26-03-2012, 08:36 PM
Fair comment Gary, but £3k a Litre does seem to be pushing it a bit!! It also gives competitors a lot of headroom to market substitute inks.
I don't know if there has ever been any scientific objective comparisons of maker's inks and substitutes, but I have a friend who works for a manufacturer of printing inks for currency notes the world over. I had a chat with him about this topic and he says that in his experience, there will almost certainly be variations in quality because ink is basically solid pigments in solution. He tells me that under a powerful microscope, the pigments even the finest inks look like rubble.
Given how sophisticated the print heads are and what they have to do, clearly the more finely ground the pigments, the better the quality of printing will be. Whether this is discernible is a subjective matter, and much will depend on whether we're just printing off a document or webpage, or photographs. You've already alluded to the longevity of OEM inks as compared to substitute inks.
Were I an impoverished student writing several drafts of a dissertation I think I'd go for a cheap printer and use cheapo inks, but as I don't need to skimp, I use Epson cartridges. If I ever get round to making water slide transfers, which I hope my SX535 would make a better job of that than it does of OHP acetates, from comments you made earlier Gary, water-slide paper degrades over time, so maybe the sheets I bought a couple of years ago and have yet to use will be past their best, then I'd most likely blame the printer or my own ineptitude!
How times have changed since I used a dot matrix bubble jet printer with a Sinclair QL!
I don't know if there has ever been any scientific objective comparisons of maker's inks and substitutes, but I have a friend who works for a manufacturer of printing inks for currency notes the world over. I had a chat with him about this topic and he says that in his experience, there will almost certainly be variations in quality because ink is basically solid pigments in solution. He tells me that under a powerful microscope, the pigments even the finest inks look like rubble.
Given how sophisticated the print heads are and what they have to do, clearly the more finely ground the pigments, the better the quality of printing will be. Whether this is discernible is a subjective matter, and much will depend on whether we're just printing off a document or webpage, or photographs. You've already alluded to the longevity of OEM inks as compared to substitute inks.
Were I an impoverished student writing several drafts of a dissertation I think I'd go for a cheap printer and use cheapo inks, but as I don't need to skimp, I use Epson cartridges. If I ever get round to making water slide transfers, which I hope my SX535 would make a better job of that than it does of OHP acetates, from comments you made earlier Gary, water-slide paper degrades over time, so maybe the sheets I bought a couple of years ago and have yet to use will be past their best, then I'd most likely blame the printer or my own ineptitude!
How times have changed since I used a dot matrix bubble jet printer with a Sinclair QL!
Regards, David.
BVWS Member.
G-QRP Club Member 1339.
'I'm in my own little world, but I'm happy, and they know me here'
BVWS Member.
G-QRP Club Member 1339.
'I'm in my own little world, but I'm happy, and they know me here'
