CISS systems (two weeks, then printing, two weeks then printer, etc etc, without agitation).
Our PK-HD ink is also a newer formulation than WN1. It is slightly less opaque (WN1 has as much possible carbon pigment that anyone has ever packed into a photo black ink) but still hits dig neg requirements.
I attach the printout of the 6-channel flush image on regular paper. I will try this on coated paper as soon as it comes in.
The printer was new in January and has been in continuous use, with frequent agitation and several refills. It is conceivable that I neglected to agitate the bottles before filling the syringes; perhaps this has caused the problem. Should I order new ink and start over, perhaps with the new cartridges for the 1430. What do you recommend?
Here is the test on coated paper, as Keith suggested. Not sure what I should be looking for…
I also tried reprinting the limiter target on Pictorico with the Master quad, and am still getting very low ink density, much thinner than the first versions I printed shortly after getting the printer in January.
We’re sending you a 110mL bottle of HD-PK ink for testing. We are slowly migrating to this ink for dig negs. If this fixes the problem, I also suggest migrating to the new refillable carts.
If it doesn’t, there could be an issue with the K channel itself.
Just a little observation that may or may not be meaningful:
Looking at the purge print (which is shown upside down) the ink positions left to right are K, C, M, Y, LC, and LM which should correspond to ink shades 1, 2, 4, 6, 3, and 5. It could be a trick of lighting in your picture of the print, but it looks like your ink shades go 1, 4, 2, 6, 3, and 5.
I don’t see signs of any lack of ink here (though Walker may see something I’m missing), but is there any chance you have shades 2 and 4 switched? I know this is not likely, but just want to be sure.
One more thought - could your Master quad have gotten corrupted? It may be worth reinstalling PiezoDN and printing one more time just to rule that out.
If I have followed this correctly, the issue is that step 1 is not printing as black as it did initially. Is that correct? You probably don’t have a transmission densitometer to measure the actual densities, but a picture of an older blacker step 1 next to a more recent less black step 1 on a light table might be helpful to see how much difference there is.
One thing about this that confuses me is that my New Cyanotype curve uses no K at all except for step 1, which suggests to me that the influence of a misbehaving K on the rest of the curve should be nil.
The 3% hydrogen peroxide you can buy at the supermarket or drugstore has a shelf-life of about 1-3 years if the bottle is unopened. Once you have broken the seal, you’ve got about 30-45 days at peak effectiveness, and about 6 months of useful activity. As soon as hydrogen peroxide is exposed to air is begins to decompose into ogygen and … water.
In installing the inks, I have tried meticulously to follow the instructions in the manual, which agree with the order of inks you state. It’s always possible I made a mistake somewhere along the way.
I have reinstalled PiezoDN and QTR twice, always deleting the curves from the /Library folder and deleting and reinstalling the printer.
When I’m in the lab I will set up the old and new versions of the limiter target on a light table. On the old version, if I hold step one up to a laptop screen I cannot read text through it, but I can on the new version. On the new version, all steps are weaker than on the old one I printed in January after acquiring the printer. I also tried printing a negative of a photo with the Master quad and my attempt at a limited quad, and the negative was quite thin, nothing like negatives I’ve printed by other methods.
It does seem odd that the calibration test shows the ink is flowing, but I am currently getting very anemic negatives. I will try the new ink when it arrives, but I’m still wondering if there is a hidden problem with corrupted curves.
I did it once with 220ml cartridges in a 7600 - expensive mistake. In your case, at least the carts are small. You can drain them being careful to not get any ink on the chip. Use the syringe with needle to get as much out as possible, then put a little distilled water in to rinse and drain that the same way. Then refill with the correct ink.
But, I don’t think this accounts for the anemic negatives. Reinstall everything from scratch as Walker described, the printer and the PiezoDN software, then print a target with the IJM Master curve, not yours with the adjusted limit. If that is ok, then print one with your Limited Master. Step one should be the same very solid black, but the rest of it the should be a good bit lower density, because that’s what changing the limit to 160 does.
And one more thing - looking at your limit adjustment curve, I see the second point is way too low. In effect you have set the limit at whatever the output number of that point is - it looks like about 130. I would try something more like this: [attachment file=29757]
It may be a combination of all these things that is causing the anemic negatives, especially if step 1 really is lighter than it ought to be.
Thanks, Keith, I will try all of the above. Very helpful hint on the limit adjustment curve, I tried several variants but was unsure how to imitate what’s shown in the manual when the limit number is as low as 160.
