Stuck! Need help solving noob problem with P2 inks on P800

Thanks for investigating this. Unfortunately this still leaves me in the position that I purchased a complete set up to print negatives for a PtPd exhibition next April and I have no way to get them; I’m unsure if I purchase any additional printer that I will get the proper result, and I don’t have the resources to buy multiple printers or ink sets. If Walker has any recommendations, I need to hear where to go from here.

-Jesse-

Working on an update to piezoDN to fix the bug tonight. In short (follow instructs from Keith). Sorry for late reply,

best all,
Walker

Thank you. I look forward to trying the new quads.

Any update on the new quads?

-Jesse-

@PiezographySupport Any update on the new quads? At the moment it appears that this is my only hope, as Keith said he has no other ideas.

-Jesse-

still have not gotten too it. hopefully by tonight. The 3880 curves will work fyi.

-W

@PiezographySupport No they don’t. This is the point that @jkschreiber was making, both the 3880 curves with the carbon and the P800 curves with the carbon shows this same problem, and he was able to recreate the issue on the 3880… he said he was flummoxed and had no suggestions of what to do next. Again, I find myself dispirited with this system.

Is there any solution?!

yes they do. I just verified it. Here they are (from most recent install).

3880-PiezoDN-P2.zip (119.5 KB)

Place them in your P800 folder and run install command.

29%20PM

best,
Walker

1 Like

Ok, I will try tonight.

I still get the same issue:

-Jesse-

after placing the new curves into the curve folder did you run the install command? Did you get any errors in the log that opens after running the command?

-Walker

No errors. I placed the old curves in a folder marked curves_old, deleted the quads in the printer folder, copied the new curves to the piezography>P800 folder and then did the install. I verified the names as I printed.

-Jesse-

I will gladly run through my process over FaceTime if you have the time today or tomorrow.

So the fact the you were running non-p2 curves originally with MK ink and still getting a reversal seems to me that there is something just wrong with this printer . . . the MK ink would normally be more dense than PK . . . . unless you had your printer set to flush on the K and your curve is still somehow only printing K channel . … make sure printer is switched to MK. Change name of the master curve to something like “master2” and run install command. Verify that you can print with Master 2 (and that it is indeed using Yellow as the black channel) and run a test . . . Only other thing I can think of is that the shade 2 (cyan) is very weak on this printer’s head . .

-Walker

But I can print positive prints using the curves-HD folder just fine, it’s only when printing with DN that I run into this issue.

Also, @jkschreiber was getting the same issue, so I don’t understand how the printer can be the issue when his printer gave the same problem and positive prints run well.

Hi Jesse and Walker,

I’m away from home this week so without access to my main computer, but just wanted to check in after the latest reports.

The path of this discussion looks very familiar to me, as Walker probably remembers. I misinterpreted the first couple of images Jesse posted to be a different problem that I have also encountered. Once we worked through and eliminated that possibility, I now see this to be pretty much identical to the issue I had with one of my 3880s when I first loaded it with K7-Carbon and later modified to P2-K6-Carbon. Unfortunately, there was no solution to the problem other than another printer.

Until now, I was the first and only person to have this problem. Jesse, to my knowledge, is the second. My printer is a 3880, his is a P800; not siblings, but close cousins. Walker may know of others who have had this problem, but if so he hasn’t shared that with me. I haven’t seen it here or on any of the other forums I follow.

My printer also works perfectly when printing on paper, in both K7 and P2 configurations. After much head scratching and hair pulling, at Walker’s suggestion, I checked and adjusted CR and PF print head slant adjustments, which were off a bit, but it made no difference. Shortly after that, I obtained another used 3880 which I am currently using with great success using the still experimental K8 dye inkset. I know several other users of 3880 and P800 printers using K7 and P2 ink sets of all flavors successfully of PiezoDN negatives, so I think it is safe to say the problem that Jesse and I have had is not inherent to the printer models, but rather to our particular printers.

I know this is not what you want to hear, Jesse, but the best option is probably to get another printer for negatives and reserve the current one for prints only.

Keith

@jkschreiber Well this completely sucks. Ok, so do you recommend that I get a used 3880, or should I think about investing in a different new model of printer, such as a 6000?

Thank you,

-Jesse-

the other thing to think about here is to change out Shade 2 and Shade 3 for selenium. This would give you a nice warm-neutral in the shadows going into carbon in the highlights and is a PiezoDN certified neg system. It may be the carbon interaction in the printer for negs as Keith is the other one who had this problem (with carbon in a similar printer). Carbon is not a certified PiezoDN ink set per-se although lots of people are using it for that . . .

-Walker

Would it be worth switching out all the inks for selenium? Or just the inks you described? Would you be able to send these inks for testing?