Calibration: daily routine, weekly chore or something that you forgot all about

[Laurens]

Calibration is a bit like back-ups. For some it is a daily routine while others will only spend time on it after they have run into their first major disaster.

How often do you calibrate or linearize your platesetter, printers or monitors? Please vote at the poll on the Prepressure site and use this thread for comments. I'll chime in as soon as I have finished calibrating my screen   

[born2print]

We confirm every single Epson proof as pass / fail with Color Verifier.
We were reading dots on plates every plate... then every shift... now about once a week (it's so stable we backed off.)
Our new "Z" plate processor self samples and corrects itself constantly.
Monitors.... never. We are old number-readers.

[beck]

We used to calibrate our Epson once a month.  After 1+ years of it not drifting, and never having to re-calibrate it, we check it now once every 8 weeks.  We do it more to satisfy certain customers who want to see documentation.  It NEVER moves.

Our Blood-Sausage platemaker is supposed to check 1 plate from every job.  I don't know how often he checks...I avoid him as much as I can.

beck

[david]

We verify every proof from our Approvals and our Epson.
We check every plate that comes out of our Lotems.

Now, when I say "we", I mean the output guys (proofers and platemakers).

we have a lot of free time...
 



edit:
now I say we check every plate and proof, but we don't actually have to work/calibrate the devices, they stay in check for the most part. There are very few times we have to do anything, usually one of the Kodak guys will drop by and check them out, get a thumbs up and they leave. Pretty stable in both areas.

[Chelle]

We calibrate weekly - or at least every other week. And two of us have to sign off on it. For the love of Pete...

[Joe]

Proofers - NEVER

CTP - Weekly (in theory only)

[frailer]

Sort of in beck's territory.   'cept I'm the plate BS as well.  I try and not talk to myself; well too much...   

[Lumpy]

I Calibrate our platesetter every monday morning, proofer also every monday morning (or at least I try to).

[G_Town]

We read the K plate on every job and record it in a log book, same with processor temp conductivity, plate count etc...

Our Fuji I check every 2 months and that also goes in a log book, the epson never (hell they won't quit dumping crap on it long enough for me to try and get it printing clean) but as we go more and more G7 it will also get the log book treatment.

Monitors never, numbers man numbers.

[almaink]

Proofer never
Platesetter when ever I change chemistry, see problems,
or hear about problems from the pressroom.

[Farabomb]

Have to calibrate the epson every 7 days. The KPS software doesn't give me a choice.

[Stiv]

Epson 9800 - Daily - Run and measure TC3.5 CMYK target, log and compare to Baseline, record Delta E.

CTP - Weekly - Run and measure calibration target for every line screen on each CTP device, on each plate thickness, log results.

CTP - Measure and log 50% patch of each plate for every job.

[xot]

All proofing devices here are color-checked every morning and only recalibrated when the measurement is off.

Same for the iGen3 except we usually do recal's after belt changes and/or developer changes.

[beermonster]

ctp - only when needed - which is none so far - plates are excellent and press love em

cromalin - once a month - no problems

now- back to quark bashing everyone

[Lumpy]

Quark sucks.