So a little background first. I have opened a quick print/copy store similar to the old Kinko's stores. I spent 15 years there and was part of the team that brought large format printing into the company on the 90s.
To start my endeavor, I purchased a z3100 and a z6100. Both were used and had been idle a couple of months. I did some research here and elsewhere to ensure I could sell prints from these machines, as the major experience I had at Kinko's was with the 2500, 5000 and 5500 series Designjets. The 2500 was a dog but the 5000 and 5500 were beasts. I sold thousands of prints and made boatloads of money for the company both directly and indirectly though training and sales programs I developed.
When I picked up each machine, I cleaned them out, checked them out and started printing. I've made adjustments, updated firmware and replaced most of the expired ink.
So my dilemma seems to be paper profiles. I bought mostly HP papers from Amazon for my initial stock. I've got 20# uncoated and 28# coated bond. I've got HP satin photo paper (my absolute favorite to print on), scrim banner material, matte canvas and HP everyday instant dry photo gloss.
The photo gloss seems to give me the biggest problems on the z3100. I can print the same file with the same paper profile on the z6100 and the printer print beautifully with correct color every time. On the z3100, the quality is terrible, washed out and looks like the ink blobs. This is a genuine HP paper with the correct profile loaded when I load the roll and then again when I send the print to to machine.
Does anyone have any ideas? I know the printer is end of life. I'm selling these prints and will upgrade both as I reinvest in the business. For now, both make prints that people will buy. And I got these printers for almost nothing compared to new so I'd like to profit from them for as long as I can.
Any thoughts and suggestions are greatly appreciated.