Digital BW, The Print

I have previously mentioned that I occasionally notice increased unevenness
in the "high-load" black pigs I've been printing.  I think I've made some
progress with these now.

The short answer is that turning off "High Speed" printing on my 1160 seems
to get rid of the vertical lines/marks that have appeared in some of my dark
black skies.

As background, what I call "high-load" pigments are those that use one of
the new bases that allows pigmented inks to carry a higher content of
pigment.  Whereas the older pigments contained up to about 3% pigment, the
new ones are up in the 6% to higher range.  The UltraChromes and the
PiezoTone Museum black are currently-available samples that come to mind,
but these pigments will be increasingly available.

The good news with respect to the high-load pigments includes the increased
gamut of the color pigs and the deeper black that can be achieved without
any dye.

The bad news may be increase sensitivity to damage that this big pile of
pigment on the paper causes.  I think this puts the image at greater risk of
physical abrasion, among other things.  (I may spray a light archival
fixative on even my matte images to protect them.)

The vertical lines I've been seeing in my black skies may be mechanical
marks put on a more-exposed pile of pigments on the surface of the paper.
With the "High Speed" off these pigs, perhaps, have more time to dry and
thus resist damage done by the 1160's rollers.

Paul
http://www.PaulRoark.com

Paul --
I thought that Hydrocote was now the final stage in your workflow, 
but from what you say about spraying a fixative to set the high-load 
pigs, this doesn't seem to be the case. Are you not regularly using 
Hydrocote? 

I spent quite a bit of time trying to get even coatings (using a 
Mayer #30)and finally achieved a good result. Alas, I found I didn't 
care for the appearance of the coated print as much as the smooth 
matte surface, even with the better dmax, so I abandoned the 
practice. But I thought you were fully into it. Not so?

 "Paul Roark" <paul.roark@v...> wrote:
> I have previously mentioned that I occasionally notice increased 
unevenness
> in the "high-load" black pigs I've been printing.  I think I've 
made some
> progress with these now.
> 
> The short answer is that turning off "High Speed" printing on my 
1160 seems
> to get rid of the vertical lines/marks that have appeared in some 
of my dark
> black skies.
> 
> As background, what I call "high-load" pigments are those that use 
one of
> the new bases that allows pigmented inks to carry a higher content 
of
> pigment.  Whereas the older pigments contained up to about 3% 
pigment, the
> new ones are up in the 6% to higher range.  The UltraChromes and 
the
> PiezoTone Museum black are currently-available samples that come 
to mind,
> but these pigments will be increasingly available.
> 
> The good news with respect to the high-load pigments includes the 
increased
> gamut of the color pigs and the deeper black that can be achieved 
without
> any dye.
> 
> The bad news may be increase sensitivity to damage that this big 
pile of
> pigment on the paper causes.  I think this puts the image at 
greater risk of
> physical abrasion, among other things.  (I may spray a light 
archival
> fixative on even my matte images to protect them.)
> 
> The vertical lines I've been seeing in my black skies may be 
mechanical
> marks put on a more-exposed pile of pigments on the surface of the 
paper.
> With the "High Speed" off these pigs, perhaps, have more time to 
dry and

> thus resist damage done by the 1160's rollers.
> 
> Paul
> http://www.PaulRoark.com

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "Paul Roark" 
<paul.roark@v...> wrote:
<snip>

> 
> The bad news may be increase sensitivity to damage that this big 
pile of
> pigment on the paper causes.  I think this puts the image at greater 
risk of
> physical abrasion, among other things.  (I may spray a light 
archival
> fixative on even my matte images to protect them.)
> 
> The vertical lines I've been seeing in my black skies may be 
mechanical
> marks put on a more-exposed pile of pigments on the surface of the 
paper.
> With the "High Speed" off these pigs, perhaps, have more time to dry 
and
> thus resist damage done by the 1160's rollers.
> 
> Paul

I've been running some experiments with my 2200/IP5 with Photorag 308 
and 188 at 1440 and 2880 (7 minutes vs 15 1/2 minutes for 8 x 10) and 
Eclipse Satine BW 190 gsm at 1440 and 2880 WITH 100% ink reduction, 
95% ink reduction, and 90% ink reduction.

Photoag 308 shows vertical lines above 80%k on your stepwedge, and on 
the visual stepwedge IP5 folks gave me. They correspond to the Pizza 
wheels, which are riding in a spring loaded piece of sheet metal on 
the 2200. I get faint output roller marks too, not as many and much 
harder to see...and no my rollers don't need cleaning yet, but even 
when I did clean anyway, the marks are there. I couldn't get it to 
appear on 188 gsm version, but I only tried one sheet.

Photorag 308 shows the marks whether at 1440 or 2880, whether paper 
thickness is set thin or thick. The marks are exactly able to be 
duplicated in same place on as many prints as I care to run. I did not 
do any ink reduction for this paper.

The marks appear on Eclipse, but are far less obvious. However they 
appear whether 2880 or 1440 is used, and whether 100%, 95%, or 90% ink 
reduction is used.

This would seem to indicate that slowing down printer to less than 
half speed to allow drying does not help (I used corrected 2880 curves 
from IP5 so I assume ink load was adjusted to acheive same density for 
the two dpi's). Also reducing the ink load down to 90% of what it was 
does not help, at least on Eclipse.

I must add that I am viewing these letter sized samples under an 18 
watt OTT-Lite from a 6 inch distance. I also must tip the paper at an 
angle to see the roller marks/ pizza scratch marks. As an untrained 
observer, my wife could not see the marks on any Eclipse paper, but 
picked up the pizza scratch marks but not roller marks on Photorag 
308.

My solution is to live with it for now. I tried running a rougher 
texture paper through (German Etching) and the 2200 got very upset- it 
apparently doesn't want to transport it (lit up after awhile with 
flashing lights). If I need a dark area printed I will probably use 
Eclipse paper. Or Photorag 188 might work. I am going to get a new 
2200 for an unrelated problem and this may solve this as well.

If not, there may be a way to partially counteract the 15 cent spring 
holding the output sheet metal down. Actually, with this design there 
is more options than with the 1280, probably the 1160-I forgot what 
pizza wheels look like on it. I can reach down into 2200 printer bed 
and lift all the rollers/pizza wheels completely up in air.
Jim H.

> http://www.PaulRoark.com