Digital BW, The Print

I am VERY impressed with how quickly IJM is now able to adapt to changes.
One of the problems for me before was that they were stuck with the sundance
inks... from the Piezo list...

Julian
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jon Cone" <piezobw@...>
To: <piezography3000@yahoogroups.com>
Cc: <piezobwpro@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Thursday, August 29, 2002 7:49 PM
Subject: [piezoBW] PiezoTone News



PiezoTone News



Dear Piezographers,

Thank you for your enthusiasm for our new PiezoTone inks! Really, you have
yourselves to thank because they are a result of our commitment to your
satisfaction. We work tirelessly to create the \ufffdperfect ink\ufffd and your
feedback and comments play a huge part in attaining that goal.

We were unable to influence the manufacturer (Sundance) of the original
PiezoBW ink to make formula changes for the better so we made our own. We
are making great strides now that we have control over the manufacturing
process and a team of ink chemists on our side. We are producing the inks in
small batches in order to respond quickly to correct or adjust the formulas
as the inks gain widespread use after considerable alpha and beta testing.

As a small, artful, ink developer and manufacturer we are able to respond
quickly to problems and customer needs as well as devise and implement
creative solutions for our industry.

We continue to appreciate your patronage and welcome your comments!



Testing Lab \ufffd How it is Equipped and Guidelines for Effective Feedback

Cone Editions built and shares with Inkjetmall a state-of-the-art testing
lab. We have an EPSON 7500, 3 EPSON 7000, 1 EPSON 9000, 15 EPSON 860, 6
EPSON 1160, 6 EPSON 1200, 4 EPSON 1280, 7 EPSON 3000. All of which are
dedicated to ink testing. We have tons of other EPSONs which are used for
other purposes. We are armed and we are dangerous! This is an awesome
testing facility. So when a problem arises we are able to mobilize a small
army of printers to test both cartridge and CIS form and with 4 inks... Not
a quick check!

Please understand that not every issue that comes up is related to the inks.
Often it is a singular hardware issue, or a pattern of hardware issues in
multiple printers. It is difficult for us to ascertain if it is exactly ink
specific, or if changing a formula, or a component of the delivery system,
is necessary to make it compatible in a greater number of printers which are
at a lower standard than other printers. Or if it is simply broke! But that
is our job and we are on it 24/7. It is in our best interest (yours and
ours) that we investigate all issues, so please do not reserve comments if
you see a pattern affecting others that you are also experiencing. The other
side of that coin is for you to exhaust technical and maintenance issues
before pronouncing cause and effect relationships. Avoid having us spend
time on things that mysteriously clear up or go away. Keep us chasing only
legitimate issues, and we will evolve these inks continuously.



PiezoTone Selenium Tone Reports of Bluish Cast

PROBLEM: A bluish cast being printed in the highlights using Selenium inks.
We were not seeing these results in our lab, but the prints sent in by users
confirmed that it was happening to more than one. It seems to be related
mostly to the 1280 cartridge.

ACTION: We sent a quantity of each cartridge pre-filled to our ink chemists
who performed scientific analysis to determine if there was anything
physical happening within the cartridges themselves that might be affecting
the inks.

No problems with the Selenium 1160 & 860 cartridges. Some of the cartridges
for the 1200 have a slight separation of the two different color pigments
inside and outside of the sponge. The bluish pigment is coming more inside
the sponge and hence some printed bluish effect. But the 1280 cartridges
have serious problems and are absorbing much of the carbon while releasing
much of the color pigments. This, of course, is unacceptable.

Because cartridges are purchased by ink filling houses by the tons and are
often different each time they are ordered, we do not have control over this
issue. We can have the chemists increase the dispersion stability or we can
change the sponge material. Changing the dispersion stability may not affect
all known cartridge designs and sponge materials. So we have decided to have
our own cartridge manufactured with a sponge material that is appropriate to
carbon pigment inks. Additionally, we will assure that the breathing holes
are always of the right size and shape. The vacuum and breathing of a
cartridge is often the single most reason for banding in a printer.

We will also change the dispersion stability of the formula because,
although we do not advise customers to do their own cartridge refilling, we
know that some will always choose to buy the bulk bottles and fill their
own, or use CIS systems which might use a variety of cartridge designs.
Because there is no way to guarantee the stability and manufacture of empty
virgin cartridges made by everyone in the world, we will do what we can to
safeguard our customers who choose to make their own pre-filled cartridges
or run varying CIS systems. We will also supply our CIS manufacturers with
these special cartridges so that they can make products more adaptable to a
pure pigment ink industry. We vow not to pass on the costs of this
manufacture to our end users, and we believe that we will still be able to
lower our ink costs when we go to large production runs! (read my lips! no
new taxes!)

We plan to implement a replacement program for the 1200 and 1280 cartridges,
whether the end-user is affected or not so that we can assure consistency in
the product. We will send these out as soon as available in late September.
If you like the bluish effect, you might stock up, but these would be inks
without the fade resistance and longevity that we intended, so hold off if
that is an important quality.



PiezoTone Carbon Sepia

Carbon is a pigment which is a very dark brown color. Carbon black is not
very dark. It is also a pigment which is difficult to manufacture into an
ink on its own. Most manufacturers need to incorporate other dyestuff or
pigments to aid in dispersion and suspension. We have found a way to produce
a carbon\ufffdonly ink by careful shaping and filtering which produces the
PiezoTone Carbon Sepia inks. They do not have any additional dyestuff or
pigments for color. The result is an ink with the highest stability and
longevity possible. This was our goal when we decided to replace the strong
co-solvents normally associated with inkjet inks with a much more inert
solution. Stability is also affected by the solvent which the pigment is
dispersed in.

The Carbon Sepia PiezoTones are printing very beautifully on different
papers, ranging from the platinum palladium look to the look of sepia. We
are going to have to publish a color chart for this ink in regards to paper.
It is that complex! We are, perhaps, the most excited about this ink in
terms of its longevity potential and its ability to imitate such a wide
variety of tones. This ink will be released only in the new cartridge
design. Release date is now late September (better safe than sorry).



PiezoTone Cool Neutral

Now that we are redesigning cartridges, PiezoTone Cool Neutral is going back
to the chemists for a color change. After recently reviewing the color of
other cool monochromatic inks we have decided that these other inks are
arguably too cool for our tastes and we are going to have a bit better
separation from similar products by being more neutral on the cool side,
rather than being cool blue on the neutral side. We are convinced that
looking photographic is essential. These new inks will also be released late
September and only in the new cartridge designs.




Best regards,



Jon Cone
Piezography Brand Inks and Software



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