How to store Swellable Paper

[aCuria]

I have a stack of what is apparently swellable HP paper in a dry cabinet set at 40% relative humidity... I think the idea is that the paper works best when as much water is drawn out of the paper as possible?

What relative humidity should other non-swellable paper be stored at? would 40% cause problems?

If I am doing something stupid please let me know

edit: chatgpt suggests 30-50% for all inkjet paper... I set the dehumidifier to 40%

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

You have been reporting that the paper is not capable anymore to absorb a regular amount of ink which is a sign that the coating is dried out and had hardened. I'm sceptical whether that effect can be reversed, - and if at all - with a higher level of humidity like 70% or 80% for several days and the sheets separated - just give it a try.

chatgpt suggests 30-50% for all inkjet paper... I set the dehumidifier to 40%

Your paper is not a standard paper to which average numbers could apply.

 

[mikling]

Even with proper reconditoning, if that model printer bias is to use more of the light colors, the ink limits will still be exceeded. If you print a majority of light shades you can possibly get away with it but sometimes you need to accept that some printer ink paper combinations are simply not good. I know some people find that hard to accept but such is the reality.
Can't hurt by trying but the problem exists even with new paper so keep that in mind. Good luck and we are talking like days of reconditioning and lots of experimentation.

 

[aCuria]

Even with proper reconditoning, if that model printer bias is to use more of the light colors, the ink limits will still be exceeded. If you print a majority of light shades you can possibly get away with it but sometimes you need to accept that some printer ink paper combinations are simply not good. I know some people find that hard to accept but such is the reality.
Can't hurt by trying but the problem exists even with new paper so keep that in mind. Good luck and we are talking like days of reconditioning and lots of experimentation.

How can I tell if "ink limits are exceeded"?

If I do not see pooling does this mean that the ink limits are NOT exceeded?

I have found settings where no pooling can be seen, even in completely black / dark regions, and this is with 100% ink density

I have a very large amount of paper to try with haha

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

When ink drops hit the paper surface they spread a bit - ink spread - dot gain - and this effect depends on various surface effects and varies with the coating of different papers.
The effect becomes easily visible along edges along different color fields - e.g. orange vs. green.

You easily can do a test - edit an area in an text editor - assign a yellow background to the paper and type arbitrary test in some other colors - green - blue - red etc - print that section and look to the edges of the letters whether they are still well defined or the inks flow into the other creating some iregularity to the edges - your ink limit is too high in such case.

 

[aCuria]

When ink drops hit the paper surface they spread a bit - ink spread - dot gain - and this effect depends on various surface effects and varies with the coating of different papers.
The effect becomes easily visible along edges along different color fields - e.g. orange vs. green.

You easily can do a test - edit an area in an text editor - assign a yellow background to the paper and type arbitrary test in some other colors - green - blue - red etc - print that section and look to the edges of the letters whether they are still well defined or the inks flow into the other creating some iregularity to the edges - your ink limit is too high in such case.

Ok, I get the general idea

Using a 10x triplet loupe, I pixel peeped two images, the first with epson premium glossy paper "High" quality and the same print on HP paper with +15 brightness color correction dialed in to get the brightness more similar (its still darker) to the Epson print

* The first thing I noticed is that the HP paper picks up more dust, I suppose the surface is more tacky. Maybe its a problem if the prints with this are not framed.
* For some reason the epson paper print is MORE pixellated under 10x magnification. This may be because the "Maintenence > Extended Settings > Refine Screening Pattern" was turned ON for the HP paper print, but the defaults were used for the Epson paper print.
* I dont really see a problem with ink bleed on the HP paper with the 10x... with these color transitions
* Yellow - grey
* Blue - Yellow
* white-black
* skin-brown
* skin-black
* pink-black
* skin-yellow
* skin-grey wood
* pink-white

I will delay using the text method until epson premium paper is not in such short supply for me, I suppose I would need one print on epson premium for use as a control.

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

you got the idea of such bleeding test, do it with various driver settings and on different papers,

For some reason the epson paper print is MORE pixellated under 10x magnification.

That's quite possible and even typical that the ink spread differs between papers.

 

[aCuria]

you got the idea of such bleeding test, do it with various driver settings and on different papers,


That's quite possible and even typical that the ink spread differs between papers.

I printed the CAP480 test chart and got no apparent bleeding even though there are tons of color transitions on the chart, so I think the printer is not putting down too much ink.

 

[aCuria]

I tried a different paper - “HP Photosmart” paper,

It was impossible to use with my printer, the Epson ink pooled even on the slowest setting and did not get absorbed into the paper at all

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

I'm irritated that you are not getting a good printout with another HP paper; I understand that you got the L10850 new, so you should have a small sample pack of Epson paper - e.g. premium photo glossy - with it; print a test image - one sheet - 4 x 6 inch - with the default driver settings and check the printout.