On Sun, 02 Feb 2003 11:45:12 -0500, Ann Sanfedele wrote: > > > and the paper certainly matters as we have discussed here. > > > > Well, I'm not so sure of that. The printer doesn't know what paper you > > have in it. > > > What it knows is which paper selection you've made in the > > printer setup. _That_ will change the ink consumption. > > Ummm but it won't print nicely.. I have had it happen by accident. > If you are using glossy paper and you have the setting on matte it > makes a mess, for instance. And I'm guessing that if you tell it glossy > and your theory is correct, you wont get enough ink to make a good > print on matte.
Actually, the printer will spray less ink in a matte paper setting than in a glossy paper setting. The reason is "wicking" or capillary action by the paper fibers. Less glossy papers "wick" the ink out away from the point of application. So "throwing" a 0.01mm droplet of ink, it'll hit the paper and be wicked out to maybe 0.05mm or 0.1mm (depending on the paper, of course). In general, the "matter" the paper, the more wicking action it will have. There's a technical term for this, but I can't recall it at the moment. It might be the "bleed" of the paper. Glossy papers, however, don't "wick" as well, therefore taking longer to dry but keeping the color spot closer to the area where the ink droplet originally landed. And you're right that using the wrong setting will result in bad prints. It's an example of what I said before ... the printer knows which setting you chose but not what paper is actually in the tray. It if knew what paper was there, it could adjust to it or warn you that your settings were wacky. It doesn't, so it happily throws lots of (matte setting) ink on a glossy paper, if those are the choices you made. TTYL, DougF KG4LMZ
