I had a question from a customer about print modes, resolution, and color printing with the Latex printer,
and the question for me anyway, I think, expressed a misunderstanding about how Latex printers work,
if you're more familiar with how, uh, a Piezo printer works.
So, the way Latex printer works on here, and here I have a latex thermal printhead.
These are thermal printheads.
They have a 1200 DPI resolution, and a 12 Picoliter drop in all print modes.
So, if you're printing six pass, or eight pass, or 20 pass, 1200 DPI, 12 Picoliter drop,
the resolution does not change.
So when people say, well, I want to print a slower mode to get more quality or
more resolution, you're not going to get more quality from eight pass to 12 pass, for example.
They're going to stay the same.
Eight pass, printing 100 percent density, with the same ICC profile will look
the same as 12 pass at 100 percent density.
The reason why is because you're using a 1200 DPI printhead in all modes,
and you're using the same drop size.
Now, with the Piezo head your resolution usually changes as well as your drop size, as you go faster.
So, printing in different modes or different speeds with a Piezo is a different experience than with a thermal latex.
What the thermal latex does change is the density of the ink.
So, for example, I said earlier if you print eight pass, 100 percent density,
with the same ICC profile, and you print 10 pass, 100 percent density,
with the same ICC profile, they should look the same.
You may have a difference in which one is dry.
Because the last factor is, the faster it's going through the printer, the more time it
needs to evaporate all of the, um, ink, water-based ink.
But the faster you go, the less ink you can usually put down,
because you have less time to evaporate that ink and make sure everything is completely cured
coming out of the printer.
So, the rule of thumb is six pass would be 80 percent or 90 percent density,
eight pass would be 90 percent or 100 percent density, 10 pass would be 110 percent density.
That curve holds true for most medias.
The variable is, medias have different thermal deformation points.
So, some scrim banners like, say, a Bantex 13-ounce Curl-Free, is very temperature resistant.
You can put the maximum amount of temperature, 241 degrees, no matter what you're running,
and it's not going to make any difference on the material.
It's very temperature resistant.
But if you took a 10-ounce PET Super Smooth, its very temperature affected.
So, any change in temperature over say 190 degrees is going to turn it into elastici,
going to turn it into bubble gum.
It's going to warp and Cockle all over the place.
Those, those differences are a result of the thermal deformation point of the media.
But if a media will take different, take the same temperature, a high temperature,
then what's changing is simply the amount of ink you're putting down,
and the amount of ink you put down effects the overall colorgamut.
So, a print at 80 percent density is going to be a little lighter and use less ink.
It will cost less.
But the resolution would be the same as a slower print.
The drop size is the same as a slower print.
What's changing is the amount of ink, the richness, the saturation.
So, that's how the latex thermal printhead works, that's different from piezo head,
and if you understand that, you understand that, now,
if you're going very fast, say four pass or six pass,
there's other variables which happen which can affect the sharpness or accuracy.
Just because of the speed of the carriage and how quickly it's going through.
It might co, might look a little sharper, might have more clarity at 10 pass because of the speed.
But as a general rule, there is not a very significant difference, because I'm not using
different drop sizes and I'm not using different resolutions.
Those stay the same.
There may be other variables associated with speed that can contribute or subtract from quality.
But it's not resolution and it's not drop size.
There's something I want to explain how the latex works that's different than other technologies.
So, when you print eight pass/100, 10 pass/100, and 12 pass/100, and all three look the same, that's correct.
That's how they should print.
But knowing that you can print 12 pass should allow you to put more ink down.
You could, say, put 110 or 120 percent density, and that's going to be a richer, deeper,
more saturated print with a wider color gamut,
than printing at 80 or 90 percent density on the same material at eight pass.
What's changing is the amount of ink,
and that's going to affect how you perceive the print and that's going to infect, affect your image quality.