Digital BW, The Print

To all who responded, thanks so much for the generous advice. You 
probably saved me from a second 3000 nightmare. I'm going to work on 
funding a 7000/7500 and buy a new inset for the 1160 in the mean 
time. I got a Piezo Selenium sample print and was very impressed. 
I've also been read all the dialog about fading Piezo blacks. What's 
the current thinking on the best selenium/cool inkset? 

Now that I can wrap my own coating rods, I'll work on an refining 
that process. Looks to me like coatings have to be the most direct 
way to a rich, deep B&W print.

Robert

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "Paul Roark" 
<paul.roark@v...> wrote:
> Robert,
> 
> >... with new materials and particularly coatings,
> >it looks like quality can actually exceed silver.
> 
> The coating should still be considered experimental.  I, for one, 
have not
> been able to produce a perfect, one-step coated 16x20 with my 
3000.  Between
> the need to use thin paper (EAM/EEM, for example) and the pizza 
wheels (even
> when most have been removed per recommendations) the waviness of 
the paper
> that was totally irrelevant for flat matte prints becomes a real 
problem for
> coating with a rod.
> 
> Personally, as big a fan of the 3000 as I was, I've just grabbed a 
7500.
> One just sold on Ebay for only $1200.  People are dumping these to 
get the
> 7600.  I am making/MIS probably mixing Epson Archival K-based quads
> (Piezo/FS-compatible as well as variable tone) for this as well as 
other
> machines.  I will, of course, make any curves I write public.  I'd 
real
> seriously look at a 7500 (or 7000) if you're thinking of coating 
large
> display prints.  (And I think they will be terrific if we can do it 
with a
> rod in one step.)
> 
> >Is [the 3000] significantly less sharp than the 1160?
> 
> No.  With quads in mine, I even printed most of my B&W Xmas cards 
with it.
> I also have an 1160, and don't consider the 3000 second rate to the 
1160 at
> all.
> 
> >Has the Piezo driver banding problem been resolved?
> 
> Yes, the 1440 mode of the later versions is very smooth in my 720-
banding
> 3000.  However, its dog slow.
> 
> >If I end up with a 3000 that won't tolerate the Piezo driver, how
> >much am I giving up? How do the Epson Driver /separation workflows
> >perform on the 3000?
> 
> I have the Piezo driver but prefer the Epson driver.  It has deeper 
blacks,
> is faster than the 1440 Piezo mode, and allows me to continue to 
use my
> computer and PS to do other work while it is printing.
> 
> >How does the MIS variable tone ink set perform with only
> >3 black/gray inks?
> 
> I usually have the MIS vm-s (sepia-to-neutral) inkset in the 3000.  
Some see
> the blue dots of the standard vm inkset with the neutral or cool 
tones.
> With the vm-s inkset, there is no toner in the neutral highlights.  
Also,
> the sepia toner seems to stand out less than the blue toner.  So, 
I've never
> been aware of the dots in my 3000 vm-s prints.
> 
> Good luck.
> 
> Paul
> http://www.PaulRoark.com