I have posted here before with specific questions but thought a more general one may be of some help.
I am very new to printing although I have been a CAD designer for 20 years. I have grasped ID without too much trouble but am very confused by a lot of printing terminology and techniques.
I should explain my setup at this stage (all second hand):
iMac with OSX 10.4.11 & Indesign CS3; Two OKI C9600 presses (labelled X-Press OnDemand 360 from a company in the UK)
Windows PC Rip called Raster Printstation 2 (do not use as it PC had to be rebuilt prior to me getting it and HD was wiped)
I seem to manage ok (printing print quality pdf's from Adobe Reader) but don't really know what I am doing right or wrong. The guy who used to run this emigrated back to the UK (I run this from Spain).
I do have some issues with things though.
I struggle to get my pricing right for dense toner jobs, ie solid backgrounds (usually black) which are de riguer at present.
Also I use re-filled toners and chips in the press as the OKI types are extremely expensive. Anyone got any experience with this – ie Does quality suffer? When I print just black I often get banding problems.
Can anyone suggest a book that can help me to understand the printing end (colours/terminology/proofing/rip's/profiles etc. etc.)
ANY help or suggestions would be appreciated – especially if there's anyone out there running an X-Press OnDemand 360 system or similar.
Cheers in advance, Philip