Digital BW, The Print

I realise this question may have been asked many, many times before, and I apologise in advance, but I haven’t been able to search efficiently for an appropriate answer.

I am looking for a reliable printer - 13x19 would be enough, but I could go up to a 17” model. I would like to use a simple black/grey ink set-up, or even a black only set-up that I can use with an appropriate print driver, Roy Harrington's Quadtone RIP would seem to be the sort of thing. I’m not in the US, so that may limit what I can get hold of (I believe the Epson 1430 is not available outside the US anymore).

I’m looking for something that will not clog, looking for inks that are archival and a driver that gives me a completely neutral consistent tone. I am not interested in toning with colour or printing in colour, and would probably print on silk/pearl finish papers, perhaps on matt. Are there good black only processes nowadays that use more than one nozzle for less grainy results?

Could you comment on basic/reliable/cheap to run set ups that nevertheless deliver wide gamut excellent B&W?

cheers,

Robert

I agree that the 1430 is an obvious choice. The 1430 is still listed on the Antipodean Epson site, so it's still available here. There are a several catches though.

Catch one is that this printer is, AFAIK, the only one where Epson has region-specific cartridges. So you will need to find refillables that are compatible with your printer. Inkjetmall carts generally do not suit non-US-non-Canadian printers.

I think the simplest solution would be the Piezography K6 neutral set. You buy the inks, use their QTR curves, it's a plug and play system. It's not the cheapest solution, but it is simple.

Catch number two is that with any of these monochrome inksets, in their natural form they're usually warm-toned. So you need to add something to cool them down. The Piezo neutral set does this as part of the formulation. Controversy rages about the impact on the archival nature of the inks. It does seem generally accepted that the carbon inks are most archival and toning additives reduce it. I guess the question is whether the impact of the toning additives is significant. Doesn't worry me all that much, but it does seem to worry some people.

Catch number three is that the 1430 only has six slots, and the basic Piezography K6 set-up is matte only. If you want to do both gloss and matte and use Piezography then you'll need a larger, more expensive printer with eight slots. I don't like to recommend these, as you start to lose the simple life. Virtually all the 13" or larger printers sold new now have ink lines and dampers rather than carts on the head, and there's a maintenance burden in keeping the pigment from sedimenting. This is less of a problem with the 1430 and is easier to fix if it happens. There's also an issue getting refillable carts for the latest Surecolor printers with chips that work.

My experience with Piezography is that it rarely clogs, although getting the refillable carts to work can sometimes be a struggle, but that's an issue for any alternative inkset. I've had best results when starting with a new printer.

I don't know enough about Paul's approach to know whether the additives he uses to cool the carbon inks to neutral reduce the archival nature of the inks, nor whether there's a dual matte & gloss solution for the 1430. His solution seems the most economical, but despite all his work to document it, it still doesn't strike me as the simplest solution. That said, there seem to be plenty of people using it.

The other option is get a P800 and use QTR with OEM inks. You can do quite acceptable prints this way. QTR uses a small amount of the colour inks to neutralise the blacks, and this will concern some people because of some reduction in the archival properties of the prints. This would be the most expensive approach, but it's simple, so long as there are QTR curves for your papers. The 3880/P800 have a reputation for being the least clogging printers that Epson ever made. But you said that a colour-based approach didn't interest you.

There are plenty of solutions, each with costs and benefits.