Primera Technology CX1200 specifications Troubleshooting and Maintenance, Matching Pantone Colors

TOC INDEX

Section 9: Troubleshooting and Maintenance

9.1 Matching Pantone Colors

Important Note: PANTONE® to CMYK Bridge documents/files are available on the installation disc in the Pantone Folder. These documents/files allow you to look up a Pantone Color number and find the corresponding CMYK value to use in the file that will be printed on the CX1200. See below for more explantation.

The CX1200 is a CMYK printer. This means any PANTONE® colors must be approximated using CMYK color values. Most PANTONE colors can be approximated quite accurately using these CMYK color values. Custom CMYK data has been developed for 1,137 colors from the PANTONE solid coated color library of the PANTONE MATCHING SYSTEM® for the optimal reproduction on the CX1200. Under the Pantone folder on your installation disc you will find the following folders/files to assist with this process:

1.Calibrated Look-up Table\CX1200_Pantone_Swatches.pdf - This document is a full color PDF with over 1000 swatches of color. Below each color is the CMYK value and the corresponding Pantone Color number.

2.Look Up Tabel Text\CX1200 Pantone.pdf - This is a text only (no swatches) version of the document described above.

3.Application Support Files - This folder contains other folders for various application-specific, ready-to-use palette files for a number of Macintosh and Windows® applications. The files provided have been organized and formatted for Macintosh and Windows operating system. Each of these folders contains a collection of platform and application specific visually calibrated palettes. There are folders by product name or software publisher to help you locate the particular file you are seeking These files allow you to match CMYK values to Pantone values through the software program. This is an automatic method of doing exactly the same manual matching procedure described in 1 and 2 above. Refer to your specific design program manual for instructions on importing these palettes.

Note: The white brightness factor and other properties of the label stock used can affect the output of color.

Instructions for matching Pantone

While the CX1200 utilizes a Pantone calibrated printer it is not capable of reproducing all Pantone colors like a flexo press. Instead it is a CMYK digital laser press. As with any CMYK printer it is not possible produce exact Pantone colors. However it is possible to approximate the Pantone colors using specific CMYK color values. The color values must be used when the labels are being designed. It is not possible to match Pantone colors when printing to the CX1200 using the same image file that was used for another printer. To match Pantone colors the image file must be designed specifically for the the CX1200.

Once you have decided on the specific Pantone color your are going to match, record the Pantone number. Now open the CX1200_Pantone_Swatches.pdf or the reference table, find the Pantone number and the corresponding CMYK value. Use that value for this Pantone color in your design program.

For example, if you intend to match Pantone 274C find that color in the reference table or the CX1200_Pantone_Swatches.pdf . The resulting value would be C:95 M:100 Y:0 K:13

Note: The CMYK values in the CX1200 Pantone Palette are not the same CMYK values in the Pantone Color Bridge book purchased from Pantone.

44 Troubleshooting and Maintenance