inkjet tip of the week

Shift Happens- Machine Speeds Affect Print Quality

By Inkjet Insight / Published:

The faster you run, the less time the ink has to spread (wet out). When setting top end chroma for your primary colors through ink management during linearization, you are also determining the amount of ink for proper spread. With a reduced ink volume color profile applied to a higher speed press run, the ink can arrive at the dryers too quickly limiting wet out and creating lighter and darker stripes in cross process direction. These strips are caused from uneven drop spread and are different from print head banding.

Rowing affect caused by improper ink wet out.

Remember ink volume, wet out (ink and media compatibility) and press speed is a balance.  Different machine speeds or quality settings should each have their own custom ink managed color profile.

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