Does anyone have experience with carbon inksets?

I asked Jon Cone about that yesterday, he suggested some work arounds but they're anything but turnkey. What printer are you using, how are your results and ease of startup? Mike

I am using Piezo pro in a P900. The main problem starting up was flushing all the old colour ink out of the lines. Cone recommends using Piezoflush but I did not use that. Once this is done it is pretty good. I also have a spectrophotometer so I can linearize any paper I want using the Piezo pro toolkit.

I also have Paul Roark's eboni 6 inkset in an old 3880. I mix these inks myself. You can even use the epson driver rather that Quadtone RIP with this setup.
 
Thanks for the info Mark. My ET-8550 has not had inks installed yet so I'm really hoping I can find a carbon set to run with it, thrilled it's an ecotank too. I got print samples from FW inks and the carbon museum is gorgeous, has a three-dimensional feel to it.
So you mix your own inks! Mr Roark just came on my radar, went to his site but I don't see where he sells ink, lots of very technical info though. So how do they compare to the Cone setup?
 
Thanks for the info Mark. My ET-8550 has not had inks installed yet so I'm really hoping I can find a carbon set to run with it, thrilled it's an ecotank too. I got print samples from FW inks and the carbon museum is gorgeous, has a three-dimensional feel to it.
So you mix your own inks! Mr Roark just came on my radar, went to his site but I don't see where he sells ink, lots of very technical info though. So how do they compare to the Cone setup?

For the Roark I can get the black eboni ink (carbon pigment) in the UK. It should be easily available in the US. Then you mix a solution of water, glycerol and some surfactant (like photo flo) and dilute to different shades of grey. Anyone with darkroom experience would find this quite easy. You also then need empty carts with resettable chips (again easy to get in the UK for the 3880). Roark doesn't sell ink.

This is a pure carbon inkset so prints warm. I also use some canon blue ink to act as a toner to get neutral prints. The Eboni only prints on matte papers. Roark has a more recent formula that prints on both matte and glossy so if I were to convert a printer again I would go with that.

I would struggle to see a difference between eboni 6 and piezo on matte papers. But piezo is more flexible and there is support from Cone. With Roark you need to do more work with Quadtone RIP to linearize etc. Whereas Cone has software that does this for you so long as you have a spectro to measure patches.

 
So I have some homework to do, thanks. Matt is probably fine for me, and a slight warm tone I'm finding appealing. From what I've read I still might have to cool off the carbon a bit though?
 
So I have some homework to do, thanks. Matt is probably fine for me, and a slight warm tone I'm finding appealing. From what I've read I still might have to cool off the carbon a bit though?

Roark recommends using different papers to adjust tone. Some papers print much warmer than others with the same inks. I have found this with piezography as well. But you won't get neutral prints without including a cool toner of some sort.

Also check out the quadtone rip group if you haven't already. Paul Roark sometimes posts there and answers questions.

 
Roark recommends using different papers to adjust tone. Some papers print much warmer than others with the same inks. I have found this with piezography as well. But you won't get neutral prints without including a cool toner of some sort.

Also check out the quadtone rip group if you haven't already. Paul Roark sometimes posts there and answers questions.

Didn't know there was such a group, but did think I'd need to learn QTR. Good thing I'm retired. You ever been to Dinorwick Slate mine in Wales Mark?
 
Didn't know there was such a group, but did think I'd need to learn QTR. Good thing I'm retired. You ever been to Dinorwick Slate mine in Wales Mark?

No, but many of my ancestors were Welsh slate miners from Corris near Machynlleth. Although I have not visited there for about 30 years.

 
Back
Top Bottom