Digital BW, The Print

Kevin,

>I am thinking of buying a C86 and the MIS EZ Inks to get started in 
>quality B&W printing, I have a few questions:

>1.) Will this system clog if prints are not made for a while?

I've been printing with one recently.  I did some printing 9/23, and then
stopped printing until this last week.  There was no serious clogging from
that period of sitting.  In general I've not had these problems with
pigments.

>  How easy is it to clear the nozzles?

Most of the "clogs" I've experienced are air bubbles.  I've been using the
new poppet-valve, easy-refill carts that MIS recently has obtained for the
C86 and C84.  I was having some problems getting them started, but I found
that the problem was, as usual, a bubble that was being trapped at the
outlet by filling from the top without a vacuum.  I solved the problem by
turning the cart upside down and using a syringe with a shortened bottom
fill adapter to suck out the air.

I'm totally sold on these carts and bulk ink.  These carts are extremely
easy to fill.  MIS's latest batch had a pre-drilled reservoir and little
rubber stoppers to seal them.  When the reservoir gets near empty, I just
pull the cork, squirt in more ink to re-fill the cart, re-set the chips
(with a modified resetter guide), and it's ready to go.  I've also been able
to switch carts -- changing Photo K and Eboni matte K at will -- with
perfect nozzle checks.  I can't say, of course, what long term problems
there may be from re-using these poppet-valve carts, but so far they are an
amazing improvement over the old-style carts.

To clean the parking pad and head with Windex, I've found that the old
system of releasing the head doesn't work very well.  With the C86, the
following procedure seems to work to release the head assembly: push the ink
changing button and then unplug the printer when the head is in the ink
changing spot.  Then the usual procedures can be used.

>2.) This will be a dedicated B&W printer, I'll buy it new and not 
>load color inks.  However, I would like to switch between the warm 
>and neutral tones, is this possible?

It looks like changing inks can be done at will even with partially used
carts.  Be sure to get the poppet-valve carts.  See
http://www.inksupply.com/index.cfm?source=html/c84refill.html 

>3.) All the info I have read says you can send a B&W image or a 
>color image to the printer.  Is there any differance if you convert 
>to grayscale first?

The system works best if the color is removed from and RGB image.  I print
Gray Gamma 2.2 grayscale files.

I've been updating my information page.  See
http://home1.gte.net/res09aij/C86-EZ-UT-Readme.htm   I have been updating
papers and settings.  Those that are listed are what I recommend.  Of
course, others may work fine.  On the other hand, one that recently was
removed is Entrada.  So far I'm not happy with the settings I've been able
to come up with.  But, this is a work in progress.

Good luck.  The C86 is a great little printer for 8x10 B&W.

Paul
www.PaulRoark.com