Good ink and media give fine results

Good ink and media give fine results

By Zatni Arbi

JAKARTA (JP): I was enjoying the ride in his white Fiat Uno
when my friend, Happy, raised the classic question, "Can it
really harm my printer if I use a refilled cartridge?"

Happy runs a fast-growing graphic design business. It's no
surprise then that he and his eight employees churn out a lot of
printed color graphics and images every day. Perhaps, to cut
corners, someone suggested that he try using refilled cartridges.

The issue of using refilled cartridges is by no means a fresh
one and I've written about this issue a couple of times in this
column. But it just so happens that a week earlier I had been on
an HP Asia Press Tour focusing on ink and print media technology.
During the two hour event entitled "The Heart of the Matter", I
learned quite a few interesting things about the technology that
can perhaps shed some more light on the debate.

Determining factors

First of all, how does an inkjet printer work? The ink --
color or black -- is stored in an ink tank. The print head, the
part of the tank that faces the printing paper, has a large
number of nozzles. Each of these nozzles is perhaps smaller than
a human hair (about 70 microns in diameter), and there are
hundreds of them in one row.

The large number of nozzles is needed to increase the print
resolution -- the number of dots that a printer can print in a
square inch area. Currently, 2400 dots per inch (DPI) seems to be
the highest resolution level on the market. The more nozzles a
printer head has, the more ink drops it can eject onto the paper
in one pass, and the faster the printing process will be.

"Nowadays we're talking about 136 nozzles per cartridge," Paul
Anthony, HP's Consumer Supplies Business Manager for Asia Pacific
explained to the room full of Asian IT journalists.

A fast printer should be able to squirt up to 7.3 million ink
drops per second. That's certainly rapid firing but clearly the
ink should meet very stringent requirements to avoid clogging the
nozzles.

In the ink itself, certain microorganisms may grow and affect
the thickness of the ink over time. What we may have been unaware
of is that HP has been adding a specific biocide to the ink to
prevent microbial growth, and this has enabled the company to
guarantee the functionality of their ink cartridges even months
after the expiry date.

Today's ink should also dry quickly. My four-year-old DeskJet
1600C, for example, has a heating element inside it, and when the
paper comes out of the printer it always feels warm. The heater
heats the paper so the ink dries as soon as it hits the surface.
Today, if you look at the DeskJet 970Cxi for example, there is no
heater. That's because today's improved ink can dry quickly
without the need of a heater.

Consideration of the environment is also of growing
importance.

"We guarantee that our ink is not poisonous. If, by any
chance, you happen to ingest the ink, you'll not be harmed in any
way," claimed Rob Beeson, HP team leader of the Global
Competitive Intelligence Team.

Well, why should I think of drinking the ink, which at Rp
200.000,00 for 40 cc is far more expensive than my favorite
orange juice? Still, at least it helps the environment if the
cartridges ever end up in landfills.

A final but no less important factor is the interaction
between the ink and the service station in each printer. When you
turn on an inkjet printer, you will notice a noise coming from
the right side of the machine. Actually it's a process in which
the rubber service station cleans the print head to remove ink
residue.

"Because they may contain alcohol, refill inks may damage the
rubber part of the service station over time," explained Rob.
Interestingly, Rob's job includes analyzing their competitors'
so-called "aftermarket" supplies.

There are other characteristics of the inks that are also
important. Viscosity is one of them. Viscosity is important
because ink can spread and follow the contours of the paper. HP
uses water as a solvent which has a very low viscosity.

Photo requirements

"The first inkjet printer was launched in 1988," recalled Rob,
who has been in the printer technology field since 1984. "At that
time, the target was to enable inkjet printers to produce laser-
quality text print.

The target has been achieved, although the quality of the
laser printer has also improved a lot. Now our target is to
enable users to print photos as high in quality as the ones using
silver halides."

There are a number of specifications involved in achieving
this target. Resolution alone is not the only factor that
determines the quality of the printout.

First, the ink should have bleed control. What this means is
that when several drops of a certain color ink are placed next to
several drops of black ink of ink of another color, the two
colors should not merge.

Next, the printer's inks should have the capability to produce
the largest color gamut -- different shades of colors seen in a
3-D table. In the past, a dye-based ink had a better gamut than
the pigment-based ink that the newer generations of HP printers
have been using. However, further technological development has
enabled the printer to produce an equally rich color gamut.

Another requirement for photo printers is fade-resistance. If
you look again at the photos that you took a decade ago, you'll
notice that some are fading. This is inevitable, as even we fade
with time. The objective, however, is to prevent photos printed
with home printers from losing their lightfastness too quickly.
This is achieved by, among other things, applying a special
coating to the surface of the paper.

Talking about coated paper will probably remind you of my
article on the Canon BJC-8200 Photo Printer two weeks ago, when I
underscored the need to use special paper for the best photo
print results.

"The coating helps manage the ink as it hits the paper,"
explained Rob.

However, because the coating also interacts with the ink, and
each printer vendor has its own proprietary inks, it is best to
use the same brand of photo paper for the printer that you use.

"There is a low cost generic photo printer made in Japan, but
it may not give you the maximum results," he added.

The glossy or matte coating on the photo paper also gives it a
true photo feel, which is an increasingly important feature in
digital photography.

Different geographies obviously have different climactic
characteristics, and humidity can also affect the absorption of
ink by the paper. "In order to cater to the needs of people who
live in the more humid areas, we have just introduced a special
photo paper for the Asia Pacific that will compensate for
humidity," Paul informed us.

Now, how important is the ink and the print head mechanism in
determining the overall performance of the printer?

"Eighty five percent of the quality of the print is determined
by the ink and the cartridge," said Paul. "The ink is like the
blood, and the cartridge is the heart of the printing system," he
added.

Contrary to what we may have thought, HP works on ink and
cartridge technology first before starting to design the printers
that will use it. In fact, the three top printer makers -- HP,
Epson and Canon -- spend billions of dollars researching ink
technologies alone. In the case of HP, the ultimate goal is to
enable their printers to print photo quality images on plain
paper.

Well then, how much is the contribution of the ink supply
sales to HP's overall revenues? HP is not willing to disclose the
figure, but if we think of how much the prices of inkjet printers
have dropped in the past few years, we can draw our own
conclusions. To recover the cost of making the bait and all the
research activities, the profit from ink sales must be pretty
high.

Yet, if we take into consideration the details involved in
making the ink, perhaps it is also clear that we should use
authentic ink if we want to get the best results, avoid untimely
damage to our printers and help minimize the impact on the
environment. Now the question is, how can you still save on ink
consumption?

As I have repeatedly suggested, set the printer on its most
economical mode which is the default print mode. Switch to the
highest quality only when you need to print the final copy of
your masterpiece -- or the photos that you want to show around.
(zatni@cbn.net.id)