Digital BW, The Print

This is a simplified version of a question I asked earlier.

I recently bought a 2200 and I'm enjoying its ability
to print on a wide variety of media.  So far I've printed
on brown paper (bag) paper, artist's watercolor paper
(Canson 140# cold press), and gesso'd canvas.   Last
night I printed on a brown, toothed paper I use for pastels
and then applied pastels afterwards.  It looked really nice
and I think my figure photography done using this
technique might be salable.

THE QUESTION:  some people on another forum
(Photo.Net) have warned that printing on oddball media
might damage the print heads.  They offered no basis for
ecxpet speculation.   I did extensive Google searches
on phrases like "print head damage", "damage your
print heads", etc, etc, and the only hits I got had to
do with using 3rd-party inks - nothing about the media.

How do I assess the risks of damaging my print heads
using oddball media?

Not sure how you would assess the risks of damaging your print heads, 
but...
I recall seeing somewhere on the web a detailed saga by someone who 
had hopelessly clogged heads on an Epson Photo printer and who had 
removed the head assembly from the printer to explore what exactly 
was plugged and to try different things to get it unclogged. The web 
page had a number of very clear pictures of the head assembly. The 
part of the print head that faces the paper surface did not appear to 
be at all delicate. It looked like a block of steel with a bunch of 
very fine apertures through which (I presume) the inks eject. My 
impression was that the head is not really subject to damage from 
media.

...Ben

> THE QUESTION:  some people on another forum
> (Photo.Net) have warned that printing on oddball media
> might damage the print heads.  They offered no basis for
> ecxpet speculation.   I did extensive Google searches
> on phrases like "print head damage", "damage your
> print heads", etc, etc, and the only hits I got had to
> do with using 3rd-party inks - nothing about the media.
> 
> How do I assess the risks of damaging my print heads
> using oddball media?

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, peter nelson 
<peter@s...> wrote:
> This is a simplified version of a question I asked earlier.
> 
> I recently bought a 2200 and I'm enjoying its ability
> to print on a wide variety of media.  So far I've printed
> on brown paper (bag) paper, artist's watercolor paper
> (Canson 140# cold press), and gesso'd canvas.   Last
> night I printed on a brown, toothed paper I use for pastels
> and then applied pastels afterwards.  It looked really nice
> and I think my figure photography done using this
> technique might be salable.
> 
> THE QUESTION:  some people on another forum
> (Photo.Net) have warned that printing on oddball media
> might damage the print heads.  They offered no basis for
> ecxpet speculation.   I did extensive Google searches
> on phrases like "print head damage", "damage your
> print heads", etc, etc, and the only hits I got had to
> do with using 3rd-party inks - nothing about the media.
> 
> How do I assess the risks of damaging my print heads
> using oddball media?

I don't think you can cause terminal damage to the print head, but 
you can throw it way out of alignment if it bumps or scrapes 
repeatedly while zipping across the print. Check your heavier media 
for signs of scraping, and check the head alignment occasionally, if 
it seems your high-speed mode printing is getting fuzzy. 
 One thing strange media can do to the printer, is damage the paper 
transport mechanism, so if you find it resisting something you're 
trying to feed it, take a hint-or buy an extended warranty, like I 
did. I've used it three times so far, and once was precisely for 
that problem.

Something I feel I should point out about your experimenting: 
Interestng as it may be, what you're producing on all those weird 
non-archival acid impregnated (shopping bags?) media is TEMPORARY 
ART. Lovely, wild, exciting, (I'd love to see some) but with the 
proverbial 'lifespan of a sperm-cell' if you're using OEM dye inks, 
and only a bit less so if you're using pigments. Something to think 
about when you're choosing media...

Best of luck,

Steve K

> Something I feel I should point out about your experimenting:
> Interestng as it may be, what you're producing on all those weird
> non-archival acid impregnated (shopping bags?) media is TEMPORARY
> ART. Lovely, wild, exciting, (I'd love to see some) but with the
> proverbial 'lifespan of a sperm-cell' if you're using OEM dye inks,
> and only a bit less so if you're using pigments. Something to think
> about when you're choosing media...
>

 Mind you, a lot of that so called "TEMPORARY ART" produced by artists using
paintbrushes loaded with all sorts of oddball paints on similar media hang
on gallery and museum walls and sell for very good prices....

Don't get hung up on the 'archival" neurosis of this list. It's not the only
part of the equation.

tim

> Is there a fine-art inkjet forum someplace
> on the where where people discuss this stuff?
>
> Thanks for your comments on head damage.
>
> ---peter

Try:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/digital-fineart

At 08:25 AM 1/23/2003 +0000, you wrote:
>Something I feel I should point out about your experimenting:
>Interestng as it may be, what you're producing on all those weird
>non-archival acid impregnated (shopping bags?) media is TEMPORARY
>ART. Lovely, wild, exciting, (I'd love to see some) but with the
>proverbial 'lifespan of a sperm-cell' if you're using OEM dye inks,
>and only a bit less so if you're using pigments. Something to think
>about when you're choosing media...


The Epson 2200 uses pigment-based inks with allegedly
good archival qualities.  Except for the brown paper bags
all the media I've been printing on is museum grade
artists media such as watercolor paper, pastel paper,
gesso'd artists canvas and linen, etc.  So once the ink is dry
on these things is there any reason to think they will be
unstable?

I asked a related question in an earlier thread about
the physical and chemical properties of the inks and
coatings and I didn't get any answers related to that
question.  Is there a fine-art inkjet forum someplace
on the where where people discuss this stuff?

Thanks for your comments on head damage.

---peter