Digital BW, The Print

I've been printing with the my experimental Eboni-based quad and have found
that with the Piezo driver I often get some unevenness in smooth tones --
like wide banding.  With the Epson driver none of this is present.  I don't
know if it is my 1160, the old Piezo driver, or the inkset.  My 1160 often
didn't do very well with the Piezo driver, which is one reason I switched to
the Epson driver long ago.  (Since my target for the inkset is the Epson
driver and vm-s, this is not an issue that concerns me now.)

For the Epson driver, I have a curve that prints the "Eboni-NS" (my name)
very well on the 1160.  (The curve is cross-platform.)

I have done enough with this for now.  I'll have to see the fade tests
before pursuing this approach further.  (For now this is only for those who
want to mix your own ink.)

Paul
http://www.PaulRoark.com
_________________________________________

-----Original Message-----
From: Paul Roark [mailto:paul.roark@...]
Sent: Monday, August 25, 2003 4:20 PM
To: DigitalB&WPrint
Subject: [Digital BW] Eboni-Neutral/Selenium, Piezo-compatible inkset


As I mentioned previously, I'm experimenting with Eboni-based inksets.  The
purposes include to see if I can make an even more lightfast inkset than the
Ultra Tones (Eboni is remarkably stable and more neutral than the UT grays),
to upgrade the vm-s inkset (which currently used FS-N as the gray ink), and
to make available another alternative for the old Piezo driver.

The interim formula I have for a Piezo-compatible inkset is as follows:

The cyan position ink is

	23.9% Eboni black,
	4.8% MIS 7600 cyan,
	6.5% MIS 7600 magenta,
	64.8% MIS clear base.

The magenta-position ink is 23.5% cyan dark gray, above, remainder clear
base.

The yellow-position ink is 45% magenta middle gray, above, remainder clear
base.

This ink is for matte paper, not RC.

The Piezo driver on my 1160 prints the inks with the following densitometer
readings:

	25% patch: c=.32, m=.33, y=.32, visual=.32

	50% patch: c=.61, m=.62, y=.61, v=.62

	75% patch: c=.95, m=.96, y=.94, v=.95

So, the ink is quite neutral, going a bit cool in the shadows, and having a
bit of a "selenium" bias to it.

I matched the old PiezoBW ink densities with the above mix.  Note that the
PiezoTone sample test prints that have been sent to me indicate that ink is
a bit more dense than the original PiezoBW ink.

For the ink mixers out there, this might give you an interesting and rather
inexpensive alternative to the current PT selenium.

I have no idea if MIS is interested in mixing this ink.  I'll, of course,
send the formula to them also.

I will be fade testing various alternatives to this formula -- basically
different color pigments.  Based on past experience, I expect the MIS 7600
color pigs used here to win that contest, but since I have not tested this
combination before, the results could be different.

Hope this is useful.

Paul
http://www.PaulRoark.com




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