Digital BW, The Print

Hi all,

Recent discussions on Piezography 'vs' MIS have become a little heated ;)
For a moment, I thought we must have been having a tete-a-tete about Mac
'vs' Window <grins>

Am I alone in thinking that the 'crystalisation' (the term which I assume
means - ink build-up on pads) is a good thing? Because, to me it says "This
ink contains pigment"! Of course, I am no ink chemist, that's just my gut
feeling.

And besides, if I have to clean a print-head once in a while, or wipe a pad
down - how is that different from the maintenence of cleaning a lens? Or
mixing chemicals? Perhaps we could all spend some time recounting dark-room
'horror' stories? Mine generally involve fellow students dragging the
corners of their prints over mine in the wash tray ;) Or perhaps someone
could tell me what being 'sensitised' to darkroom chemicals really means to
them?

I personally believe that the CIS system is not really a contributing factor
to any Piezo issues that people may encounter... tho' I have asked myself
the question in the past 'Could the sponge be reacting with the ink in some
way?' My _personal_ experience is not...

...and equally, I would be hesitant to draw _any_ conclusions about the
Piezo BW inks from performance of the Piezo Color inks. In the same way that
would still be happy to get into a F**d or drive a car with F***st**e tyres!
[but maybe not both together ;) ]

My personal viewpoint on all third part products starts with an assumption
that any volume manufacturer will design a 'lowest common denominator'
system. In Epson's case, that means their inks (in my view) must have had a
'free-flowing, easy to use' as a critical design criteria. Why? Because
supporting tens of thousands of users with a clogged nozzle would not be
feasible. Therefore, my assumption is that this would have been designed in
at the cost of ink-life, or cost, or metamerism, or whatever. In just the
same way that we can be assured that they will endeavour to protect their
ink market with whatever dastardly means they can ;) I have not seen a C80
myself yet, but if the person I spoke to was correct, and the carts are such
a new design they may be patentable....... then we can wave bye-bye to third
party inks and 'hello' to inks designed for 'the masses'. Really -  be
thankful you have the printers and _choice_ that you do!

It is inevitable therefore, that I would like to Applaud those at IJM and
MIS and Lincoln etc etc - even if we all know that you can not please every
printer, all of the time :) And let's add in Epson for the moment for making
some pretty nice printers :)

Best,
Nij


Nigel Rheam
MWORDS Limited   www.mwords.co.uk
P.S. Disclosure: I sell Piezography :)

Nij,

The "crystalisation" that you mentioned below has nothing to do with 
the pads, it is noticed by users when they remove the carts to 
replace them. There is a crystal like build up around the posts that 
insert into the carts.

Terry 

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@y..., "Nij" <nigel@m...> wrote:
> Hi all,
> 
> Recent discussions on Piezography 'vs' MIS have become a little 
heated ;)
> For a moment, I thought we must have been having a tete-a-tete 
about Mac
> 'vs' Window <grins>
> 
> Am I alone in thinking that the 'crystalisation' (the term which I 
assume
> means - ink build-up on pads) is a good thing? Because, to me it 
says "This
> ink contains pigment"! Of course, I am no ink chemist, that's just 
my gut
> feeling.
SNIP

OK - thanks for the clarification Terry...

> -----Original Message-----
> From: TerryR [mailto:terryr1028@...]
> 
> Nij,
> 
> The "crystalisation" that you mentioned below has nothing to do with 
> the pads, it is noticed by users when they remove the carts to 
> replace them. There is a crystal like build up around the posts that 
> insert into the carts.
> 
> Terry 
>

> I personally believe that the CIS system is not really a contributing factor
> to any Piezo issues that people may encounter... tho' I have asked myself
> the question in the past 'Could the sponge be reacting with the ink in some
> way?' My _personal_ experience is not...


Here's my guess on this matter, at least as it relates to intractable clogs.
Pieces of sponge or other detritus clog the outlet of the cartridge, this it
can occur in a CIS system or cartridge, but would be more likely to occur in
a CIS because of the way the ink is forced into the cart (though I don't
really know how the manufacturers fill their carts. This scenario also
allows for disassembling a printer to clean the nozzles and still not get a
fix. When extreme nozzle cleaning measures do work it could be because the
act of taking out the cart, and possibly turning it upside down, or just
allowing a rush of air, allows the detritus to move somewhat away from the
exit port of the cart. If this happens to me (which it hasn't with either
Piezo or MIS, thank Allah) I might give a good rap on my cartridge while I
wait for the fantastic to settle.

Todd