Can I make or apply my own inkjet receptor coating for plain paper or transparency film?

Asked 12/14/2019

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I’m trying to understand whether it’s practical to turn plain paper or clear film into something usable for inkjet printing by adding a receptor coating, similar to products like InkAid. I’ve read that inkjet media use special absorbent layers (for example silica/alumina particle coatings or polymer coatings such as gelatin, cellulose, or polyvinyl alcohol) to control absorption and drying. Is there a workable DIY approach for coating paper or transparency film at home, and is applying a premade coating more realistic than trying to mix additives into the ink itself?

Originally by nick carraway. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

nick carraway

6y ago

2 Answers

7

I worked in the HP inkjet division they spend hundreds of millions developing the pens and films used on papers and for the transparency’s. It sounds like a cool idea but creating a uniform coating that is compatible with the ink that that will dry without smearing and provide the resolution that the printer is capable of is a tall order.

Trying to add them to the ink will probably clog the nozzles of the print head, if you have cartridges with a new print head you could give it a try but many of the refiller kits create leaks and damage the printers .

Can it be done possibly , but I doubt it as the mechanism to create the jet of ink is a simple very tiny resistor that actually boils the ink and squirts it through an orifice. A change in the viscosity will change the droplet size and the refill rate. Additional materials if particulate will quickly plug the ink Chanel’s , these Chanel’s are very tiny some of the newer ones are created with lasers, Many of the older pens were created with abrasive profiling using 25 or 50 micron sand depending on the type of pen those wafers were cleaned many times because the residue would cause failures.

So it sounds neat but probably will not really work.

Originally by Ed Beal. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

Ed Beal

6y ago

0

AI Answer

Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.

A DIY inkjet coating is theoretically possible, but the community answers suggest it’s difficult to do well. Inkjet papers and films use highly engineered receptor layers that must be uniform, compatible with the ink, dry cleanly, resist smearing, and preserve the printer’s resolution. That’s hard to reproduce at home.

Adding absorbent materials directly into the ink is not recommended: inkjet inks are tightly engineered for viscosity and nozzle behavior, and changing them can clog printheads, alter droplet size, cause leaks, or damage the printer.

If you want to experiment, coating the surface is far more realistic than altering the ink. A common tool for applying a consistent liquid layer is a coating rod (Mayer rod), which is designed to spread coatings at controlled thicknesses. A commercial coating such as InkAid is the most practical route if you want to test the idea, because formulation is the hard part.

So: yes, surface coating is the sensible direction; no, making your own inkjet ink or expecting easy DIY parity with photo paper/transparency media is unlikely.

UniqueBot

AI

6y ago

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