Color management and corrections on press machines

[yorgil]

We have two Heidelberg XL75 printers but they are without any Axis Control ar any other color management and correction system. I know it may sound strange but idea was to install one ImageControl to support both of them.
I try to compare different solutions to manage and correct colors in our printshop. Easiest (but very expensive) way is to buy Heidelberg ImageControl but i have looked also on InkZone products (http://www.digiinfo.com/products/inkzone). They will be also on Drupa 2016 so i want to meet them and take a look for their solutions. Does anyone know any other solutions we could use to manage and make corrections on our presses? As i mentiond, I will be on Drupa this year so i would like to meet and talk about hardware independent solutions for color management and automatic corrections.

Regards
Przemek Szatkowski

 

[Cornishpastythighs]

I would not recommend having 2 presses share a scanner. I believe newer generation Heidelbergs are somewhat difficult to install after market closed loop colour systems and scanners on. Techkon make a nice sheet scanner and software and we are using 3 Intellitrax scanners running pressSIGN software on our presses.

 

[rich apollo]

Cornish took the words out of my keyboard. Take a look at pressSIGN.

Techkon has a solution that looks good.

And, there is Intellitrax from Xrite. The Intellitrax hardware can be driven by pressSIGN.

Any of these would be LOADS less expensive to implement.

 

[Bret Hesler]

I can't say I recommend it either, but my company ran for several years with one imagecontrol unit shared between two presses. I am not a huge fan of the imagecontrol, but if you are looking for more of a semi-closed-loop setup, it works.

 

[gordo]

I can't say I recommend it either, but my company ran for several years with one imagecontrol unit shared between two presses. I am not a huge fan of the imagecontrol, but if you are looking for more of a semi-closed-loop setup, it works.

That setup is not that unusual (sharing one imagecontrol scanner across multiple presses).

On a sidebar, you probably don't mean what I read when you say "color correction" on press - because you don't want to use the press to correct color.

 

[Deleted member 16349]

On a sidebar, you probably don't mean what I read when you say "color correction" on press - because you don't want to use the press to correct color.

Of course you are right that colour correction should not be done on press. But I would say that the aim of "image control" that Heidelberg has designed is very much a technology to correct colour on press and maintain it.

As I understand, it not only measures patches but also the image itself with color data. It would drive densities off standard targets, via ink key adjustments, in order to obtain a close match of the colour in the image. This is basically colour correction.

So why is this technology needed? It is needed because prepress is not always capable of providing the required image for the plate and also because the design of the press does not ink the plate consistently in line with any control patch.

This high tech and high cost technology is sold to users because the other two issues that cause the colour problems, are not well designed. Users pay three times. Once for the press and prepress which don't perform their functions properly. Then again for the high tech solution that can only partially correct the problem. And thirdly for the waste that was generated but could have been saved if the press and the prepress performed as they should and could have.

Some people see these high tech wonders as being state of the art. I see them as proof of the failure of the suppliers of knowing how things should work.

 

[gordo]

Of course you are right that colour correction should not be done on press. But I would say that the aim of "image control" that Heidelberg has designed is very much a technology to correct colour on press and maintain it.

As I understand, it not only measures patches but also the image itself with color data. It would drive densities off standard targets, via ink key adjustments, in order to obtain a close match of the colour in the image. This is basically colour correction.

So why is this technology needed? It is needed because prepress is not always capable of providing the required image for the plate and also because the design of the press does not ink the plate consistently in line with any control patch.

This high tech and high cost technology is sold to users because the other two issues that cause the colour problems, are not well designed. Users pay three times. Once for the press and prepress which don't perform their functions properly. Then again for the high tech solution that can only partially correct the problem. And thirdly for the waste that was generated but could have been saved if the press and the prepress performed as they should and could have.

Some people see these high tech wonders as being state of the art. I see them as proof of the failure of the suppliers of knowing how to things should work.

Well, I'm sorry to have to basically agree.

You can argue as much as you want but the press operator really only has one knob to turn - and that is solid ink density. And solid ink density is effectively an indirect measure of ink film thickness which is a mechanical/lithographic issue that has nothing to do with color.
I've seen Heidelberg's "image control" fail spectacularly with FM screening (at the GATF labs) because (at the time) it did not "understand" the impact of screening on color and how SID changes affected color relative to the screening used. Also, the process control loop, even with Heidelberg, is not closed - what is in the file and what is in the proof, plate and presswork are not linked despite the fact that all the info is available.

 

[FX David]

You can also install a XRite-Rutherford system. You can order it directly from XRite. www.rgproducts.com

 

[Orpheus42]

I would agree with previous comments either Intellitrax or Techkon running through Bodoni PressSign would provide a far more cost effective solution.