Epson Inkjet Printer that Prints White

[peteski]

I'll wait till the n scale laptop version comes out for 300 bucks in 2038 .

2038?!  Isn't that the end of time for 32 bit Unix?!
I think that we should really let this thread die since there is a perfectly good duplicate (and earlier) thread already covering this printer. 

[u18b]

I would imagine there is a difference in color durability in open-exposed to air

and covered with clear coat and sealed.

[Alaska Railroader]

I think that we should really let this thread die since there is a perfectly good duplicate (and earlier) thread already covering this printer. 

I'm fine with that as long as Skibbe brings it back after he gets his sample page. What if this is more than we dreamed it would be -not holding my breath, but still? The price may seem horrid but after you have invested in a $13,500 laser -twice- then $6,000+ doesn't seem so bad. Maybe it will go down in a year or two. The beauty of a printer for very good decals over a pad printer is that you could print decals for other people and slip them in an envelope. Its obvious people are willing to pay for high quality decals and it would help to pay for the machine. Yep, it would take a lot of decals to pay it off but maybe you can see how it takes selling a lot of kits to pay for the cost of one laser.

[C855B]

Usually the problem is UV stability. I suspect it would be close enough for our purposes and there wouldn't be serious issues. When you're using these kind of printers as proofing devices for long-run professional printing on glossy stock, a couple of days sitting exposed on an art director's desk under florescent lights can make the difference between matching and not matching a Pantone spec. It was a serious problem in the early days of digital press proofing.

[nkalanaga]

It would also be a good solution for those who want unit trains with unique numbers.  Sell six or so cars pad printed with unique numbers for those who want a few, and unnumbered cars in bulk with a decal sheet for those who need a lot.  Since they'd both be printed from the same artwork, the fonts would have to match, a decal sheet with a hundred numbers wouldn't take much room in N scale, and it would probably be cheaper than trying to print that many unique cars.

[tom mann]

Epson UltraChrome HDR White Ink introduces an all-new Organic Hollow Resin Particle Technology, which forces light to randomly scatter, producing the illusion of seeing the color white.

I don't get why it just doesn't use white ink? 

In fact, why can't we buy a white ink jet cartridge?  Or white toner?

[Chris333]

I think most ink relies on the paper being white to get its true color. At work we have a few different reds and blues and sometimes they are hard to tell apart just looking at a bucket of it. So we take a finger and smudge it on the paper to tell exactly what color it is.

[Sokramiketes]

I don't get why it just doesn't use white ink? 

In fact, why can't we buy a white ink jet cartridge?  Or white toner?

Because physics is conspiring against us. 

Can this be merged with the proper thread?

[SkipGear]

I don't get why it just doesn't use white ink? 

In fact, why can't we buy a white ink jet cartridge?  Or white toner?

White ink or toner requires larger particles to be truely opaque. The larger particles cause resolution issues as well as clog the print mechanisms. White pigment is based on titanium and zinc oxides which may cause issues with the electromagnetics of the print heads also, that is only a guess though.

[Jesse6669]

Exactly. Quoting the website: "Epson UltraChrome HDR White Ink introduces an all-new Organic Hollow Resin Particle Technology, which forces light to randomly scatter, producing the illusion of seeing the color white."

It is the "illusion" part that worries me. We apply decals over dark colored models. Will their "white" provide true opaque white ink which would show up on a dark colored model? Will their "white" undercoating the CYM inks (required for full color printing) be opaque enough to provide true rendition of the CYM inks?

I received my test print--it was for some kindof skin cream printed on a clear material.  The white does seem a bit translucent.  I'm not about to lay out $6-8k for a printer, but I may try to find a service bureau that has one of these on-hand and will run a print on some clear decal stock just to see how it looks, assuming the cost isn't prohibitive.   

[pnolan48]

From the descriptions, I'm guessing Epson is spraying irregular flakes rather than droplets. As the dispersal would be random, the coverage would appear denser.

[perezbill]

I know that you can purchase blank decal paper that is white. Why not just use a piece of white decal paper in an inkjet printer. Use a font coloring of white for the lettering or white in the graphic where you want it and then match the other color(s). When it prints the white areas will not be printed on. This leaves the white color of the decal paper untouched. When you apply the decal to the model using a decal setting solution, followed by a coat of dull cost, then some weathering how bad can it look. In the absence of an affordable white ink printer I think that is the 2nd best solution so far. I am not saying there are not other solutions out there for custom decals that have white in them. I have not looked at them all by any means.

[peteski]

That "matching model's paint part" is the difficult part when printing on white decal paper.

[SkipGear]

I know that you can purchase blank decal paper that is white. Why not just use a piece of white decal paper in an inkjet printer. Use a font coloring of white for the lettering or white in the graphic where you want it and then match the other color(s). When it prints the white areas will not be printed on. This leaves the white color of the decal paper untouched. When you apply the decal to the model using a decal setting solution, followed by a coat of dull cost, then some weathering how bad can it look. In the absence of an affordable white ink printer I think that is the 2nd best solution so far. I am not saying there are not other solutions out there for custom decals that have white in them. I have not looked at them all by any means.

Beyond the color matching issue is the problem that the decal edges will have a faint white line. Not every application can use weathering to hide the color miss-match or the edge lines. For some applications, inkjet on white is a perfectly acceptable solution but for most, a white printed decal is the only solution that will look right.

[jagged ben]

... which forces light to randomly scatter, producing the illusion of seeing the color white."

This reads like something written by someone who failed Philosophy 101.  Either it looks white to the typical eye or it doesn't.   It can't look white without reflecting broad spectrum visible light, and if something reflects broad spectrum visible light, then we say it looks white.