Move over resin, here comes... alcohol?

[genericname]

I've been getting pretty excited over some of the recent advances, and advances to come, in the print world, and as such, I've been up to my elbows in FLAAR reports and marketing "literature".

We know that, at some point, we'd like to replace our JV4 with something more robust, and able to compliment our JV3s, possibly a flatbed. For our areas of expertise though, I'm going to recommend to the higher ups that we give UV and latex a pass (at least for now for the latex).

I like the direction in which resin (specifically Sepiax) is going, and I can't wait to see what they can do with it when a proper build is made around it. That being said though, I've seen mention of alcohol-based inks here and there, and while I know the Kiian inks were a failure, the future seems to look bright for Jetbest's entry, at least quality-wise, to say nothing of market penetration.

I know the chances of anyone having run alcohol-based inks is slim, but has anyone actually seen it in action? What are your thoughts, and what kind of alteration to the typical process would be needed to run a workflow based on printing with alcohol, instead of just drinking it?

Cheers!

 

[rjssigns]

Technology keeps advancing. Soon we will be mixing food coloring and tap water in 1 gallon milk jugs because a scientist will come up with a coated vinyl for aqueous. And it will be outdoor durable with no lam.

I want rocket fast and great quality with my next printer. Mutoh, Seiko, and dual DX5 Chinese printers fit that definition. And the whole green thing is lost in my neck of the woods. Haven't had one client ask for a "green" print.

 

[genericname]

...And the whole green thing is lost in my neck of the woods. Haven't had one client ask for a "green" print.

Not just your neck of the woods. I think the greenwashing is more marketed towards the printer than it is the end consumer. Really, what interests me the most, aside from providing a quality product, is lowering the chance that the work I do will riddle my body with cancer some day.

Back to the matter at hand though, if it can print on just about anything, won't crack or lift, doesn't need the heat of a thousand suns to cure, and won't give me a migrane due to odour or VOCs, then I'm all for it. Besides, the thought that there are people in white lab coats, obsessing over this kind of stuff is pretty cool.

 

[rjssigns]

You bring up a valid point. Which makes me wonder why thermal, like the Summa DX4 never caught on. I know they are dead slow, but I would think they would be less hazardous. They can also do a beautiful job with foils. In fact I wouldn't mind having a Summa thermal in my shop.

 

[artbot]

i had a cable guy come by yesterday to work on my shop tv cable box (i don't print in this area) it's down the hall and there is a door shut, also there is a lot of fresh air.

he mentioned "man, i am getting a serious headache in here, what do you do?" i was baffled. this to me was a voc-less area. so, not that i am going to change anything. but we have gotten used to vinyl, acetone, ethers, the whole thing now "smells like good old air" to us.

that said, aside from my brain cells and lungs, i don't care about "green" printing. what would really help is the world not eating so much meat. that is what is doing us in. not printers.

 

[TwoNine]

what would really help is the world not eating so much meat. that is what is doing us in. not printers.

You kill me sometimes, Artbot..... =)

-Chad

 

[artbot]

seriously, if you look at the data from the amount of tons of food and man power and diesel that it takes to get one steer to slaughter and the whole time that steer is farting up so many cubic meters of methane,,,, it's way worse than you can imagine. i'm not a vegetarian. i could care less about the plight of our bovine brethren. it's just a metric with a growing population that can't keep going.

1lb of beef = 36lbs of CO2. from hamburgers alone in the US we get the equivalent of 16million SUVs. it's the most inefficient use of energy on the planet.

 

[genericname]

I don't think greener technologies should be something to be ignored, but you're absolutely right. We often ignore more obvious issues in search of more palatable solutions.

Even among the more hippy-ish of us, unless your printers themselves are made out of bamboo, and the housing of your ink cartridges are made from moulded guano, you're not running a green operation. Still! No reason to not look for some kind of inroads.

Incidentally, Artbot, good to see you here. Aside from Dallas, I have absolutely no clue about Texas geography, so I'll admit a bit of relief after the last couple days weather.

 

[artbot]

dallas is a really cool city. lots of money (houston too. not as upscale but rich). but the weather is wild. covered in ice to tornadoes. back in the day i did art festivals. one festival several people were killed by hail at the show. we have hurricanes near the coast but they really are over rated. it takes several decades to have "your personal area" completely destroyed.