Epson 9900 piezography ink locations for printing both matte and glossy

InkjetMall Customer Support Piezography Inks & Printing
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1

I just set up my Epson 9900 with Piezography inks for both glossy and matte printing. This uses the standard setup of:
MK = #1 (matte, neutral)
PK = #1 (glossy, selenium)
LK = #6
LLK = GO
C = #2
M = #4
Y = #7
LC = #3
LM = #5
G = flush
O = flush

It wasn’t until after I set all this up, ran an initial fill, and produced a (successful!) nozzle check that I realized this arrangement means I will need to run the extremely wasteful matte/glossy ink swap if I want to change over from making matte prints to making glossy prints.

So two questions. Can this be set up to run K6 instead of K7, where I could put my glossy #1 into the yellow channel? Or can the Orange channel (my Green doesn’t work) be set to carry the glossy #1? In the second approach, I would still be able to make K7 prints – in either glossy or matte – without a wasteful matte/glossy ink swap. In the first approach, I would be fine having this just be a K6 printer if, again, that means I can print both matte & glossy without the swap.

Please let me know if there is a workaround, or if you might consider rebuilding the QuadToneRIP install for this printer to take one of the two approaches above.

Thanks,
Andrew

2

I suggest holding out for a bit until our new PK HD ink drops and then putting that in the Green channel.

Then you can just remap the gloss curve’s PK data to the Green channel (very well explained in other postings on this forum, google is your friend).

It should be just a few weeks or so.

That said, the 9900 absolutely NEEDs to be switched back and forth every once and awhile or the internal damper switch can get funky.

best,
Walker

3

Thank you for the quick response! I do now remember you going over how to remap a channel in the workshop. (And with a quick search and read, I’m confident I can do it.)

Since I currently have the printer set to use glossy black, I assume I would leave my glossy quads untouched? And then I would only edit the matte-paper quads to send the K-curve numbers to instead use the OR channel? Will QTR/Print Tool ask me to swap my blacks when I choose a profile that would typically “require” one?

4

Oh, and one other question. If I were to run a 2-channel cleaning (OR/GR, in my case) to clear the line of Piezo Flush and fill it with the matte #1 I am moving, would this work instead of needing to run an entire new Initial Fill? And if so, how many times should I run the 2-channel cleaning?

5

It may get confusing to have MK in the Or channel and two different PKs in your black slots, but you can do whatever you want.

QTR won’t ask you to swap blacks as long as you set it to use “currently installed” ink (aka, not change anything on the printer).

6

If your printer is working fine, I recommend printing a 36x90" flush image on cheap bond paper to flush the line.

best,
Walker

7

I was actually going to put Piezo Flush into the MK cartridge, and then just not use it. (Except to occasionally swap back and forth as maintenance, per your suggestion.) So PK would have #1 glossy, OR would have #1 matte, and MK would have flush (unused). I’m not looking to have “two different PKs”; I’m just looking to avoid ink swaps while still printing both matte and glossy papers.

Thank you for the “currently installed” black ink explanation – of course!

And great recommendation on “flushing” by printing the flush image. I’ll edit it to only print from my new #1 matte (OR) channel by isolating that part of the image, and that way I won’t use up any other ink while filling the OR line with this new ink in place of flush.

Once I do this, am I correct in assuming I would only change my matte-paper quads to swap the “K-curve” numbers with the “OR-curve” numbers? Since my printer has PK-black set as “currently installed” (which I would leave as such), I would leave the glossy-paper quads untouched, right?

You guys are great, with such wonderful support!

Andrew

8

Don’t put piezoflush in there. It will get into the black damper and cause all sorts of issues

-best,
Walker

9

May I ask a question of ignorance? Is there a fundamental difference in this regard between the 9900 and smaller Pro printers like the 3880? Because we’ve discussed doing much as Andrew suggested - running P2 and putting flush in the PK cart - in the 3880 and this potential problem has not been raised. So I assume it’s different.

That said, I am reminded of Keith Cooper’s article Do you really want to run a large format printer, in which he says “If you find yourself fretting over the costs of new ink cartridges and good photo paper for your desktop printer, and begrudge every cleaning cycle your printer runs, then large format is maybe not for you. There are costs in making prints and costs to keep your printer running.” I fret less than I used to, but even so …

10

While a question of ignorance, it was also a serious question.

11

I have a 3880 with Flush in the MK cart. I did this as I do not print on matte paper. I am sure that this was advised some time back as the way to “moth ball” the MK channel.

Is the current thinking now advocating something different?

12

I would certainly not advocate that solution as there is the strong potential of cross color contamination between the flush and PK if you switch accidentally. This is more of an issue with large-formats though so if you haven’t seen any red in your PK at this point than you are ok.

13

Were someone to put flush in one of the K channels of a 3880 and do an accidental switch and get some colour staining, it can’t be a major exercise to print it out. I think there’s a bigger risk if you leave ink in an unused K channel and do an accidental switch. It’s fairly well known that the black selector switch on the 3880 (and also R3000) is the Achilles’ heel of an otherwise very reliable printer. It can jam and lead to carts draining or black not printing at all. There’s no hard proof, but it seems likely that the jamming is sometimes caused by sedimentation around the selector if it’s not exercised very often. A jammed selector is expensive to fix, and would not economical in many cases. A dead printer is a bigger issue than some temporary staining.

I have zero experience on LF (> 17") printers, but was interested what, if anything, made them different in these respects.