Black Ink not Drying on Canvas

[KevinSloan]

Hi, I am printing on an HP z6100 and onto a cotton canvas with a gesso that is made in Canada (Dura 901)

All the inks except the black ink are dry to the touch when the canvas is finished printing.

The black ink will smudge and it never dries (even after 1 week).

So there are a few things that could be wrong, but we can't quite figure it out.

1) Wrong black ink is being used for this media type (matte black versus photo black)

2) Humidity?

3) Profile is using too much black (we have tried to lower this, but should we really have to cut the amount of black ink in half compared to the standard profile that we have for canvas?)

Has anyone else experienced this or have any suggestions for how we can figure this out!

Thanks,
Kevin

[dgberg]

Hi, I am printing on an HP z6100 and onto a cotton canvas with a gesso that is made in Canada (Dura 901)

All the inks except the black ink are dry to the touch when the canvas is finished printing.

The black ink will smudge and it never dries (even after 1 week).

So there are a few things that could be wrong, but we can't quite figure it out.

1) Wrong black ink is being used for this media type (matte black versus photo black)

2) Humidity?

3) Profile is using too much black (we have tried to lower this, but should we really have to cut the amount of black ink in half compared to the standard profile that we have for canvas?)

Has anyone else experienced this or have any suggestions for how we can figure this out!

Thanks,
Kevin

Which black ink you are using? I believe that is a matte canvas and should use mk ink.
If you are using matte the first thing I would do is eliminate the material as the problem. Do you have another matte canvas to print on to see if the problem follows?

[Doyle Yoder]

1) Wrong black ink is being used for this media type (matte black versus photo black)

Your probably right here. I would test photo black as many canvas coating are not truly matte like we see with matte papers. Does the z6100 have a setting that uses both blacks like the Canon iPF series printers do with the Canvas Semi-Glossy setting? If so you could give that I try if you need the black to be a little darker.

Doyle

[Randy Carone]

It sounds like a profile issue or at least an ink limit issue. The type of black should not be the issue as long as the material is profiled properly for the type of ink chosen. The type of ink will effect the density of black areas of the image but I don't believe there is a chemical difference between Matte and Photo black that will result in one or the other drying differently. If the black won't dry, there is too much black ink for the canvas coating to fully absorb.

[Doyle Yoder]

I don't believe there is a chemical difference between Matte and Photo black that will result in one or the other drying differently.

Yes there is. Do a test on coated papers with matte black ink. There could be differences in Matte Ink from different manufactures but my experience is that matte ink will dry much slower and is very easy to whip off on any coated media.

Doyle

[Roscolo]

I would just avoid that problematic canvas. You should easily be able to find something equal to or better than.