Which type of printer keeps the print well fixed even if you touch it with water.

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J

Jean

Currently I have a HP6100 printer but the ink is not "fixed", if I touch the
paper with wet hands or water/coffee is falling on it it becomes unreadable.
Can you recomment, except an expensive laser) which type of printer does not
have such problems ?
Thanks in advance,
Jean
 
Currently I have a HP6100 printer but the ink is not "fixed", if I touch the
paper with wet hands or water/coffee is falling on it it becomes unreadable.
Can you recomment, except an expensive laser) which type of printer does not
have such problems ?
Thanks in advance,
Jean
I haven't tried it but it has been reported that a coating of hair
lacquer or similar seals the print against slight wetness.
Otherwise you are looking at Laser (not really that expensive nowadays)
or dye transfer, but that is generally small photo printers
 
Currently I have a HP6100 printer but the ink is not "fixed", if I touch the
paper with wet hands or water/coffee is falling on it it becomes unreadable.
Can you recomment, except an expensive laser) which type of printer does not
have such problems ?

This problem is determined by the materials (ink and paper)
not by the printer. All unglazed papers absorb water readily
(but you may not be able to print onto glazed paper.) Your
simplest solution may be to shield the printed output from
moisture, e.g. in a polyethylene bag or a laminate enclosure.

(Repondez en francais si vous ne me comprenez pas.)
 
There are two basic ways of having a relatively "fixed" image from an
inkjet printer, one is based upon the ink technology and the other on
the paper.

If your printer is using dye colorant inks, as your HP does, then you
need a paper which uses microporous technology. This paper has a
semi-permeable membrane on the surface that allows the ink to penetrate
it, but the ink is then trapped in a kaolin clay surface underneath that
locks the colorants in. The paper then basically becomes "waterproof"

Epson makes such papers (in both matte and glossy finish), as do many
other manufacturers.

Most of HP's inkjet papers, which do have a higher fade resistance when
dye colorants are used, is called swellable polymer, and this paper's
surface is water soluble. It works by having the ink wet the paper, and
then the ink is reintegrated into the surface polymer, which tangles the
ink color into the long chain polymer molecules to keep them from being
re-energized by environmental conditions like UV light and certain
reducing agents like ozone. The problem with this system is that the
paper coating remains water soluble.

The second approach is to use a printer which works with pigment
colorant inks. These inks use non-soluble particles suspended in a
fluid, which usually contains a resin to both adhere them to the paper
surface and to coat them to make the surface smoother and more evenly
glossy.

The main supplier of pigment color ink printers today is Epson, although
Canon makes a few, as well.

Any of Epson's printers which use Durabrite, Durabrite Ultra,
Ultrachrome or Ultrachrome Glossy inks use these waterproof pigment
colorant.

The least expensive of these printers are the 4 color Durabrite or
Durabrite Ultra ink printers (they only make them in 4 color versions)
which include the C, single function, or CX and DX models All-in-One models.

Both the Ultrachrome and Durabrite inkset are waterproof when dry (the
Durabrite sets dry faster, but also clog faster with lack of use), and
both have very long fade resistance, extending to several hundred years
under glass.

Art


PS: If you are expecting there to be no damage at all to a print when
you spill coffee on it, I'm afraid the only answer for that is to
laminate it in plastic on both sides... then you can literally wash it off.



If you are interested in issues surrounding e-waste,
I invite you to enter the discussion at my blog:

http://e-trashtalk.spaces.live.com/
 
I should mention that HP does now make some pigment colorant inks
(besides black) for some printers as well, but they are higher end models.

The Epson C, CX and DX models start at about $60 US.

Art

If you are interested in issues surrounding e-waste,
I invite you to enter the discussion at my blog:

http://e-trashtalk.spaces.live.com/
 
Currently I have a HP6100 printer but the ink is not "fixed", if I touch the
paper with wet hands or water/coffee is falling on it it becomes unreadable.
Can you recomment, except an expensive laser) which type of printer does not
have such problems ?
Thanks in advance,
Jean

Jean

Just put a print in a tray of water to soak. No damage after 5
minutes.

The print is an Epson 4800 Inkjet printer inkjet with Epson
UltraChrome K3 ink. Costco/Kirkland paper. Printed about a week ago.

Email me in 24 hours for an update.

Bob AZ
 
Currently I have a HP6100 printer but the ink is not "fixed", if I touch the
paper with wet hands or water/coffee is falling on it it becomes unreadable.
Can you recomment, except an expensive laser) which type of printer does not
have such problems ?
Thanks in advance,
Jean

Jean

A 24 hour report. The print is just fine after 24 hours immersed in
water at room temperature. Tried rubbing on the image to no avail.

Bob AZ
 
I have found Epson's really cheap (about 3 cents a page) photo quality
matte paper (a one sided fairly thin matte paper makes the image
amazingly after it dries. The microporus surface does a great job of
locking the dye inks into the substrate kaolin clay layer.

Art


If you are interested in issues surrounding e-waste,
I invite you to enter the discussion at my blog:

http://e-trashtalk.spaces.live.com/
 
Jean said:
Currently I have a HP6100 printer but the ink is not "fixed", if I touch the
paper with wet hands or water/coffee is falling on it it becomes unreadable.
Can you recomment, except an expensive laser) which type of printer does not
have such problems ?

Jean-

Art's answer with regard to pigment-based inks, is probably what you are
looking for. On the other hand, you may be a bit hasty by ignoring a
Laser Printer solution.

The Laser Printer may be more expensive to buy, but cost of operation
can be significantly less than an Ink Jet printer. Especially printers
with larger toner cartridges. While toner cartridges cost more than ink
cartridges, they often produce thousands of plain-paper prints compared
to only hundreds of coated-paper prints per set of Ink Jet cartridges.

If you need glossy photo prints, go for one of the Epson pigmented ink
printers. But if that is not a priority, take another look at Laser
printers.

Fred
 
Fred McKenzie said:
Jean-

Art's answer with regard to pigment-based inks, is probably what you are
looking for. On the other hand, you may be a bit hasty by ignoring a
Laser Printer solution.

Fred

Thanks to all, especially to Fred.
I'll study a colour laser printer, hope to find a good quality.
jean
 
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