Getting creative: Multi-pass printing challenge

[Noa-89022]

Hi everyone,

I am having a challenge and would like to get your input to see if I can figure out a creative way to get the end result I want.

The challenge
I am printing a 4 color vector print (rasterized in photoshop) in red, yellow, black and grey on my Epson 9890 using Photoshop in sRGB (North America General Purpose 2) and letting Photoshop determine the colors for printing. The colors turn out great, but the grey is a bit off (looks like a greenish color cast).

- I tried all settings when it comes to color settings: Printer vs Photoshop manages colors, Colourmatching: Colorsync vs Epson, color settings: Off vs Epson Standard vs Adobe RGB. The best setting for getting more neutral greys are letting the Epson determine colors. However, it uses not only greys and blacks but also cyan and yellow for printing greys and I don't wan't that. My cyan is almost empty and I know when the cartridges are almost empty it can't build enough pressure (maybe put the cartridges in vertically *wink*) and the printing can be off. But regardless of getting a new Cyan, I just want it to print using the greys and black cartridges.

Solution? Let Epson determine colors and print in Advanced Black and White setting with Neutral turned on. This supposedly (I called Epson) uses only greys and blacks and looks like a charm. Fixed? Yes, partially. The greys are perfect. But what about the red and yellow?

Getting creative
Hence, the challenge begins.

- My first thought was to do a multi-pass print. Just isolate the black and grey layers in photoshop, print them (I print on a roll paper), let it dry, roll it back on the roll paper and print the color layers over it. Right? Nope. I turned off auto-cut and printed the artwork. Then I pressed the roll-back button and nothing happened. Obviously the printer knows exactly where the print ended and it won't roll it back on the roll paper.

- I tried changing the remaining paper and and increasing it and changing the paper type hoping it will reset. But regardless, it refuses to roll back the paper on the roll.

- When I release the paper it will probably cut it, print the barcode with paper type and remaining paper on it and roll it back. So, I thought, maybe if I turn it off/on again, it will forget it just printed and I will roll it back on the roll. Nope. It remembers.

- I then started it in Service Mode SELF TESTING → Maintenance → Wiper Exchange → Sequence and pulled out the power cable. I can then freely move the print head left and right, and hoped it would release the paper so I could roll it back manually. But no, it grabs the paper like Rose holding on to Jack on that 2-person door floating in the Atlantic.
I then started it in normal mode, released the paper, it printed the barcode, rolled it back 15 cm, and that's that.

Now what
I can autocut the roll and have a sheet. But reinserting the sheet and registering it perfectly will be impossible. So I don't really know where to go from here.
- Service mode: Is there a setting that will release the paper in service mode so I can manually roll it back on the roll?
- RIP: Is it possible to use a rip and determine what cartridges to use for the greys and blacks in the image and what for the colors?

Or is there another creative way for me to go about this?

 

[Gesture]

Thanks for posting.

Can you post the image so people see what you are trying to do. I may not completely understand, but ...

1-I think you are going down an extravagant rabbit hole just to avoid buying some ink cartridges.

2-I am not sure, but I think Epson ABW uses more than just the black and grey inks.

3-In my illustrious-NOT art career I have worked with oil and water-based printmaking inks (etching, collagraph, linocut, wood block, drypoint), oil paints, watercolors, and dye and pigment inks with ink jet printers. Of course, opaque versus transparent or semi-transparent pigments comes into play with oil paints and watercolors.

I know that in the early days of inkjet printing, some folks worked with multi-pass printing to build up ink jet prints (Benson?). There is some textural effect with pigment inks on certain papers, which I actually like at times, and dye inks on the old swellable ink jet papers.

But in all my limited testing, ink jet inks don't mix in the way we think of with multi-pass etching or screen prints or even traditional offset printing where there is K C M Y. Some may report other results. Try some experiments with cut sheets. Even disregarding registration issues, I don't think the inks will behave the way you want.

Good luck.

 

[Noa-89022]

Thank you for taking the time to reply.

1-I think you are going down an extravagant rabbit hole just to avoid buying some ink cartridges.

Haha, don’t worry. I already ordered a new cartridge and don’t take short cuts. I just don’t get the same grey with the other settings as with the ABW setting. And I want it grey-grey, not a the-Epson-driver-tried-matching-the-grey-by-adding-all-colors-grey. If you know what I mean.

2-I am not sure, but I think Epson ABW uses more than just the black and grey inks.

There are multiple ways to adjust the black and white setting when printing in ABW, next to Neutral there is Warm, Cool and Sepia. And you can change tonality, which I assume will use other colors besides black and grey. However, the Epson support confirmed in Neutral it should use only grey and black.

But in all my limited testing, ink jet inks don't mix in the way we think of with multi-pass etching or screen prints or even traditional offset printing where there is K C M Y. Some may report other results. Try some experiments with cut sheets. Even disregarding registration issues, I don't think the inks will behave the way you want.

It won’t be a multi-pass in the traditional sense because the layers won’t be overlapping each other. I am just using different color modes to print different parts of the print, instead of printing everything in one setting in one go.

 

[Gesture]

However, the Epson support confirmed in Neutral it should use only grey and black.

Thanks, good to know.

In olden days, some Epson drivers had Color and Black, instead of Color and Greyscale. I have done a fair amount of Black Only printing. We used to call it Digital Tri-X!