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Bit off more than I can Chew – (Used printer purchase)
Sorry if my story is a bit long winded but I figured I’d give the whole deal instead of "cliff notes".
I’d been working with a guy for a while now (9 months) re-selling his printing services. Initially it started as just one or two banners a week, but progressed to about 500+ sq/ft per week and me handling the machine, trimming, etc.
It seemed he was getting really lazy and not doing anything other than collecting his cash and that was about it. So I got the bright idea to purchase my own printer and start my own thing.
I picked up a used JV3-160SP for around $10k. The machine was 2 years old but when I checked it out it had no clogged nozzles and printed fine. So I took it home and plugged it in.
Over the last 9 months we’d switched from using Flexi, because the colors never came out right, to some program called MainTOP Pro (Chinese software) which seemed to printer perfect almost every time with the exception of browns (something I can live with).
My question is this – where can I find some tutorials on how to configure the printer to either print right with Flexi or should I get another piece of software that may work better?
Just for reference the system came witha Hilord Bulk ink system.
Thanks in advance guys… I’m in a huge bind here 🙁
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24 Replies
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ah.. i see
firstly, the printer is a fantastic proven bit of kit, i had ours for 3 years and still going very well. We drive ours with Shiraz RIP which is a very good rip which is tuned for photo reproduction quite well, you may come across other rips like Onyx and Wasatch which are also proven rips.
The RIP uses a profile which is normally measured to drive the RIP to the material you are using, some suppliers can provide this or in our case Shiraz people have measured a lot of materials and that gives consistent results.
They are measure with items like XRite Spectrophotometers etc, although I am clueless with that RIP you have said.The other thing, Hilord Bulk Ink is not something I have come across, the colours from using bulk inks will vary between ink manufacturer so the Shiraz RIP will be profiled to ORiginal SS2 ink and this is one of the reasons we don’t want to go down the route of changing ink.
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Exactly like Dave has mentioned. Especially since you are using a bulk ink system and not an OEM setup you will most likely need your machine profiled for all of the materials you print on to get accurate reproductions of those files. There are tutorials out there, buttt they are useless unless you have the profiling equipment (very pricey if you only print on a few different medias) your best bet would be to call X-Rite or Gretag-Macbeth and ask them to locate you a certified profiler in your area. This person will come in for a reasonable fee (usually) and calibrate your machine using all the medias you print on.
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This makes me almost consider switching back to OEM for the time being. Might cost me a bit more, but seems that I may spend more in time and profiling.
Would that be suggest?
Also, would it be safe to say if I put in the OEM ink that Flexi could print pretty consistently without having to play with the colours?
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I use Flexi & in my opinion you will still have to have Flex profiled by an expert as we did. If you ask your material supplier they may send someone to do it for you, as ours did. since then Flexi prints spot on every time.
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Thanks for the info John. Do you print with OEM or a bulk system?
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our machine is not used enough so we stick to the carts.
if you buy your materials mainly from one supplier then they are the one to ask about profiling, if they help you out then i would advise you to stick with them as it would normally cost a lot of money to pay someone to come & do it for you.
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Ahh I see.
Could I just buy OEM carts and plug it in an go with Flexi? OR do I still need to have the machine profiled?
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I won’t go into details on here, but in my opinion changing inks can & will spell disaster for you, i have recently fell into that trap & i ended up without a machine for 3 months & a hefty bill to re pipe the machine along with all the other parts.
so if yours is running ok with that make of inks then leave well alone, just concentrate on the profile for Flexi. Once that is done you will be amazed at the difference. (hopefully) -
one thing i forgot to mention…….have you looked at your material suppliers web site for profiles ?
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Well I don’t really have a primary supplier for media yet, just here and there. However when I called the ink manufacture, they said they only support Onyx and the Flexi is "weird". I have trial edition en-route as we speak to give that a whirl.
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Best of luck with it, hope all goes well.
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Turns out a friend of a friend has profiled the machine and is going to do it for $350 and a cheap rate on future prints… any chance he can screw up the machine? (It can’t really print worse than it is now).
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quote Scot J:any chance he can screw up the machine? (It can’t really print worse than it is now).
All he will do is alter the software whilst test printing, so should be a lot better when he has finished, assuming heads etc are all working ok.
Good luck. -
Much appreciated, and thanks for all of the advice! This is an awesome forum and even though I’m on the other side of the pond (Canada) I’ll be spending alot of time here!
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that’s why this is the best & friendliest site, everyone here will try & help…except that Peter N, he is usually asleep 😀
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quote John Simpson:that’s why this is the best & friendliest site, everyone here will try & help…except that Peter N, he is usually asleep 😀Cheeky sod, I work so hard all year, I’m entitled to a little snooze now and again 😉
Peter
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always in the same place ?
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quote John Simpson:always in the same place ?
no mate, last year it was in a different hotel!
Trouble is I worked 23 days and nights without sleep, to allow me to come and see me mates, I was blissfully happy and content when I did, so much so, I just nodded of briefly 😀 sorry….
Peter
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you had exhausted yourself earlier in the night Peter didn’t you 😉
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you mean you were bored, now be honest
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Peter, how on earth did you manage to work 23 days and nights without sleep? No wonder you were so tired, I wouldn’t have thought it possible to work that long but obviously it is.
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quote martin:Peter, how on earth did you manage to work 23 days and nights without sleep? No wonder you were so tired, I wouldn’t have thought it possible to work that long but obviously it is.
you know how some people exaggerate Martin 😀
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John, yes I have met a few people who like to exaggerate but Peter doesn’t strike me as the type that would do something like that, have read a lot of his posts and he always sounds very genuine.
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just had a tot up, sorry I was exagerating, it was only 22 days, I rounded up the hours for easy calculation….
no John, wasnt bored, honest,
Sorry Scot, for the hijack, Big John started it!
Peter
😉
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