Epson 7600 and Large Format Printing…..HELP!

[Simon.James]

what media are you printing on? this machine should be great with printing reds, are you using the ultrachrome inks or an after market ink.

one problem might be that you are sending down CMYK Files although the printer prints in Cyan Magenta Yellow & Black, it is actually a RGB device unless of course you are using a Rip Software.

using the driver that comes with the machine it will not handle CMYK Files, eps LZW Compressed and some fonts.

It doesnt sound like a Machine issue it sounds like a profile problem ie. cheap ink or a cheap media.

you should get better results on this than a 20 grand Solvent printer.

I hope this info helps any questions please post back.

I am a big Inkjet Fan, and know that Epson Ultrachrome is probaly the best ink on the market, (I Have had many a argument on it on UK Sign Boards)

this sound like a M.O.E. error (Mouse Operator Error)

very intrigued about this problem, please let me know what media and ink you are using.

Simon

[Garry Thorburn]

Hi Simon
I am just trying out on various inkjet papers and canvas.
Some are form Lyson, others are unbranded.
My ink is compatibles, and wondered if this was the problem.
My images print great on my A4 and A3 inkjets, but when I try them on the 7600 the reds are just not quite right!
A raspberry type of red seems better, but when I go to a bright red (I guess more to the orange side) it isn’t as strong as it should be, then when I go darker red again, it just comes out brown.
I have been put off the Epson Original Inks due to the costs, but may need to bite the bullet then to get it working how it should.
Will just need to stop doing prints for next to nothing I guess!
Do you have any advice on where to get Epson inks or are they pretty much standard.
Lyson boast their ink is as good as Epson…..have you ever tried them?
Cheers
Garry

[David Rowland]

Hi, which RIP is it?

[Garry Thorburn]

I’m not using a RIP, just using the printers own profiles and some Atkins profiles.
I am new to this and not really doing much in the way of commercial work. So haven’t invested maybe what I should.

[David Rowland]

ah.. well my experience of driving printers without a RIP is just random colours… think there is some cheapo rips about… not sure if the Epson RIP is available for a few quid.. i dont know

[Garry Thorburn]

Would not having a RIP have that effect?
I can print photos pretty much no problem, but as soon I try some illustrations with deep reds, they come out brown.

[Chris Wool]

my 9500 is on lyson pigmented inks no real noticeable change apart from the greys are a little green. lyson have promised me profiles several times but non appeared so will be going else where in future.

i cant recall the co name but they are doing these carts pigmented ink at £25 ea and will be giving them ago as i have bought other stuff of them, which was fine.

i use the standard driver but would like a rip. if printing photo ok but vectors are a bit have a look at the driver tab misc- icc pofile and the corel colour control output.

as the reds you are describing are the best part of 250% ink your media must be able to handel that amount.
find a cmyk colour chart to print out to give you more clues

chris

[Simon.James]

Hi Gary

very interesting, ask Peter Normington or any other big users of this site and they will tell you that I am an Inkjet Boar, I might even have a fetish for Inkjet Machines.

your 7600 is designed to take pressurised cartridges which are filled by epson, anyone else filling cartridges or fitting bulk inks to a 7600 is going to give you big problems, whatever thy claim! maybe even the ones you are experiencing now!

very interesting the problem you are having with the lyson inks. has they have been banging on my door stating how good there inks are. as do all the other companies but nobody will really support you when things go wrong, like the problem you have at the moment, I am pretty sure that your problem is down to the ink and the media. I would personally flush out the inks and go back to epson K3, you can load remote client manager off the epson disc and monitor your print costs even using branded inks in my experience a full out colour A1 off your 7600 should average out at about £2.50 in ink and about a £1 for the media. if you are selling A1 outputs for less than a tenner your nuts anyway so even using branded ink you should still see a 250 percent return.

Long term, you have a got a really good machine there for both indoor work and until you can afford a solvent it will serve you well for signage (i have got laminated signs on mactac jt1028 off an epson 7800 in a car park in wales out in all sorts of pollution and weather and there is 0% fade after 3 years used the k3 ink)

I suggest you download a demo version of Shiraz rip software from applied image, flush your inks out go back to K3 ink, i Wouldnt worry about the media to much, as long as you got a decent glossy or a decent matt that doent suck up the ink, you shouldnt have any problem. (full working version of shiraz is about £800 but it was the best investment i have ever made)

I havent got an epson at the moment, I am looking around ebay to buy a cheap 9600 or maybe a 10600 as I am skint only ever do bigger than A1 every now and again, but when i do buy after your problem i will certainly not be buying a 3rd party ink. I use to buy a full set of 8 k3 inks from Design supplies in london and use to get a very good deal. give them a call, but you will also need to flush out or use all the lyson stuff first.

as far as i know epson dont make there own inks it is actually made by seiko who spent billions on research and development, if lyson was any good epson would be buying it.

At the end of the day, dont know what car you got but would you run it on RED Lead?

cheers

Simon

[Simon.James]

hi Gary

when you send your illustrations down, what file format are they and what machine are you using ?

this could be your problem. until you get a rip the files need to be Rgb not cmyk and not out of a package the native driver will struggle with Quark express, illustrator, corel draw etc.

you may want to convert everything to PDF

colour set 300dpi
mono set tp 300dpi
all text to 1800 dpi

and most importantly convert all to RGB.

this may solve you problem

please let me know what files you are trying to send, out of which package and are you using a Mac or a P.C.

Cheers

Simon

[Garry Thorburn]

Thanks Simon…..
I am using Photoshop, Illustrator, Corel Draw and Xara X.
Sent straight to the printer without any RIP.
I really don’t use the machine enough to invest £800 for a RIP on top of about £400 for original inks, works out more than what I paid for the printer.
I might get to that stage I suppose, but I run my business from a home office, I bought it to help on a large ongoing project I am working on.
So I don’t get passing trade, and only a handfull of people know I can actually print A1+.
I will try converting to PDF and have a go.
It’s strange why it’s really only the red I have a problem, and deep reds at that.

[Simon.James]

the type of files you are sending are definitely your problem

I don’t use corel draw but if you try to send the cdr file it is basically a eps. file you cant send this through the epson driver

create your file and try saving as (look at all the file formats they may be a pdf convertor in corel, I dont know!).

when sending out of photoshop go to image / mode and change from cmyk to rgb and save as photoshop PDF if possible or otherwise tiff of jpeg! this will definitely sort out your reds

sorry never heared of XARA X its sounds like some sort of Snuff movie, if so please can you send us a copy.

Simon

[Garry Thorburn]

Will give it a go Simon…..though some images have been photos, straight from a digi cam, and still had a prob with the red being, orangy/brown looking.
Xara X is a vector programme too, like Corel Draw and Illustrator.
But probably simpler to use but with just as good a finish.
Known for getting an excellent result very quickly.
Not a dodgy movie…haha
Just going to try a couple tests as PDF and see how I go.
I do normally work in RGB too, so not sure if thats is the problem or not.
Will have a go now and get back to you.
Thanks for your advice and help mate!

[Garry Thorburn]

Just tried the same picture, printed as an RGB Photoshop Image, RGB saved as PDF, and printed at various settings, within the printer properties……..but the red is still the same.
I am hoping it is as simple as cheep inks.
Though, wonder why only really the red I am having trouble with.
Anyone out there got an Epson 7600 so I can send them an image to try printing, so I can see how mine compares?

[Steve McAdie]

Hi Garry,
Lyson inks are I’m told very good, Haven’t tried them myself but was told this by an Epson employee. I would say your problem is more than likely caused by either cheap ink / paper which hasn’t got the gamut range or the wrong profile being used. What I would do I think is choose a paper and ink which you are happy with i.e cost & quality. Then have a profile made specifically for that print out. You can get profiles made for as little as £15 online.
http://www.stonequay.co.uk/?gclid=CNHOu … QwodrnWc-g

Simon Epson use Inks developed by Seiko because Epson is a Seiko company,always has been.

Steve

[Garry Thorburn]

Thanks Steve, I think I might have it now……tried again with a new PDF file and was much better.
Think you’re right about the inks, but at least now am getting more to the red side than brown.
Will now try some more prints and see how my "reds" go again, using some better paper, high
Fingers crossed……thanks for everyones help on this by the way…..very much appreciated!

[Garry Thorburn]

God I hate printers………..lol
Okay, tried another picture and deep red is brown again.
Just can’t seem to get a decent spectrum of reds at all.
One pic came out okay, but had to use a more basic setting within the print program, which means the red is "okay, just" but the overall print quality could be a little better.
When I switch to a photo quality setting, the red turns to brown.
I’ve found someone local who has just bought the same printer with original Epson Inks, think I will see if he can do me a couple of prints with my artwork and my paper too, see how they compare.
Then his paper with my image and compare that.
I have A4 and A3 printers which print all my images great, no problem at all. And they all run on compatible ink and paper/card.

[Bill McMurtry]

The chances of getting correct colours without a decent profile are about as slim as winning the lotto. As Steve has already suggested, for a small fee you can get a colour profile done for your specific setup – you’ll always struggle without it.

Jody at http://www.models-portfolios.co.uk/ offers a profiling service. She will email you 4 colour charts to print out. You then post her the printed charts, she makes you a profile and sends the icc file to you as an email attachment. You then plug the supplied file into your ouput colour management. Only costs about £10 and you’ll kick yourself that you hadn’t done it sooner 😀

[David Rowland]

oh yeah. shiraz is decent, one of the best outputs I have seen.

I suggest you download the RIP and give it a go.. i have a feeling it prints ‘demo’ over the print.. you learn lots in the process as well.

You can see some videos here
http://www.applied-image.com/see-it-in-action.aspx

Anyway, considering you have already invested so much money into software like Adobe and Corel, the RIP side is something you cannot do without if you are taking the printing seriously. The videos will give you an indication of what a RIP can do and why you should use one.

[Simon.James]

Hi Dave

it doesn’t print demo it prints bloody great acorns all over you print, which I found out the other day when my dongle came out.

Simon (Cardiff)

[Garry Thorburn]

Cheers guys……will keep at it and give it a try.

[David Rowland]

Actually Bills profiling route is quite a sensible approach..