by the way, chose your Roland carefully. At some point with the firmware they limited the number of inks you could run at a time, no matter how many carts there are. Sounds like you know who you need to talk to...
Now I really am going back to work
Really? I thought various software solutions and RIPs got around that. Can't imagine they did that after the D'Vinci came out - they even promote that as a '12-colour system' on the Roland website itself!
it was one of the standards for both Iris and Epsons before coated papers were even made, you might be surprised...
back to work.
Really? Might give it a try, then. But maybe it works better with dye inks than pigment...
Ecosolvent printers can have a heated steel surface where the substrate is in touch with before the print area, after that a similar surface and a strip of ventilators. The first is to open up the surface for a better bond as I understand it, not so much to give a drying effect.
That's why I'm planning to use one, instead of using an Epson, HP, etc. You can get a second-hand one in good condition for not much more than a high-end Epson machine. Also, as an industrial-grade machine, I'd imagine it'd be less likely to clog, jam or otherwise fall apart.
For gloss on matte papers you need far more varnish than protection sprays can offer and then preferably applied in several layers. Even with silkscreen printing you can not create a nice gloss with one coating layer of varnish, UV cured or solvent based.
I was thinking more like six to twelve coats.
Waxing the print also provides a nice, pearlescent sheen, but doesn't offer any UV protection, and the sealing effect is doubtful. Maybe a protective spray, with wax applied on top of it. I'll need to do a few experiments, but that can wait until I get the system running.
Considering Iris printers, the best Dmax + longevity was achieved with dye inks on uncoated papers then or with paper with gelatine coatings. Got worse when they started to use porous coated papers. Claria probably is better than any of the dyes of that period including the Ilford Archival dye.
Dye inks are somewhat different, though, and even the best current inks for the Iris are only rated at around 75 'Wilhelm years', i.e. around 147 megalux hours to 30% fading (much less than that, in terms of Aardenburg megalux-hours, due to the more stringent criteria).