Is semtex a cure for Epson?

[Slammer]

HI all, just registered myself after lurking for a bit.
Greetings to all fellow sufferers, it is soo nice to know that other people have problems just like me.
At the moment I am sick of the squishy sound it makes having banged my head against the wall now for most of the last week.
I imagine that I will hear a world wide groan and a chorus of "not again" but!
Problem is a epson 4800, and a Harlequin.
If I set the printer up as god intended I can get quite usable prints out of it, I can juggle the icc's and generally make the device jump through a hoop.
As soon as the thing is asked to run using the Harlequin I get prints that are dripping black and I mean really, really dark, the colorbalance is OK, the profiles work, the paper is alright I have profiled the pigging thing myself, changed inks, I have been on the phone with Epson who are very helpful (writes he drooling sarcasm onto the keyboard)
I have even read the Manual.
Still I get prints that are very, very dark.
Anybody have a idea?

 

[mattbeals]

Well it sounds like somehow the HQ RIP needs to limit the ink being used.

But I will say that semtex will definitely cure the problems with the Epson.... Anfo will do it and is probably easier... Well, let's just leave it at that...

 

[edwinb]

I've installed a gmg colorproof in between an epson and the rip for a client leaving the rip to drive the platesetter, is that a way to go?

 

[Slammer]

Thanks all for the help, I had to google Anfo but yo! I think that would do the trick, fill the tanks with it, run a self test and thair she blows.
The ink limit is as low as allowed but still no joy.
As for the gmg the problem is that our sales jerk sold the device as a perfect device for perfect proofs, my hands are still round his scrawny breadstick of a neck.
The customer waved a proof from a 4800 running with a 9000 Euro color rip in my face and demands the same quality, (customer is French) now I am the incompetent bad boy trying to screw the poor customer for a few Euros more.

 

[mattbeals]

Anfo is what they used in the Oklahoma City bombing and in the first World Trade Center attack (pre 9/11 attack).

What part of the world are you in? The GMG RIP should be providing excellent results for you.

 

[Slammer]

Oi be in Switzerland oi be, you know god's own bellybutton in Europe.
I would just love to set a GMG Rip up but it all went political with whining customer in France, they have this "I bought it" syndrom and want to return the whole kit and kaboodle.

 

[edwinb]

Can you get a pdf/ps/tiff file out of the Harlequin?
How does that print from another application

 

[Slammer]

Well the Epson was returned and is sitting on my desk, glowering! Even with my Harlequin using the 4800 extention gets me dark prints.
The Stylus RIP works fine but it can not deliver the kind of quality the customer wants, i.e in comparison with a Chromalin.
Yes I know the difference but the sale-snake who promised the customer the sun and the moon dosn't.

 

[kernk]

Do you know which plugin you are using to drive the EPSON? There are more than one. For instance, there is one written by Global Graphics, often refered to as VSD, and one written by Xitron, often called vDot-II. They both behave differently. If you bring up the configure device window (page setup/configure device) when you are in the page setup for the Epson, capture that window and put it up, it would tell us a lot about which driver you are using and perhaps some clues about the problem.

Posting a capture of the page setup window itself wouldn't hurt either.

kern