Reminders on Using QuadToneRIP gui on a 3880

InkjetMall Customer Support Piezography Inks & Printing
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Greetings,
I have had good luck in using Carbon K7 in a 3880 in which I used Matte papers exclusively simply to avoid the dreaded Black Ink Switching and the resulting cleanup that ensues. I have just converted this 3880 to Carbon P2 and it operates as it should. I can’t find (it’s me) clarification in the manual, or I have simply forgotten from the class five years ago, a couple of items concerning the Graphical Interface of QTR:

  1. In the MEDIA section, should the TYPE remain as “Matte Paper”? Or, should this be changed to “Photo Paper” when using Baryta? and,
  2. In the CURVE SETUP, should the BLACK INK remain at “-Installed-”? and,
  3. Will QTRgui ever trigger a Black Ink Switch on its own (hasn’t yet…)?
    I remain in awe how these prints look!
    Many Thanks, OA
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  1. My understanding is that this setting doesn’t matter on this printer. It’s intended for printers with a vacuum paper feed.

2&3. Installed is fine. I’m fairly certain that QTRGui will trigger a black ink change if the QTRGui setting is different to the printer’s black ink setting, which is why I have all my presets set to installed.

My inclination would be to put a flush cart in the unused black slot and print that channel sufficiently (in calibration mode) to get flush all through that channel. If you just leave black in there then IMHO there’s a risk of a failed black ink switch.

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Thank you! That’s reassuring and good advice to keep it on MK as best I can. These Phantom black ink changes that rarely occur on its own baffle me. I get caught up in too many variables that get me confused. Overall, these printers are simply a miracle to me (when I am not confounding them). I do have PZO in the PK channel as early on this printer simply kept draining the cart and thought this was the safest thing to do. Regards, OA

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If that PK cart kept on draining then you may have a failed black ink switch. That’s one of the clearest signs. If by “early on” you meant from new then that should have been a warranty job. If you meant early on in your Piezo experience, then P2 is the perfect option for this situation.

Regarding phantom black ink changes. There was a post on the Luminous Landscape forum some years ago by someone who claimed to have seen a 3880 do a switch from one black to the other and back again without anything triggering it, such as a print job or a user initiated change. Someone else then found an obscure Epson support page that said the 3880 would do this every six months of there hadn’t been a switch in that time. Such phantom switches are hard to verify, if they do in fact happen, as you have to be there at the precise point that the printer does one after six months in order to know that it happened, and that’s highly unlikely unless you’re married to the printer.

P.s. the phantom black ink changes are supposed to prevent the failure of the black ink switch from inactivity. I’m sceptical that they do, as there are plenty of reports of switch failure.