Digital BW, The Print

Ernst,

You wrote:

>If Ultrachrome black and grey are used in a quad would the grey be the
>second in density ...

I have been waiting for the MIS clones to see what we could do with it.  I
assume that the clone UC ink is at least an accurate density and viscosity
match for the real thing, and it would be a lot cheaper for me to do my
playing around with free inks.  However, once a good quad mix is found,
buying some UC to see (be sure) it is easy to substitute is the obvious next
move.

>The idea is that on a 3000 with a CIS it would be possible
>to bring five ink lines near the head. 3 greys based on the
>Ultrachrome grey + the two
>Ultrachrome blacks: photo and mat. That is a fade proof
>pigment set with mat and gloss printing possible without
>much ink loss in the ink change.

I'm not sure how the CIS lines near the head would work. I've never gotten
that far into the mechanics of the machine.

Even with the current, unmodified 3000, however, switching would not be too
bad.  Since we can clean just the black, we can drain that line in 3
cleaning cycles without any "color" ink being wasted.  That is a whole lot
better than the 7600 -- which will cost the price of a full cart of ink when
the blacks are switched.

>The advantage of the 3000 is that it cleans the black head separately.

I don't understand why Epson did not design the 7600/9600 to clean only the
black head/line.  Again, it sounds like the various design departments at
Epson just do not talk to each other.

>A VM set would be possible too.

Absolutely.  The vm-s is my first target.  However, I also have some ideas
that might get us some much tougher standard quads at MIS prices.  (The UC
clones are more expensive.)  With any luck, we will see some more quality
improvements in quads this year.

Paul
http://www.PaulRoark.com