Looking for insight into purchacing ink for wide format inkjet printer.
July 10, 2024 2:06 PM Subscribe
Inkjet ink for wide-format fine art printers is particularly expensive. Replenishing the inks can cost 2k and more. I have a question for those who have direct experience with these specialized printers.
I own a Canon Image Prograf Pro-2100 24" wide-format printer. You can view the class of printer in this link.
The printer comes with twelve inks, some of which are used more often than others. They come in three sizes: 160 ml. 330 ml. 700 ml. I am attempting to determine the size of ink cartridges to purchase. I will not be purchasing the 700ml tanks, which leaves me with the lower quantities to work with.
I know that the blacks and grays are used in almost every application, so I will purchase 330ml containers of those inks. But what about the other colors?
Here is the question: Can you identify the colors I should purchase at 160 ml versus 330 ml? This is a cost-saving measure, over the long term, because I don't wish to purchase inks that will not be used as much.
Here are all of the colors:
Matte Black
Photo Black
Gray
Photo Gray
Yellow
Cyan
Magenta
Photo Magenta
Blue
Red
Photo Optimizer (I know that I will purchase this one at 160ml)
Here is a link to B&H, a popular retailer, if you need additional reference.
I realize that people print in different ways and other gamuts. And I know that folks will rightly point this out. Therefore, this question is obviously based more on general experience instead of an exact science, as I am hoping for some insight from those who routinely work with these machines. I truly appreciate your tips and recommendations.
I own a Canon Image Prograf Pro-2100 24" wide-format printer. You can view the class of printer in this link.
The printer comes with twelve inks, some of which are used more often than others. They come in three sizes: 160 ml. 330 ml. 700 ml. I am attempting to determine the size of ink cartridges to purchase. I will not be purchasing the 700ml tanks, which leaves me with the lower quantities to work with.
I know that the blacks and grays are used in almost every application, so I will purchase 330ml containers of those inks. But what about the other colors?
Here is the question: Can you identify the colors I should purchase at 160 ml versus 330 ml? This is a cost-saving measure, over the long term, because I don't wish to purchase inks that will not be used as much.
Here are all of the colors:
Matte Black
Photo Black
Gray
Photo Gray
Yellow
Cyan
Magenta
Photo Magenta
Blue
Red
Photo Optimizer (I know that I will purchase this one at 160ml)
Here is a link to B&H, a popular retailer, if you need additional reference.
I realize that people print in different ways and other gamuts. And I know that folks will rightly point this out. Therefore, this question is obviously based more on general experience instead of an exact science, as I am hoping for some insight from those who routinely work with these machines. I truly appreciate your tips and recommendations.
I am guessing you will not consider third-party ink or getting refillable cartridges. Because THAT will make it the cheapest. As you can buy ink in bottles, or even larger jugs.
posted by kschang at 5:34 PM on July 10
posted by kschang at 5:34 PM on July 10
Best answer: I used to run a digital quick print shop. We had several of Canon's 12-color imagePROGRAF printers in our stable, iPF8400, iPF9100, and the newer imagePROGRAF PRO-6100.
We did mostly fine art repro, taking high-res flatbed scans of original watercolor, oil, acrylic paintings, etc. and reproducing them on watercolor paper, canvas, or photobase.
We exclusively used genuine OEM Canon inks. As complicated as the ink delivery system is, and when our reputation depends on repeatable color accuracy, generic inks just were not an option. We generally ran the highest-capacity tanks available for each printer, because of the savings from "buying in bulk". The only time we ran smaller tanks was when something was temporarily out of stock.
The way these printers operate, when you load an ink cartridge, the ink is pumped first into a smaller "sub tank", and it's from there that it gets delivered to the printheads. This not only prevents air (bubbles) from entering the long, looong ink supply lines, but also enables replacing the ink tanks while the printer is in operation.
It can be quite shocking to see, especially on a brand new printer, you load up all 12 inks and by the time it's done making its churning noises and "Replenishing ink..." the gauges are all nearly empty. But it's not wasted, it's just saying the replaceable ink tanks are nearly empty--and they are, because all that ink is now in the sub tanks.
In my experience, and every shop will be different, we tended to run through the inks pretty evenly. A little heavier on the black, matte black, photo black, and a little heavier on cyan and photo cyan, but not like, multiple times the usage.
I kept a full set of ink tanks in stock, plus a printhead, for each printer, and that got turned over 4-5 times each year, with perhaps an extra of the colors I mentioned thrown in, over the course of the year. We didn't have any that we used like... twice as much of, nor did we have any that never seemed to need replacing.
I will say that the ink usage tracker (available via the web interface, or the last few jobs can be printed out on a status report page) is very accurate. I kept logs, so many logs, tracking what those reports said the ink usage was, versus how much ink I was buying, and the results were consistently close. Yes, there's some loss from running alignments, head cleanings, and such. But you can look at that ink tracker, and see that this job consumed so many ml of ink, work out your ink cost per-ml, and reliably use that as part of your equation for figuring pricing (if you are reselling prints).
tl;dr: my suggestion would be to buy them all in the largest size that will still have you rotating your entire stock at least once a year. Yes, it's a substantial up-front cost, but holy cow is it ever economical. Laughably so, comparing the run-cost of these printers to a standard desktop inkjet. Store your inks in a cool, dark place. As long as you are following the prompts on the printer, only removing/replacing the ink tanks when asked to, and are properly shutting down the printer at the end of each day (or when it makes sense), we never really had an issue with inks drying out or "going bad", even in the big 700ml tanks. They've really got it worked out.
Also, call around. See if there's a local Canon dealer who services and supplies architectural & engineering printers. Find out what their prices are. Especially if you are doing print-for-pay and reselling these prints, it may be worth looking into setting up a wholesale account with a ink & toner distributor like Nuworld, Azerty, Essendant, etc. and buy your supplies from them, rather than paying retail.
posted by xedrik at 5:39 PM on July 10 [12 favorites]
We did mostly fine art repro, taking high-res flatbed scans of original watercolor, oil, acrylic paintings, etc. and reproducing them on watercolor paper, canvas, or photobase.
We exclusively used genuine OEM Canon inks. As complicated as the ink delivery system is, and when our reputation depends on repeatable color accuracy, generic inks just were not an option. We generally ran the highest-capacity tanks available for each printer, because of the savings from "buying in bulk". The only time we ran smaller tanks was when something was temporarily out of stock.
The way these printers operate, when you load an ink cartridge, the ink is pumped first into a smaller "sub tank", and it's from there that it gets delivered to the printheads. This not only prevents air (bubbles) from entering the long, looong ink supply lines, but also enables replacing the ink tanks while the printer is in operation.
It can be quite shocking to see, especially on a brand new printer, you load up all 12 inks and by the time it's done making its churning noises and "Replenishing ink..." the gauges are all nearly empty. But it's not wasted, it's just saying the replaceable ink tanks are nearly empty--and they are, because all that ink is now in the sub tanks.
In my experience, and every shop will be different, we tended to run through the inks pretty evenly. A little heavier on the black, matte black, photo black, and a little heavier on cyan and photo cyan, but not like, multiple times the usage.
I kept a full set of ink tanks in stock, plus a printhead, for each printer, and that got turned over 4-5 times each year, with perhaps an extra of the colors I mentioned thrown in, over the course of the year. We didn't have any that we used like... twice as much of, nor did we have any that never seemed to need replacing.
I will say that the ink usage tracker (available via the web interface, or the last few jobs can be printed out on a status report page) is very accurate. I kept logs, so many logs, tracking what those reports said the ink usage was, versus how much ink I was buying, and the results were consistently close. Yes, there's some loss from running alignments, head cleanings, and such. But you can look at that ink tracker, and see that this job consumed so many ml of ink, work out your ink cost per-ml, and reliably use that as part of your equation for figuring pricing (if you are reselling prints).
tl;dr: my suggestion would be to buy them all in the largest size that will still have you rotating your entire stock at least once a year. Yes, it's a substantial up-front cost, but holy cow is it ever economical. Laughably so, comparing the run-cost of these printers to a standard desktop inkjet. Store your inks in a cool, dark place. As long as you are following the prompts on the printer, only removing/replacing the ink tanks when asked to, and are properly shutting down the printer at the end of each day (or when it makes sense), we never really had an issue with inks drying out or "going bad", even in the big 700ml tanks. They've really got it worked out.
Also, call around. See if there's a local Canon dealer who services and supplies architectural & engineering printers. Find out what their prices are. Especially if you are doing print-for-pay and reselling these prints, it may be worth looking into setting up a wholesale account with a ink & toner distributor like Nuworld, Azerty, Essendant, etc. and buy your supplies from them, rather than paying retail.
posted by xedrik at 5:39 PM on July 10 [12 favorites]
I own the same printer, and have done for almost two years. I primarily print B&W images so went for the 330ml black/gray variations and 160ml colour ones. The original 160ml colour tanks that came with the printer are still in there, and are mostly half full. I have gone through a full set of black/gray inks (160ml) and almost a full set of 330ml ones since I purchased the printer.
So yeah, I don't print much, but the thing has almost covered its costs in two years of use. I wish I had bought it five years ago,
My one piece of advice? Don't ever switch the printer off. Ever. Change the options so it doesn't ever switch itself off, and only goes into standby. If you switch it off it will run through a clean cycle every time you switch it back on again (just about) and *that* will cost you more in ink than worrying about the size of the cartridges. This is overkill and the cost of a replacement head, should the nozzles get badly clogged, would be less than the cost of wasted ink. Run a nozzle check now and then if you are worried.
It will still run a clean cycle now and then but it is *far* less frequent, in my experience, than if you switch it off and on again every time you use it.
The thing filled up its maintenance cartridge in less than 12 months despite low usage (average one large print a week) before I realised, and I now keep it switched on all the time.
posted by lawrencium at 9:28 PM on July 10 [4 favorites]
So yeah, I don't print much, but the thing has almost covered its costs in two years of use. I wish I had bought it five years ago,
My one piece of advice? Don't ever switch the printer off. Ever. Change the options so it doesn't ever switch itself off, and only goes into standby. If you switch it off it will run through a clean cycle every time you switch it back on again (just about) and *that* will cost you more in ink than worrying about the size of the cartridges. This is overkill and the cost of a replacement head, should the nozzles get badly clogged, would be less than the cost of wasted ink. Run a nozzle check now and then if you are worried.
It will still run a clean cycle now and then but it is *far* less frequent, in my experience, than if you switch it off and on again every time you use it.
The thing filled up its maintenance cartridge in less than 12 months despite low usage (average one large print a week) before I realised, and I now keep it switched on all the time.
posted by lawrencium at 9:28 PM on July 10 [4 favorites]
Response by poster: I am pleased that I asked this question. Thank you!!
posted by captainsohler at 2:09 PM on July 11
posted by captainsohler at 2:09 PM on July 11
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If you you want to save money long-term buy the 700ml cartridges.
posted by gregr at 2:29 PM on July 10 [1 favorite]