Any inkjet printers out there that use COLOUR FAST ink?

  • Thread starter Thread starter fitwell
  • Start date Start date
F

fitwell

One of the serious drawbacks for inkjets for me all these years is
that the colour runs. I found this out when I spilled my lemonade or
water, whatever, over a printed sheet several months old. It STILL
ran to the point where a lot of the print was obscured. That's why
I've never gone for those expensive photo printer inkjets. What's the
point of printing up your own pictures if they'll run at the first
opportunity.

Anyone know of any inkjet that has much, much better ink than the
average one?
 
Epson printers with durabrite and ultra chrome are extremely resistant to
water on plain paper. On photo paper because of the coatings most prints are
pretty waterproof.
 
One of the serious drawbacks for inkjets for me all these years is
that the colour runs. I found this out when I spilled my lemonade or
water, whatever, over a printed sheet several months old. It STILL
ran to the point where a lot of the print was obscured. That's why
I've never gone for those expensive photo printer inkjets. What's the
point of printing up your own pictures if they'll run at the first
opportunity.

Anyone know of any inkjet that has much, much better ink than the
average one?
Click to expand...

Look for the phrase "pigment based inks". While pouring lemonade
onto a printout is still going to ruin it, it will still be readable.
Just be sure to read the specs carefully though. Many printers now
employ pigment based black, but pigment based colour inks are still
not too common. Most still use dye inks for their colours. I think
Epson's Durabrite ink system uses a pigment black and pigment colours
as they claim to be waterproof.

Even with pigment based inks, there will still be a certain amount of
running, as the excess that doesn't sink in will still run. It's just
a lot less than with dye based inks. The only way you can be 100%
assured that your printouts won't run is to either spray paint them
with clear lacquer, or use a thermal dye sublimation printer. Thermal
dye ink is actually a wax that gets melted and applied to paper.
Sublimation dye is powdered wax tinted with dyes. It's melted and the
molten wax gets fired at the paper like an inkjet. Neither technique
is without drawbacks:

The Lacquer can sometimes cause running in the inks if you don't wait
for the ink to dry or if the lacquer is a newer low odour type --
which is water/alcohol based.

Thermal printers are expensive, as are the supplies. Sublimation dyes
are waterproof (as they're wax), but can cost as much as 10 times the
per page cost of inkjets.
 
I think it's as much a paper issue it is with ink. My Canon inkjets use dye
based ink which obviously runs when exposed to moisture. Prints on plain
paper and swellable polymer photo papers such as Kodak Ultima will run
(ruin) when exposed to moisture. Prints on microporous papers such as Office
Depot, Ilford Gallerie, Red River Ultra Pro, etc... can be soaked in water
without visible damage.
 
A number of Epson ink/paper combinations are pretty much waterproof.
Epson regular dye inks printed on their heavy matte, or even their photo
quality matte inject paper once dry can be submerged in water with
minimal to no bleeding.

For better light permanence, with the waterproof nature, go for a
pigmented ink such as Ultrachrome or Durabrite ink formulations.

Most micropore papers are more waterproof than those which use swellable
polymers (or gelatins).

The paper often has as much or more to do with the water resistance than
the ink does.

Art
 
A number of Epson ink/paper combinations are pretty much waterproof.
Epson regular dye inks printed on their heavy matte, or even their photo
quality matte inject paper once dry can be submerged in water with
minimal to no bleeding.

For better light permanence, with the waterproof nature, go for a
pigmented ink such as Ultrachrome or Durabrite ink formulations.

Most micropore papers are more waterproof than those which use swellable
polymers (or gelatins).

The paper often has as much or more to do with the water resistance than
the ink does.

Art
Click to expand...

Thanks for everyone's help. Actually, when I saw I wrote lemonade,
that was silly. It was actually water, but I had lemonade on the
brain, I guess <lol>. Yes, lemonade probably would affect anything,
but water??

Will have a look at all the options presented.

Thanks again.
 
Back
Top