Category Archive

Printing from the first tower allows ink twice as long to dry helping reduce roller build up and print defects in finishing.

If you are using inkjet coated or primed offset coated paper, different papers will have different porosity levels on each side of the sheet.

Before signing your inkjet deal, get the specs for power, ceiling height, load-bearing, square footage, humidity and more. You may find that changes need to be made to your environment that add cost and delay installation. Measure (at least) twice before you buy.

Inkjet Tip of the Week: Understand Total Cost of Paper to compare TCO TCP=Cost per carton weight (delivered) + cost of priming or spot treatment + excess ink usage+ excess drying energy. Papers not formulated for inkjet often use more ink and require additional drying energy. Measure TCP to fully understand TCO – every machine/ink/paper combination is different.

Stop the (Ink) Bleeding. Check primed or inkjet coated print for color-to-color bleed/coalescence. Run test images w/ varying solid, single process & combined colors which touch or overlap. Create color areas > 4”x4” to see how ink volume of one image will spread or react to the primed/coated stock when touching another. If only printing pretty bitmap images, bleed effects can be hidden leaving print clarity surprises with solids and touching colors with hard edges.

Monitor Cross-Process Variance. Run a weekly test print showing solid color bars across the web. Include 100, 75 and 30% individual process color bars of at least 3” depth across the entire web width. Testing will show how well your paper path is controlled and identify any jet or head variation causing solid area defects.

Many finishing lines are “old fashioned” relative to inkjet devices. Get creative and optimize your physical workflow for speed, flexibility and dependability.

Create multiple profiles for the same paper to manage ink use for your client’s range of acceptable color levels. Make the profile name part of your job definition.

Don’t make designers guess about color matching or papers that work well with your press. Create tools to give designers and print buyers an objective understanding of your press quality on different media. 

Dust and Downtime Uncoated papers with uneven surface formation can generate dust. Dust can buildup on paper transports and print heads causing jet-outs, reduced print quality, increased maintenance costs and downtime. If dust concentration is very high, it can have health consequences for workers – more downtime!

More inkjet presses can now print on offset gloss – but test carefully. The ink may adhere just fine, but gloss stocks can slip more easily (especially roll-fed) so check registration of fine images and rich blacks.

Most aqueous inkjet devices will have plugging and registration issues with rich black text at 9pt or smaller. If you need fine print, test the density of plain K ink and minimize the use of CM&Y. Some OEMs offer high density black.

If you see banding in continuous solid colors, ask the designer  if “mixing up” that continuous solid is possible. Adding random patterns to large solid colors makes cross process print head density shifts less visible when multiple heads across the web are used to produce the solids.

The wrong drying configuration on an #inkjet press can torture the paper without properly drying the ink. Learn about the best drying options to match your type of work, ink type and coverage.

Don’t blindly accept the DFE bundled with the press. Ask about color management, variable data and file handling features of the DFE. Consider all of your DFE options and find the best fit for your workflow.

Compare Costs of Complete Solutions. Don’t conduct TCO or eliminate press options until you have configured a complete solution. An “expensive” press may look reasonable once you configure the “bargain” press with drying, priming, turn-bar, premium ink, software and finishing. Compare fair!

A different profile is needed for each paper AND the press settings it will be run under. Speed, TAC and resolution factors can all affect color chroma, density, graininess, small text clarity and line raggedness. Differences at top speed can be dramatic on some presses.

Not all presses will produce their top quality at top speed. Understand the impact of sheet size or web width, media type, ink coverage and actual production speed (not rated speed) on your achievable Images Per Minute (IPM). There are many other issues that impact overall productivity – but it starts at the press for each job.

If your business case assumes that the OEM is responsible for all costs of transfer, installation and testing – make sure that’s in the contract. Account for cost to move other equipment, if applicable and factor in labor and cost of down-time on other devices during transition. Consider a clause to cover costs of delays. Hope for the best and cover yourself for the worst.

Simple rule of thumb is that dots-per-inch matters for text while“apparent” resolution is important for continuous tone images – but will not give the same relative improvement to text. Both are important when evaluating inkjet presses and neither can be evaluated without viewing print samples.