I have a very ancient HP color deskjet, which of all the color printers I have owned, is the best purchase I have ever made at $125, The inks are expensive, but it has produced hundreds of greeting cards over the years, more than paying for itself. Rather than trying to retrofit this with some sort of ink system that will print archival inks, I was thinking of getting another inexpensive printer that can handle archival inks. I am not sure that there is such an animal, but thought I would ask anyway Maybe in the end, I am going to have to redesign any printer I have or purchase. So the question here is, does anyone have knowledge of a printer or use a printer that accepts archival inks out of the box? I am going to print on a number of different media, inclucing vinyl. Thanks in advance for your assistance. Clinton

Most all do these days. Epson, Cannon, HP, Lexmark - what they call archival inks are nowadays pretty standard for all inkjet printers.

............

take a look at Dell

Bill - willierods.com

Clinton,

Will you be using the printer for rod building purposes or for the creation of limited edition artwork on acid free paper? If the art market is your goal then look at the Lyson, Ilford, VanSon, and American Ink Jet inks you can use for fine art, and giclée prints. Many of these inks will outlast a conventional color photograph if the photograph has been properly processed. Ever see off-color pictures of kid's school pictures that have turned somewhat green or magenta. . .improperly processed or very old and faded by UV exposure, or both. Epson makes a line of archival inks at approx $219.00 per cartridge for their high end, large format art printers but is known to not be as "archival" as the other brands listed above. HP has UV pigmented inks for the large format printers in the art market as well.

However, for the general population, I feel no ink on the market at the mass merchandisers should be considered "archival" for long term by any standard as all of the inks will fade in time, some just take longer than others. To get "true archival quality", one must go high-end and spend some bucks.

Concerning vinyl, time should not be spent attempting to get liquid low end printer inks to adhere to this media - vinyl is best printed with printers with a heated head application system such as those used in Sign Shops.

This may help a little . . .Charlie

Clinton,

Will you be using the printer for rod building purposes or for the creation of limited edition artwork on acid free paper? If the art market is your goal then look at the Lyson, Ilford, VanSon, and American Ink Jet inks you can use for fine art, and giclée prints. Many of these inks will outlast a conventional color photograph if the photograph has been properly processed. Ever see off-color pictures of kid's school pictures that have turned somewhat green or magenta. . .improperly processed or very old and faded by UV exposure, or both. Epson makes a line of archival inks at approx $219.00 per cartridge for their high end, large format art printers but is known to not be as "archival" as the other brands listed above. HP has UV pigmented inks for the large format printers in the art market as well.

However, for the general population, I feel no ink on the market at the mass merchandisers should be considered "archival" for long term by any standard as all of the inks will fade in time, some just take longer than others. To get "true archival quality", one must go high-end and spend some bucks.

Concerning vinyl, time should not be spent attempting to get liquid low end printer inks to adhere to this media - vinyl is best printed with printers with a heated head application system such as those used in Sign Shops.

This may help a little . . .Charlie

Thanks Charlie. I am looking to make decals on vinyl for rods. I have been talking to Bill Stevens who is a big proponent of using vinyl.... I do know from my earlier (in life) attempts at printing digital photos, using both Epson and HP inks that they fade over the years, but it takes a number of years. On the photos I still have on my wall, it took 5 years to start to fade but became noticeable only after that lenth of time. On photos that have been keps in albums, they show little if any fading. Therefore I would imagine that decals would fade within these time frames. Having said that, it is also going to depend upon the colors chosen as some seem to be more stable than others. Some people on this forum have mentioned using UV coatings, which will probably help. But if a rod is left out in the sun for extended periods of times, for instance, in boat rod holders for weeks and weeks at a time, the inks will surely fade more quickly. Clinton

Clinton,

I thought you were headed in the right direction until you mentioned Bill Stevens - whoa . . .that sheds a whole 'nuther light on the subject!! Now seriously, if you are going to use their media, then by all means let them guide you in the direction you need to go. The media they have is designed for exactly what you are intending to do and Bill & Lance are a "Super Pair" when it comes to helping others with rod building issues. Bill always has "Words of Wisdom" for us all and I am sure he can help you too!

Good luck

Charlie