I went on a diet last month.\u00a0\u00a0 I think I\u2019m too old to go on a diet.\u00a0 But, among other things, one consequence of aging (I really hate that word!!) \u00a0has been living the slow down of my metabolism and the increase of my waist line.\u00a0 Normal I guess but certainly no fun.\u00a0 \u00a0My wife is more or less constantly offering her advice and encouragement for how to prevent it from getting out of control \u2013 which it already is.\u00a0 I think I\u2019m beyond the point of prevention.<\/p>\n
Ceramic printers don\u2019t have to worry about an increase in their waist line but they do get old and you do need a plan for the normal consequence of an aging printer.\u00a0\u00a0 The first question to be answered is, do you perform preventive maintenance or just wait until it breaks?\u00a0 For that one, you\u2019ll have to decide.\u00a0\u00a0 Industry consensus is that it\u2019s cheaper and less disruptive to perform\u00a0 planned, schedule preventive maintenance but this decision is up to you.\u00a0\u00a0 Here are some things to consider as your printer gets older.<\/p>\n
Color Calibration \u2013 \u00a0It can take a lot of work to create that perfect artistic tile or the porcelain portrait that is so beautiful it will make the customer cry. \u00a0\u00a0There isn\u2019t much that a good ICC profile can do for you that can\u2019t also be done in Photoshop.\u00a0 But it can make it easier.\u00a0 At Enduring Images we calibrate our production printers several times per year.\u00a0 That isn\u2019t necessary in all cases but over time you might find that it takes longer to get the decal colors right than it did when your printer was new.\u00a0 That could signal the need for recalibration.\u00a0 If you don\u2019t mind the extra Photoshop work, no worries.\u00a0 It has been more than 5 years for some of you who have never recalibrated your printer.\u00a0 And that\u2019s perfectly fine.\u00a0 But if you would like to see your colors as true as when your printer was new, recalibration can help.<\/p>\n
Somewhere around 4000 print cycles you might start fighting a loss of color density.\u00a0 Your developer mixture begins to get old around that time and it is likely time for a replacement, like changing the oil in your car.\u00a0 New developers will do wonders for your colors.<\/p>\n
About the same time (around 3000 to 4000 prints) you may (or may not!) notice a decline in the image resolution of your prints.\u00a0 The Photoconductor Units (PCU\u2019s) are the primary wear component in a LASER printer and that is why LASER printer manufacturers, including Ricoh, only offer a 90 day warranty on those parts (likewise on the Image Transfer Belt).\u00a0 As they approach the 4000 print age they are no longer capable of holding the same resolution as when they were new.\u00a0 We just replaced all four on our magenta printer and it made a significant improvement in our image quality.\u00a0 Here is the trick.\u00a0 The image change over time is slow and probably imperceptible.\u00a0 We wouldn\u2019t have noticed it if we hadn\u2019t been preparing for a trade show and had an old wall mural tile sample next to one we just printed.\u00a0 Side by side the difference jumped off the tile.\u00a0 But otherwise we wouldn\u2019t have seen it.\u00a0 If you primarily print artistic tiles or mosaic tiles that don\u2019t require a lot of resolution then you and your customers may be happy, so don\u2019t worry about it.\u00a0 But if you are making wall murals from a photograph for a tile back splash or porcelain portraits for a cemetery marker and you are in the range of 4000 prints on your PCU\u2019s, you may find a new set of PCU\u2019s will make a marked improvement in your image quality.<\/p>\n
When was the last time you watched your training DVD? \u00a0Most people can remember only about 20% of what they hear in a lecture.\u00a0 Of course, experience and the \u201cschool of hard knocks\u201d are the most effective teachers but we cover a lot of stuff in the time we spend together during training.\u00a0 There just might be a small kernel of Photoshop knowledge in there that could help.\u00a0 And if not, it\u2019s a sure fire cure for insomnia!\u00a0\u00a0 We make the video of your training day for a number of reasons and it is a good resource.\u00a0 Why not take advantage of it?<\/p>\n
You are in the manufacturing business.\u00a0 You rely on your printer for your livelihood.\u00a0 Worth taking a little time to keep it healthy and fit.<\/p>\n
Health and happiness to all \u2026<\/p>\n
Ron Manwiller<\/p>\n
303-278-8868<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I went on a diet last month.\u00a0\u00a0 I think I\u2019m too old to go on a diet.\u00a0 But, among other things, one consequence of aging (I really hate that word!!) \u00a0has been living the slow down of my metabolism and the increase of my waist line.\u00a0 Normal I guess but certainly no fun.\u00a0 \u00a0My wife […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,1],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ceramicprinting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/473"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ceramicprinting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ceramicprinting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ceramicprinting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ceramicprinting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=473"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.ceramicprinting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/473\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2200,"href":"https:\/\/www.ceramicprinting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/473\/revisions\/2200"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ceramicprinting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=473"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ceramicprinting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=473"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ceramicprinting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=473"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}