Halftone Printer problem...

[TigPrint]

I have a problem... we are a quick print shop, and we do some work using poly plates for one-color small quantity jobs. We used to print out our lasers to our Lanier, but have recently upgraded to a Konica Minolta laser printer. Soon after upgrading we found that we couldn't adjust the halftone screen down to 85 lpi. We need it down to at least 85 lpi, and can't get it there. Is there a cheap desktop laser out there we can output to that can do nice halftones for us? Or is there software that fixes this problem? I am printing from an iMac using Snow Leopard. Any suggestions or direction is so greatly appreciated!! 

[Possum]

Does your printer have a built-in RIP? If so, it ought to do whatever you want. You might ask a tech rep for the product.

[TigPrint]

It has a fiery rip. We did ask them about it & they said they did not know... ended up saying they didn't think it would do what we wanted. Can't seem to get it to make the dots any larger than 105 lpi. If I change the LPI in Quark or InDesign, it changes nothing on the print. The company leasing the printer to us says they can't help us, they don't think it will do what we want. I wonder if I have to go back to an old printer to be able to?

[Possum]

That seems strange that it won't go any lower, especially with a Fiery. I was using a Xante table top printer back in 1996 that would print 85 lpi for screen printing positives.
Try calling the Fiery people. I don't know about Fiery, but Xerox has what they call "second level" tech support.

If nothing else, you may try putting your design into Photoshop and printing from there, if possible. Photoshop will let you set the line frequency and angle, and since it's rasterized (for the most part) output, the dots should stay the way you want them.

[mwc]

Try the Konica Minolta site, you may get better results...(an updated driver maybe?)
http://kmbs.konicaminolta.us/content/support/supporthome.html

[Joe]

I have seen laser printers that won't print at 85 lpi but do work at 65 lpi or 45 lpi. See if it will do either of those.

[TigPrint]

I did visit the site & did download new drivers, but no luck still. I change the LPI in Quark, but it doesn't come out as 65 LPI. I have tried all different line screens, 65, 79, 75, 85, all without success.

I would love to know any desktop lasers that can do the halftones with lower line screens... we might have to purchase a reasonably priced desktop laser for these projects that require lower line screens.

Thanks!!

[Joe]

Are you printing from a Mac or a Windows PC? Have you been through all of the settings on the Fiery and make sure nothing like auto screening is selected? Is it the same type of Fiery RIP that was running the Lanier that did let you change the LPI? We have a Lanier with the Fiery RIP. When I get to work this afternoon I'll see if I can find something in the RIP that might help.

[TigPrint]

I am working from a Mac. I keep trying all the settings for the fiery.... no luck. If I change them, it doesn't seem to change anything on the print out. The Lanier did not have a fiery....

Thanks for all your help!

[andrew_74123]

Well i have a km bizhub c6500, and i had the same problem as u, printing halftones.

I found a solution that works.

I use corel draw x4.

So to print my halftones:

I print the file and choose "Device Independent Postscript File" as printer
in corel you can make separations and theres a lot of settings for halftones
print the file and save it.

download ghostscript and ghostcript viewer its for free..

open the .ps file using ghostscript viewer and print it from it.
make sure under ghostscript u choose windows gdi printer and set as "black and white"
if you dont the halftone wont appear.

I hope this helps and if u found another soultion or have questions about this message me

Andrew