Digital BW, The Print

>> .....You are getting "inconsistencies" ...

Todd wrote:

>Yes my experience with this printer includes both Piezo inks
>and MIS VM. But in case your question is "is MIS VM prone to
>greenies or DSS" I don't know, but I don't think what I am
>referring to is as drastic as either of those.
>My point was I think printers go through periods of subtle variance, which
>makes predictability difficult.

>I think what I am speaking to is printer inconsistencies that occur without
>regard to what ink is in them. ...

Todd,

I agree.  My 1160 is + or - about 1-2%.  Sometime it will be quite
consistent for a long while, then things are slightly different.  It's
happened with Piezo and MIS.  Also, I used to have banding that would show
up every once in a while with Piezo.  I have not noticed it (yet) with MIS.

I appear to have suffered from the "greenies" without knowing it with Piezo.
I thought that was just its normal behavior.  But when I put some Piezo in
carts, it was less green than my old CIS and much darker.

I don't think the MIS VM could cause a green shift, however, because there
is no dye in it.  I'm convinced the green is coming from dye in Piezo.

I'm going to try to find some Piezo ink that has never been near to CIS,
since I think they may be a part of the problem.

I've also heard that the Piezo co-solvent base may be too viscous for the
Epson heads.  That alone or in combination with the co-solvent's greater
"aggregating" (read clumping?) character and lower solubility could be at
the heart of the problem.

The MIS VM black is also a co-solvent ink.  So far, it seems to be OK,  but
I hedged my bet by making the VM curves/system compatible with the old MIS
quad black also.

My observations are that the Piezo problems seem to be with the midtones,
not the black.  Does this coincide with others' experiences?

The MIS VM and FS midtones use mostly the traditional MIS clear base, which
is not a co-solvent base.  So, I think we are fairly safe with the midtones.
I do worry a bit about the black ink.

It would be a shame if we were in a position where the best black (Piezo and
Vm/FS probably being the same ink) was an inherent problem.

Paul
http://www.PaulRoark.com