DSF

Good afternoon good folks of the DSF!

I've just got my kit setup (printer/press) and had a quick play whilst I'm waiting for new stuff to arrive...hey, it's all new to me - and you all suggest having a play anyway :biggrin:

So, I've bought a 2nd hand SG2100N printer with a press (laser thermometer shows that the plate temp is only a degree or two out from the displayed temp, and fairly even across it). With it came a variety of random bits and pieces that the previous owner never used.

Managed to get the printer installed (Windows decided it didn't like the drivers and refused to recognise the printer. A few choice words, a restart and a cuppa later...sorted).

Quick Google suggested 60 seconds @ 190C for the material I was using (it's a Christmas Stocking...perfect choice for February then...).

Did the usual printer routine (heads aligned and cleaned, paper loaded - right side up) and had a crack...here's the results:
From left to right: Original image (as taken on my phone), the printed & pressed image, a couple of logos (no prizes for guessing my hobby), a picture of my better half (she doesn't look that oddly coloured in real life...honest) and an overview of the first test print I did.

As you can see, the photos have no depth of detail, and the colours are a little...out of whack. Whilst it could be argued that it's "arty" - I would prefer to have detailed images. The logos aren't too bad - little bit of bleed on the Ariadne image (I suspect that might be partly due to it not being a particularly good image to start with). The Iron Oars logo has come out looking very close to the original image - a little bit faded, but still easily recognisable. The pound sign was a random image I found on my laptop and is probably the most successful of the bunch.

Sorry for the long post, however, I'm hoping that details will help diagnose the issues I'm having.

Things I know I've done wrong:
- No idea how old the inks already in the printer are
- No ICC Profile installed
- Same goes for the paper
- Didn't fix the paper to the stocking

Things I'm doing to correct the above issues
- New inks on order, with ICC profile
- New paper also on order
- Will fix the paper down next time

Whilst I accept that each of the above has contributed to my problem, I'm not certain that it's the whole story...

Any help or advice you fine folks can offer will be gladly received!!

Sean

Hi,
it could be you are printing on the wrong side of the paper ....
Do the wet finger test, - sticks more to the correct side

Also- 190c I hope - F is too low!

Yep - definitely C, not F
I grew up with C's for temperature lol

I shall try the moist finger test in the morning and report back! Time to iron my kit for Cadets lol

I'm afraid you've possibly identified the issue yourself. You don't know how old the ink is so I'm guessing you don't know what type of ink this is? You must have a profile installed or you don't stand a chance. You can follow installation instructions for a 3110 on Sawgrass website to get you in the ball park and also software config.

My advice would be to dump the printer and start again but I appreciate that's not always an option. You need to get back to square one, will the seller help you to identify the age/type of inks? You will need a profile making if you can't get one. There may well be someone on here that could send you a profile but without knowing ink and paper type it may not help.

Out of interest, have you done nozzle checks?

What printer are you using and software.

It looks like your vector artwork is printing ok and reasonably sharply but your photographs are printing at very low resolution.

It could be a printer setting or possibly that you have 2 printer profiles operating that is causing a problem with correct printing of more complex photo graphics.

This can happen when you have a printer profile provided by the graphics software you are using and also the printers own profiles. You need to switch one off.

If it was the wrong ink, paper or temp etc then it would impact both vector graphics and photos equally. The sample you show indicates that main problem is with photo resolution and that I suspect is either printer profile conflicts or even filters being imposed somewhere.

My first suggestion would be to go into your printer advanced settings and turn off auto colour profile and set to no icc profile if that option is available and try another test

You also seem to have some banding issues on the picture of your partner.

I tried the wet finger trick on the paper, and suspect it may very well have been in upside down...oops...

Justin;129940 wrote:I'm afraid you've possibly identified the issue yourself. You don't know how old the ink is so I'm guessing you don't know what type of ink this is? You must have a profile installed or you don't stand a chance. You can follow installation instructions for a 3110 on Sawgrass website to get you in the ball park and also software config.

My advice would be to dump the printer and start again but I appreciate that's not always an option. You need to get back to square one, will the seller help you to identify the age/type of inks? You will need a profile making if you can't get one. There may well be someone on here that could send you a profile but without knowing ink and paper type it may not help.

Out of interest, have you done nozzle checks?

I have new inks (with a 'profile on order) - and some new paper! So the stuff that is in there is going to be ditched! The seller wasn't sure how old it was - she's recently gone back to college (studying nursing) and has 2 young kids - I was impressed that she was still awake!!

Starting afresh isn't a viable option at the moment - and this printer hasn't printed much at all according to the counter (about 390 pages). It's on the agenda if things go well enough!

I've run through the head alignment and head clean (and flush) which has improved the banding issue massively.

Customprintwales;129941 wrote:What printer are you using and software.

It looks like your vector artwork is printing ok and reasonably sharply but your photographs are printing at very low resolution.

It could be a printer setting or possibly that you have 2 printer profiles operating that is causing a problem with correct printing of more complex photo graphics.

This can happen when you have a printer profile provided by the graphics software you are using and also the printers own profiles. You need to switch one off.

If it was the wrong ink, paper or temp etc then it would impact both vector graphics and photos equally. The sample you show indicates that main problem is with photo resolution and that I suspect is either printer profile conflicts or even filters being imposed somewhere.

My first suggestion would be to go into your printer advanced settings and turn off auto colour profile and set to no icc profile if that option is available and try another test

Now you mention it, that is a good point! It's just a little SG2100N running with the standard driver package and printed from Inkscape and GIMP. Haven't had chance to play yet today, might go do so after tea!!

webtrekker;129965 wrote:You also seem to have some banding issues on the picture of your partner.

I hadn't done a head clean & flush at that point - that did improve considerably.

Appreciate the help & advice guys - got some tinkering to do later!

Im going to put my 2cents worth in. I dont know what the SG2100N is ( Sawgrass?) . But with all the playing around and wasting ink doing flush throughs, wouldnt it be cheaper in the long run just to buy a new setup from one of the suppliers on here? I have a Ricoh 3110N with Sublisplash inks. Total cost if I remember right was about 350 Euros. A full set of inks is around 200€.
It might just save you money to go this route. With a new printer you will get the profiles and supplier support as well.

The old inks are going to be disposed of anyway - so might as well put them to some good use.

I have new inks, paper & an ICC Profile on order, so hopefully it'll sort itself out. The SG2100N is, as far as I know, a predecessor to the 3110N - it's definitely a Ricoh.

A new printer is on the agenda, just not yet.

I bought a printer from Inkexpress yesterday it came today and Ive set it up and printed with it and I am delighted. Its the Epson 1500 w, cost £419.00 free delivery with the SublNova inks (600mls) and tank thingy and 100 a3 sheets of the True pix paper. Full set up instructions with pictures and a they sent me a profile on disk and talked me through things when i got a bit stuck. Its running and its fantastic. Just one thing I havent any sublimation blanks yet LOl.
Thanks for the sound advice Justin