Digital BW, The Print

David;

I'm not surprised you're having trouble keeping the ink on the film; 
you really do need to use the 
PK ink, and if that doesn't give you enough density try a combination 
of magenta and yellow to produce red. The dark magenta in particular 
can look every bit as 'grainy' as the K inks, you should still be 
able to get the effect you want.

Steve Karafyllakis

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "David" 
<dkfreed@...> wrote:
>
> I'm been printing digital "positives" on transparency film to use in
> making photo-polymer etching plates; similar to digital negatives, 
but
> I'm printing positive images with black ink only at 720 or 1440 DPI,
> because I want to get a dot/grain pattern that will become 
the "bite"
> in the etching plate.  
> 
> I'm been doing this on my Epson R2400, using the Quadtone RIP
> software, so I can print with black only ink. I have been using the
> Matte Black ink cartridge because it seems to give better opacity 
and
> coverage for this process (I read something similar about using this
> ink for digital negatives as well). 
> 
> The problem is that on the transparency films I've been trying, the
> matte black ink never seems to become permanent and I can smudge it
> with my finger. I thought this might not be a problem if I handled 
the
> sheets carefully, but under the pressure of the UV exposure unit
> (similar to a big contact print frame but with much more pressure), 
it
> seems the ink is getting smooshed against the plate and causing 
random
> rings and marks to show up in the final image, especially in areas
> with continuous tone.   
> 
> I'm wondering if people are having success with using the Photo 
black
> ink to print digital negatives, or if anyone has found a 
transparency
> film that will accept matte black ink? 
> 
> Any advice or suggestions would be helpful. 
> 
> Best, David.
>