"photog0946" <photog0946@...> wrote:
> Paul,... could you direct me to, in your opinion, the best inkset for the 7600 specifically.
"Best," of course, differs for different uses and subjective criteria.
> I have both the PK and MK printers, so I may relegate them both to BW.
I prefer to have at least 5 Eboni/Carbon-6 channels. Frankly, I even prefer only a single ink type in the entire printer (but I'm limited in space and other variables).
I currently have 5 Carbon-6 and 3 MIS warm glossy inks (PK, LK, & LLK) in my 7800. See page 4 of the PDF that explains what I'm using currently, posted at
http://www.paulroark.com/BW-Info/Carbon-BW-2010.pdf
(The 1400 setup is what went to the workshop this summer.)
The only reason for the MIS warm glossy inks is to print a "sepia tone" (Lab B about 14) I need for a special museum exhibit of historic old photos.
In my 1400, in fact, I'm probably going to pull the MIS LK and go back to just Eboni-6 (which MIS sells pre-loaded for the 1400) and the HP PK, which I use for gallery brochures. This is what I called "Eboni-1400" and wrote up at http://www.paulroark.com/BW-Info/Eb1400.pdf (which was the PDF used last year at the GT workshop).
> I understand the "settling" issue and the cart agitation procedure, but what about the ink in the lines and the dampers and print head.
I would expect some settling in the heads and dampers, but the inks seem to get enough agitation soon enough that the problem has not appeared to be an overly significant factor in my printing.
To quantify the extent of variation in print densities caused by an idle printer with Carbon-6 installed, I let my 7800 sit still, unused for 5 weeks. Then I agitated the carts, turned on the printer, and printed a 21-Step test print on Arches Hot Press, using a profile that I had linearized in QTR prior to the 5-week period. The QTR Lab L should be a straight line, and it was not perfectly straight in this test after a 5 week idle period. However, compared to the other variables I've seen affecting profiles, the among of drift in 5 weeks did not strike me as excessive.
I've posted the test print Lab L graph here:
http://www.paulroark.com/BW-Info/Carb6-7800-5week-QTR.jpg
> Would it be wise to run a few cleaning cycles in order to be sure of the consistency of the ink before starting a printing session?
I'm not sure.
My procedure has been to agitate the carts before turning on the printer. Then when the printer is turned on, if it has sat for a while it'll ask me if I want to do a power cleaning. I think this type of cleaning refreshes the inks in the tubes and is probably in the printer firmware to deal with the very issue we're talking about. However, I say "No" and just go on with my printing. As a practical matter I'll almost certainly do some tests and small prints before I do a major one. So, the tubes and dampers are getting agitated.
That said, with Carbon-6 the cost of the ink is such that a cleaning might be a cost effective way to keep the system more stable.
Paul
www.PaulRoark.com