Indigo 5000 CMM

[slehning]

Just curious what others are doing to maintain and control color on their Indigo 5000.

We recently got an Indigo 5000, and are looking into controling the color, and color managing the device itself. One thing I've noticed is how much the color seems to drift as the day goes on.

I have just started working with the device, and from working with the operator I have learned that before every job the device does an internal calibration. I have started a process contol of having them supply me with color test to see how color is maintained through the coarse of the day. The one thing have have found after only a couple days working with the device, is that color drifts quite a bit.

This tells me that the internal calibration method of the Indigo is not going to do a good enough job for the standards we need to maintain on the device. Just curious about gathering information as to what other are doing to get around this, and or what they are using.

Thanks in Advance for the help.

Steve Lehning

[meddington]

Hi Steve,

When you refer to the internal calibration, are you referring to just the Color Adjust (periodic density calibration), or are you performing LUT generation/validation on a daily (or more often) basis as well? I have found that the color does wander, but after a couple of years, performing the both color adjustments and lut generations has kept our device within 2-3 delta E of its original condition. Color adjusts might also be needed during the job as well.

There are a lot of variables to keep in check with the Indigo, and I'm not the primary operator so I can't speak to all of them, but its not small amount of work to keep the device in prime condition.

Are you using ICC or device link profiles in front of this device? If so, and you have a nice, fast chart reader, updating the profiles often can help. We tested running GMG Colorserver with the Indigo, which has the ability to update a profile via a calibration similar to the way GMG Colorproof drives inkjets. This makes for a highly accurate, and easily updatable/repeatable profile. Could be a bit overkill.

[LoneGoose]

It's seems to be the nature of electrophotography that it drifts during a run, and over time.

The NexPress internal calibration works just as well (badly).

It's also wear-and-tear on your replaceable parts: sometimes with an old fuser you'll find it impossible to match the colour of a job printed with a new fuser (or vice versa).