I am new to the screen printing business and I am trying to troubleshoot a problem with printing film positives to the Epson 1400. I have not purchased Rip software yet, but I am trying to print the separations from Corel Draw 12 with the Epson 1400 and cannot get the blacks dark enough (They are telling me that the deepness of the black is what I am losing and that is why my capillary film is leaving dry specks and not rinsing out completely). I was told I needed the pantone matching system for true blacks in a book, but they seem to print lighter than the CMYK palette on the clear film. I am needing help here.
I am familiar with separating colors and can do it this way until I get the Rip software (though a pain) but getting sketchy images in the screen is not an option. Any help would be great here.
Re: What color Palette should be used in Corel Draw for Screen P
I use the Pantone Coated for the version I have installed. Make sure you always use the same black. I use Pantone Hexachrome black from the pallet. Also go into the advanced setup in page setup and select black ink only and change the setting to add dry time on the film. You can save custom settings in advanced as well. I make the first one with my color, dry time, page size and paper type settings then save it with a name like 11x17_film. Then I modify that one to a different size film and save it likewise. When I am ready to print I choose setup/advanced/11x17 ... and all my settings are ready to go. I have a 1400 and a 2200 and the 1400 does way better and the black is very dark and no problems burning. I burn for 3 1/2 minutes with unfiltered blacklight.
Re: What color Palette should be used in Corel Draw for Screen P
I really appreciate your help on this. I will go and make the changes and see how it goes. Thanks a bunch!
Re: What color Palette should be used in Corel Draw for Screen P
When you print black from a Windows driver you get a rich black, made up of CMY&K, you probably just need to play with the settings. Epson add uv block to their inks to protect them from sunlight so just because you can see through it doesn't mean that it will let uv light through.
Capillary films seem to be sensitive to higher wavelength light than emulsions.
Dave UK imagesetters and Wasatch RIP