What's a realistic light coverage limit for an Oce?

[JoshB]

Got some complaints over highlight blowouts on work off of a 6250. Printing some test strips, it looks like the machine can't reliably lay down below 6% coverage at 125 LPI -- which is the default. Is it realistic to expect better? This machine is a year and a half old, but maintenance is all up to date. I've gotten similar results on several different white uncoated papers.

 

[gordo]

Got some complaints over highlight blowouts on work off of a 6250. Printing some test strips, it looks like the machine can't reliably lay down below 6% coverage at 125 LPI -- which is the default. Is it realistic to expect better?

OCE does not give that specification but they sure imply better performance than what you're getting:
"the Océ VarioPrint 6160/6200/6250 offer offset-like quality"
"LED, 1200dpi, 180 lpi"

Is there a sign-off test form from when your machine was installed? Does it have tone ramps that are different from what you're getting now?

gordon p

 

[JoshB]

I can't find anything but endless config logs. I will ask around tomorrow if there are any original tests archived. I'm unfortunately just at this location for the weekend, so I'm running out of time to do anything.

I should point out a couple of things: First, the 6% coverage I'm referring to is actual measured density. The machine will lay down up to about 3% from an uncorrected scale, and kind of lay down occasional spots until it hits 1% (when it seems the controller has a software limit and stops all attempts to lay down image). Before correction though the lowest gradient is actually about 8~10% density when measured objectively; it's pretty spotty and hard to get a consistent read.

Don't get me wrong, in a lot of ways it's a really good machine. It's very reliable, and is much more precise at higher densities. Seems to need a lot of maintenance to keep image quality up though. Does anyone out there have tips for keeping that quality up? What do you consider "acceptable"?

It's a fight to keep it from banding, and lighter images tend to look "dirty" and will lose highlights. The machines tends to push things very dark (I think to disguise the low coverage problems), and if you correct for it, then those low density issues get worse. Should we be pushing service, or is this just the nature of the machine?

I can see that something is attempting to lay down low coverage. Under a loop I can make out little flecks of toner where we would expect to see a solid dot. It looks like that toner doesn't usually manage to make it unless maybe two or three raster points fire off next to each other.

 

[BigTony]

JoshB -
Get in touch with the Oce VP6250 Specialist that covers your part of the country (contact your sales rep and ask them to refer you to the Specialist). They will get the "problem" print file from you and run it on a calibrated machine for analysis. Could be your particular printer needs adjustments or there's a tweak in job set-up that will get you better results.

Big Tony

 

[JoshB]

I've been talking with support and they were concerned over this post, so I'd like to clarify a few things.

First, I probably wasn't very fair coming here before giving them a chance to work with the machine. I'm a software guy, and I'm just trying to resolve problems without wasting time. I only had a very limited amount of time where I had access to the machine. I still don't know the answers to my coverage question, but I am working with support to try to find it.

Everybody here knows that no machine is perfect, every printer has things that it can't do well, and every printer has its strengths. Hopefully we'll get some better results with light coverage after talking to service. As is though, the printer does a very nice job with higher coverage areas, and it's able to lay down very subtle differences in very high coverage areas -- beyond really what I would expect. Most importantly for us: it's very, very productive. The machine is pretty robust, and when it does go down Oce is always there very quickly to work on it. They've always done whatever it takes to make sure we're back up ASAP, whether it means flying in parts or even people.

I know a lot of people come on this forum just to complain about their machine and/or service, and I really wasn't trying to do that. Again, everything has strengths and weaknesses, but I do like the 6250. I've recommended it to several people when I thought the printer would suit their situation, and we're probably buying another one in a few days -- I don't think there's a much better sign a printer's overall capabilities than that.