Digital BW, The Print

Ernst Dinkla <edinkla@...> wrote:
>
> Op 16-12-2010 20:37, Paul schreef:
> 
> > ... markets [for] this advanced dye ...
> >  Consider the rub-off problem of books printed  with
> > pigments. ...


 
> ... What did you have in mind; matte coated papers, 
> uncoated matte papers, satin coated papers? With dye 
> inks the last two performed best on fading/archival tests.


I'm not sure.  So far I have not found an uncoated paper that prints with a very good dmax.  A thin, uncoated paper might be ideal.

> Some years ago we shared a suspicion that Claria is somewhere 
> in between dye and pigment if the colorants are considered. 
> Has that changed for you? 

No.  The color dye molecules look like little dye stacks -- to the extent the companies have hinted at their structure.  But, they do appear to be in solution.  

So far, black with the single magenta -- mixed or as a toner -- seems to be a fairly good solution.  It's interesting to note that the Claria black shifts to toward magenta as it fades.  So, the addition of the magenta may be a good counter-shift strategy also.  

One open issue is whether to add some yellow.  When profiling with a Claria inkset, I found a few papers needed yellow.  There is a secondary Claria black fade shift to yellow that might be offset by the addition of a bit of yellow to the mix.  

Working against the addition to the yellow is the complexity and cost.  The yellow shift is small enough that I'm not worried about it for the uses I anticipate, and the main real world hurdle is the cost of the large carts.  I think spreading the cost via buying groups makes sense, but even there, the black is the main one that'll be used.  A single 1400 user, of course, could just buy Claria carts for the toners.  With a black cart, and dye base, and one Claria LM 1400 cart, it appears to far that a very nice inkset can be made for a very reasonable total price.

I wonder if Noritsu (or Epson) would have any interest or ability to stop a Noritsu dealer from having a confidential arrangement with a third party B&W ink seller to supply the carts at other than the $187 price.  If the carts could be obtained for closer to their cost, which is probably half the selling price, I wonder if there is commercial viability for B&W system? 

Anyway, I'll continue to report my progress and experience with these new-to-us materials.

Paul
www.PaulRoark.com