iGEN4 Color doesn't hold

We have been experiencing this problem for the past month. The color doesn't hold for very long. I was running a 1000 sheet job with mixed halftones in the design (greenish color). I ran Color Maintenance before I ran the job, passed at all 10s. Proofed the job, looked good. Ran the job, and within 100 sheets the color started going out of whack. Sort of how it normally does naturally over time, but at a much faster rate.

I know iGEN3s have the problem of color not holding, but it is much rarer for an igen4 to have this problem because it is constantly verifying color and adjusting accordingly. Technician thinks it could be failing ETACS or the circuit board that controls the ETACS.


The one thing I tried that seem to make the color hold longer is adjusting ATP to 80 instead of the default values. For whatever strange reason, this actually works, but the color still doesn't hold as long as it normally does.

If I run Color Maintenance and get CMYK values at a perfect 10, I can run a job for 30 mins or so and if I were to run CM again, the values might be something like {10, 3, 5, 10}. So within 30 mins two colors went from perfect to low quality. Doesn't make sense. Some techs have mentioned possibly communication problems from DFE to PSIP or PSIP to iGEN and somehow the Color Profiles are not working properly. This theory seems to make the most sense to me because after running Batch Job, there was magenta in the yellow halftone page as verified under the loupe. However, there was no magenta in any other halftone. So...wtf is going on? I haven't checked to see if it is still doing that or not. We have never made adjustments to our DFE Color Profiles, so it literally makes no sense that we would be having these problems all of a sudden. So perhaps there is a weird communication problem happening or there is something in the machine that I am not familiar with that could be causing these problems.

Just wondering if anyone has heard of such a thing.

 

do you have fading? or is one of the stations actually getting darker? That's what I get....
and My Igen3 HATES low coverage. lower coverage=MUCH slower overall run times, and color fluctuation. And then when it "adjusts print quality" it goes super crazy. I have to run 951 to get it back..Tech cleaned out all the ports for toner purging, and did some calibration...seems to be better so far...

 

All four colors fade to streaky white (no color) over time. Yeah I have heard of that problem you are describing on the 3s where color densities change drastically after "adjusting print quality".

The 4s are much much better...in several areas, although far from perfect still. But the issue I'm having now is very confusing. It appears to have gone away suddenly. Just when I thought I knew everything I needed to know to keep this beast running, Genny surprises me again--ha!

 

Genny...she has a name? LOL

 

lol yeah

 

Hi, If green decays (Y,C), does purple (M,C)?, Does (M,Y) ... what ever that is, Sunset? Would it be possible to see it in Black Only? Maybe you can isolate it to a single developer housing. I'm betting that is where the failure is. Yellow would be really hard to figure out as it's so hard to see.

 

Is your stock profiled correctly? Do you have your proper profile assigned to your profiled family that you are using?
And run a TRC for the proper profile stock family and color group. CMT really does nothing for color it checks densities.

I don't trust CMT's they are good for some issues but not for guaranteed color consistencey.

I would recommend understanding the profiling of the Igen and profile frequently. Sometimes A TRC will fix color drifts after a Profile has been created.

I would get some ISO targets with a lot of neutral greys and photographic images with several hues and color variations. Get a reference print from a reliable printer that is profiled and a consistent track record. For us we use an epson as our reference which is very reliable and holds color extremely well.
We have it match gracol for coated and fogra for uncoated. We apply the same Source profiles for the Igen after it has been profiled that is the same for the Epson. Keep your refernce prints in your digital area. Print the same images off a proper profiled stock with the same source profiles and do a visual match under a light booth. See if the match they should be close. If they began to drift try a TRC. If tis doesn't fix it reprofile for that stock.

My experience is the Igen does well with color and maintaing it I have complaints in other areas with this machine. But the color is good. We have several and they all match. If you run a lot you may need a new TRC daily or to reprofile as needed. Keep an eye on your refernce prints. This works for me.

 

Yes I agree. The igen4 especially is very good with color. Dealing with Xerox when you have a legitimate problem...is a story of its own.

As it turns out, for anyone wondering, the source of our problem was a failing ETAC sensor. After replacing the center ETAC, we are now back to normal.

 

Good to hear it's always nice when the problem is fixed. Damn ETAC's. I wonder how long it took the tech's to fix your issue. My guess is days if not weeks with one story after another. I hate to bash the tech's because sometimes the see a problem and fix it right away but most of the time it's a battle.
And I am so tired of hearing it's the paper paper paper. Which in some cases it is the paper but it's like they are trained to says it's the paper with there
initial diagnosis. Can you say frustrating!