Versant 180 - Way to know or specify which black toner being used?

[CliffSpielman]

On the Versant 180, is there a way to either specify which K toner cartridge the press should use? Or minimally to know which one is being used / is active? The bigger question is what scheme/logic does the Versant 180 use to determine whether to use K1 or K2.

Keep in mind that my volume is still super low until I finish my product development phase, so it can take days to see the toner usage counters change organically.

Thanks in advance

 

[Craig]

Why would that even be a question? What could you possibly gain from knowing which one is being used?? It's not like they are different colors, their both the same cartridge. My guess is it uses K1 until it is empty and switched to K2 and so on. It's not like it uses a little from K1 and a little from K2.

 

[AP90]

Im sure there is a setting within the machine to determine which K to use, although I'm guessing its not accessible to the user. I guess the main question is what is the importance of knowing which K is being used?

 

[CliffSpielman]

Im sure there is a setting within the machine to determine which K to use, although I'm guessing its not accessible to the user. I guess the main question is what is the importance of knowing which K is being used?

I print text content using very small font sizes that is viewed under a magnifying glass, and had recently noticed a recent drop off in crispness. K1 was at 40% K2 was at 100%. I swapped them and saw sharper text and less toner stray dots on the sheet. Then I noticed a similar dropoff yesterday but didn't recall un-swapping the K toners (maybe sleepwalking? or sleep toner-changing). Once again, I swapped them yesterday and saw a notable improvement. So it got me really wanting to be able to specify or at least know for sure which K toner is being used.

For "normal" printing, I'm not seeing any notable difference in quality before/after swapping the K's. It's just for my crazy small printing.

There are certainly other adjustments I can make, some of which I already have, such as the toner cleaning procedure, shaking the toner. But the press is so new with so few impressions that it's not at the point where it needs major adjustments. Service has been here and confirmed that.

I hope that helps clarify a bit.

 

[Stickman42]

Why not leave K1 or K2 empty so you know where the toner is coming from? I believe the machine continues to run as long as there's toner in one of them.

 

[CliffSpielman]

Why not leave K1 or K2 empty so you know where the toner is coming from? I believe the machine continues to run as long as there's toner in one of them.

I tried that but the press console shows an error that didn't seem like could be bypassed. I'll look at that again though in a few minutes. Good reminder.

 

[CliffSpielman]

I tried that but the press console shows an error that didn't seem like could be bypassed. I'll look at that again though in a few minutes. Good reminder.

Ok, so I gave up too quickly last night. The console as well as Command Workstation give error/warning indicators but the press does print with only one K, at least with K1 filled and K2 empty. Not sure what mayhem would ensue if it were reversed.

This does help a great deal with determining the affect (positive or negative) of a specific K toner cartridge on my print quality.

 

[jwheeler]

Ok, so I gave up too quickly last night. The console as well as Command Workstation give error/warning indicators but the press does print with only one K, at least with K1 filled and K2 empty. Not sure what mayhem would ensue if it were reversed.

This does help a great deal with determining the affect (positive or negative) of a specific K toner cartridge on my print quality.

Be aware that most digital presses have a 'hopper' where it stores toner besides what you see in the bottle. This is what allows most digital presses to change the toner on the fly while it's still running. So the machine may still be using the K2 station until the hopper is completely empty.

 

[Stickman42]

Be aware that most digital presses have a 'hopper' where it stores toner besides what you see in the bottle. This is what allows most digital presses to change the toner on the fly while it's still running. So the machine may still be using the K2 station until the hopper is completely empty.

Agreed. As a possible solution, why not leave an empty cartridge in K1 or K2 indefinitely, and only use the other? After a few cartridges the hopper should have been flushed of the "other" toner. Or have the hopper vacuumed out and start from scratch with just one?

 

[AP90]

Agreed. As a possible solution, why not leave an empty cartridge in K1 or K2 indefinitely, and only use the other? After a few cartridges the hopper should have been flushed of the "other" toner. Or have the hopper vacuumed out and start from scratch with just one?

Im not so sure this is his problem. From his earlier post it looks like he thinks that a cartridge needs to be full to get the best print. Which really doesn't make sense to me as the hopper in the machine is where the toner is coming from, not straight from the cartridge. Maybe I misinterpreted his post though.

 

[CliffSpielman]

Im not so sure this is his problem. From his earlier post it looks like he thinks that a cartridge needs to be full to get the best print. Which really doesn't make sense to me as the hopper in the machine is where the toner is coming from, not straight from the cartridge. Maybe I misinterpreted his post though.

I don't think you misinterpreted. I'm not familiar with the hopper but will look into it.

 

[AP90]

I don't think you misinterpreted. I'm not familiar with the hopper but will look into it.

If thats the case then Im not exactly sure that it would have anything to do with the cartridges. Otherwise people would be complaining all the time when cartridges would be half full and the companies would complain about printers throwing away half used cartridges. Id say it would have more to do with the delivery system.

 

[CliffSpielman]

If thats the case then Im not exactly sure that it would have anything to do with the cartridges. Otherwise people would be complaining all the time when cartridges would be half full and the companies would complain about printers throwing away half used cartridges. Id say it would have more to do with the delivery system.

Could very well be. Customers are viewing my output under a magnifying glass - which highlights every little flaw that wouldn't be noticed if printing at normal font sizes such as 8pt or higher. I'm printing a serif font at 1.7pt in this particular scenario. I have little margin for error. A lot of the potential Fiery optimizations go out the window and have the opposite effect. So based on my experimentation, I'm left with the basics, such as toner cleaning, shaking, using full toner cartridges, etc.

I'm calling Xerox in a minute to order new toner and will ask about the Hopper and any other areas of the press that can be cleaned in order to improve IQ.

 

[AP90]

I do a semi regular print job that has 1.4 font on it with our Versant 3100. Its eye charts for doctors. Never bother worrying about cartridges getting low or anything else. So my guess wouldn't be the toner cartridges.