Printing Business Cards - ET-8550?

[Sotalo]

Before you laugh... hear me out. I needed a good economical printer to print inserts, invoices, and shipping labels, which required a larger size. And for business cards/volume prints, I didn't want to waste ink from the expensive printer. Plus, as much as I love my WF-830 scanner, the higher bit depth and larger size of this scan bed was very enticing. So, I figured I'd hit 10 birds with one stone and order (well, backorder) the Ecotank 8550. Prints up to 13x19, 6-color dye (two blacks), and pretty high yield.

What is your guy's opinion using this thing to print business cards? I already have family who needs a large order. Also, any tips on making color profiles for papers that don't have them would be extremely helpful.

 

[stratman]

6-color dye (two blacks)

1 Pigment Black

5 Dye-based colors: C/M/Y/Grey/Photo Black

Shipping labels should be printed with either Pigment inks or a laser printer. Dye-based inks can smear or wash off in the rain/snow/wet hands and clothes. In other words, your shipping labels should be printed using only the Pigment Black cartridge.

 

[Sotalo]

Hm, good to know. I inherited a monochrome Brother printer from someone who didn't use it, but it is failing to print anything. I think it's missing a gear in the feed mechanism. Might try to get that thing repaired one more time...

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

Shipping labels should be printed with either Pigment inks or a laser printer.

The ET-8550 uses the pigment black when you select normal paper or matte/inkjet papers, but the problem is that the driver adds some dye ink to the pigment black - probably to improve the black level. This may improve the look of prints on such papers with a darker black but is counterproductive to print shipping labels. You may give it a try - print such label - stick it on a box and wipe with a moist paper towel over it.