Color Shifts on 9800

[vaedwin]

I have an Epson 9800, with a Dupont Chromapro XP color management system driving it. My problem is that I can satisfactorily say that 90% of the time my colors are matching to my Pantone book or build values on my document (ie. Photoshop, Illustrator, Indesign etc.) but lately, I have seen the printer become unreliable. I can output the same file to the same device with out re-ripping the data, and the proofs will come out looking different. What we have done to get an accurate output, was to clean the head about 4 times then usual, to get the same color output as we got the first time. Do you guys believe I need to replace the head on this unit or is there something else I am missing?

[Walter Calahan]

Do you have a new ink set?

I'm no expert, but if your profile is old, new ink cartridges might need a new profile.

Other than that, if the color shift is too extreme, I'd call Epson.

[Kirk Gittings]

You may do better with this question on a large format printer forum, like the ones on Yahoo. I don't remember the addresses.

[Bruce Watson]

You may do better with this question on a large format printer forum, like the ones on Yahoo. I don't remember the addresses.

http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/EpsonWideFormat/messages

This does sound like pigment settling. If you don't use the printer regularly (as in every couple of days) the pigment will settle in the lines and carts. Usually not enough to see -- but you are trying to do something fairly aggressive.

The other thing is that printers age, paper varies batch to batch, ink varies batch to batch, temperatures change, relative humidity changes,... Custom ICC profiles will help, as will remaking them on a regular basis.

For more possibilities, ask on the yahoo group -- over 5000 members there. Lots o' experience.