Digital BW, The Print

> From: Steve Kale [mailto:stevekale@...]
>
> Well I think the place to start is to better understand how the R800
> actually works, ie Epson's intentions.  Is the gloss woven into the dither
> or does it follow the ink lay down like a spray (in the way the
> last set of
> dots follows all the rest)?  Is it laid down evenly regardless of
> the amount
> of ink (ie does a 100% patch receive the same amount of gloss as
> 0% patch)?
> And yes there is no reason for the original print to be printed
> on an R800.

I don't know where the Epson printers lay down GLOP: on top of only the
black ink, on top of the other ink, or in the spaces between the ink. I
would guess the latter, and one might be able to tell by watching the GLOP
level on a light print versus a dark print. But it seems clear that it
doesn't lay it down everywhere, or the GLOP cart would probably be quite a
bit bigger. However, since GLOP doesn't have a color, it's probably harmless
to the image quality to lay it down everywhere, the excess merely being
wasted.

Another question is whether one should wait for the original print to dry
thoroughly before using a separate pass (or separate printer) to lay down
any overcoating. The glycols in Epson inks take several days to outgas, and
I don't know if extra GLOP would just lengthen this a little, or
fundamentally upset the drying process. I expect the GLOP may just be the
same ink carrier without pigment.

--

Ciao,               Paul D. DeRocco
Paul                mailto:pderocco@...