Archival Printer Ink?

[kaissa]

Hello,

 

I apologize beforehand if this is not the right forum to ask this. I am in a project and we will print out a large report. I want this to be an archival report. Finding the paper is not a problem, but the ink?

 

Are there any specific toners/ink cartridges that are of archival quality?

 

Thanks for your time,

[JDR]

i assume you are referring to standard office document printers. In the photographic world archival printing is a must. First, talk to the people who make the inks for your printer. I would assume they have done archival testing. Next look at the tests done by Wilhem to see if he has tested our ink, paper combo. (Though almost all of his work is photographic related) Finally, if necessary, print using a high quality photo printer with the appropriate paper.

[hbquikcomjamesl]

So far as I'm aware, laser toner is stable, provided the pages are kept away from PVC and plasticizers.

[ZeissIkon]

Some Canon photographic printers offer archival pigment inks, but you'll bankrupt the company printing multiple copies of a large report on a photo printer unless you also set it up for "bulk ink" (with bulk ink, a Canon can print photo quality at under a dollar for an 8.5x11, not counting paper; printing text, of course, would use vastly less ink, so likely not be impossibly expensive).

 

Many inkjet printers use carbon particle inks (extremely permanent) for the black, but my HP DeskJet 722c for instance, which has a carbon black, uses water soluble color inks.

 

If the report is that important, it's tempting to suggest doing the final print run via an offset printing bureau. It'll probably cost no more per page than a photographic printer with archival inks, and the result has the potential to last decades, if not centuries (look at old magazines, especially the well printed ones with high photographic content like National Geographic -- they look pretty decent even fifty years later).

[escribo]

So far as I'm aware, laser toner is stable, provided the pages are kept away from PVC and plasticizers.

And heat.

[Sandy1]

Hello,

I agree with ZI that off-set is the way to go. Modern inks + the clay-coated paper will give you fine results. The cost per copy depends on many things, and a good off-set shop can show you ways to reduce cost where possible. Also, make very careful queries as to binding - that cost can easily be more than the printing cost.

 

Also, I have the bad manners to inquire as to why the report must be Archival? Do I get the sense of a 'Masterpiece' attitude. (I have to ask that of myself quite often.) The really Archival Item would be the pre-press files that would be used to burn the plates for printing. You should acquire a set of those files on near-permanent computer readable media, and keep a duplicate set on your Co. server/s.

 

Best Regards,

Sandy1

[kaissa]

Some Canon photographic printers offer archival pigment inks, but you'll bankrupt the company printing multiple copies of a large report on a photo printer unless you also set it up for "bulk ink" (with bulk ink, a Canon can print photo quality at under a dollar for an 8.5x11, not counting paper; printing text, of course, would use vastly less ink, so likely not be impossibly expensive).

 

Many inkjet printers use carbon particle inks (extremely permanent) for the black, but my HP DeskJet 722c for instance, which has a carbon black, uses water soluble color inks.

 

If the report is that important, it's tempting to suggest doing the final print run via an offset printing bureau. It'll probably cost no more per page than a photographic printer with archival inks, and the result has the potential to last decades, if not centuries (look at old magazines, especially the well printed ones with high photographic content like National Geographic -- they look pretty decent even fifty years later).

 

Thank you for the pigment ink information. I also found out about liquid toner for laser printers that is supposed to have a long shelf life. There is no comparison between this toner and pigmented inks though.

 

Offset printing is the way to go for me; thanks.

 

 

Also, I have the bad manners to inquire as to why the report must be Archival? Do I get the sense of a 'Masterpiece' attitude.

 

It is a master plan study for a goverment bureau. They want 20 copies of the report, and I am sure one of them will be in a dusty file cabinet. Archiving still is not given its due importance here.

 

Kind regards,

[dcwaites]

 

It is a master plan study for a goverment bureau. They want 20 copies of the report, and I am sure one of them will be in a dusty file cabinet. Archiving still is not given its due importance here.

 

Kind regards,

Do you not have a Government Printing Office? They should be able to give you good advice.

 

Unless you choose carefully, I would think that the paper would be more of a problem than the ink, if you are using pigmented printing of any sort (quality inkjet, toner laserjet, etc). Do make sure you choose a good paper with archival specifications. Have a good look at Xerox, Clairefontaine, OCE, HP and Stora Enso. Poor quality paper won't last 20 years.

 

Assuming you want 20 copies of a 200 page report, with mostly black text with a relatively small number of charts/diagrams/illustrations, then I would think that one of the HP heavy-duty Office Inkjet 4-colour printers would do the job. Also any competent printing bureau would be able to run off a report like that with their Xerox printing stations that will also bind and cover your report.

 

I would think that offset printing for 20 copies might be very expensive per copy. But, get some local advice from a good printing bureau or Govt. Printing Office.

[Sandy1]

Also, I have the bad manners to inquire as to why the report must be Archival? Do I get the sense of a 'Masterpiece' attitude.

 

It is a master plan study for a goverment bureau. They want 20 copies of the report, and I am sure one of them will be in a dusty file cabinet. Archiving still is not given its due importance here.

 

Kind regards,

Hello,

 

I just love Master Plans. But like any Planning document, Budget, etc. they are obsolete / likely to be superseded as soon as they come off the press or printer. In a business sense, the Master Plan is a very important document as it is a milestone. It may be used to guide subsequent Plans, or be a tool for measuring performance. But IMHO it does not need to be archival, rather it needs to be 'enduring'. Likely a working life of 5 years would be sufficient, then it would be time to generate another Master Plan.

 

There is of course, your 'Corporate Culture' to consider. If the Boss wants it fancy, (glossy paper, hard leather bound, etc.) then the Boss gets fancy. Perhaps you can do the introduction and the Executives' Summary fancy, but the guts of the document not so fancy.

 

Best Regards,

Sandy1

[mstone]

I just love Master Plans. But like any Planning document, Budget, etc. they are obsolete / likely to be superseded as soon as they come off the press or printer. In a business sense, the Master Plan is a very important document as it is a milestone. It may be used to guide subsequent Plans, or be a tool for measuring performance. But IMHO it does not need to be archival, rather it needs to be 'enduring'. Likely a working life of 5 years would be sufficient, then it would be time to generate another Master Plan.

A corporate master plan would be lucky to survive until the next quarterly numbers. Government master plans have a much longer life. Locally there are several projects in progress which are part of master plans that are at least 40 years old--in one case I can think of, the plan originated in the 18th century. There are also often legal retention requirements for government documents (because historians actually do want to review past government decisions and understand why they were made).

[hbquikcomjamesl]

Or you could hand-set it in foundry type, and as the forme for each page is completed, hang it on an entirely hand-operated press, and run your 20 copies.

 

Making sure to run it on 100% cotton rag bond, with ink made to Gutenberg's recipe. :P

Edited October 23, 2009 by hbquikcomjamesl

[tim atherton]

Inks aside for now, you should have a records management plan and retention schedule? Once the document reaches the end of its primary life (x number of month or years depending on legal and organisational requirements), it's either destroyed or archived, where it begins its secondary (and much longer) life.

 

Pigmented photo inks on a non acid paper will probably give you good longevity, but many "normal" inks will do pretty well. (I'm not up on the various laser copiers these days). But as important are the storage conditions, which is half of what archiving is about - correct and constant temp/RH, dark storage, correct storage boxes and so on.

 

And if the original is a digital file, then you need to be thinking about digital record management, digital archiving and preservation and digital repositories etc...

 

 

tim a

[kaissa]

Inks aside for now, you should have a records management plan and retention schedule? Once the document reaches the end of its primary life (x number of month or years depending on legal and organisational requirements), it's either destroyed or archived, where it begins its secondary (and much longer) life.

 

 

I do not know what their records management plan is.

 

 

Pigmented photo inks on a non acid paper will probably give you good longevity, but many "normal" inks will do pretty well. (I'm not up on the various laser copiers these days).

 

 

From what I gathered, paper is the dominant factor compared to ink used in longevity. Luckily, I do not have a problem gathering the right type of paper. Pigmented ink is said to last much longer than regular inks; the only problem at the moment seems to be the vibrancy in the color. This definetly is not a issue with the report.

 

I could not find information comparing inkjet printers with laser printers. I found some comments in the late 1990s where laser is mentioned as the choice for long term. There is some mention of "liquid toner" but not a whole lot. The problem with laser/photocopied paper is the heat. The heat can remove the toner particles from the page and stick it to the back of the page above.

 

 

But as important are the storage conditions, which is half of what archiving is about - correct and constant temp/RH, dark storage, correct storage boxes and so on.

 

 

I concur 100%. One source of heat is the plastic pocket that a report may be put into. So if you guys plan on saving a report for a long time, put them in a paper envelope or card file. And use only brass paper clip! The only one that does not rust. Stapling is a no-no for archiving.

 

We will also give the report in a PDF/A format; so that is about as best as we can do regarding the archievability of the report.

 

Thanks,

[ZeissIkon]

From what I gathered, paper is the dominant factor compared to ink used in longevity.

 

This isn't completely true, especially with dye-based ink jet inks. The current ones, for printers introduced within, say, the past five years or so, aren't too bad, but there were dye based ink jet inks from the 1990s that would fade on non-acid paper, even without light exposure (i.e. in a folder in a file drawer) in a couple years, and would vanish in a few weeks or less of direct sun exposure (though the latter is a rather extreme test for a document to be stored indoors). And none of the dye based ink jet inks I've seen have more than minimal water resistance; if the document gets wet (due to a plumbing failure, for instance), you could wind up with blank or completely illegible pages using one of these older style inks, even on the best paper available. Use a pigment based photographic ink, on uncoated paper (so the ink can bond with the paper fibers), and you'll have a document that stands a chance of lasting as long as the paper; Canon claims their current photo inks are good for 200 years, obviously based on accelerated aging tests.

 

Or you could hire some copyists to hand write these things with carbon or iron-gall ink on acid-free rag paper, and tip in archivally processed silver-image B&W photographs, to have a document that's reasonably likely, with good storage, to last five centuries. Expect to pay at least several hundred dollars per copy for this method, though...

[Ink Stained Wretch]

I think I recall that Nathan Tardif of Noodler's Inks fame said a couple of years ago that he was going to try to develop a bulletproof ink jet ink. I don't know whatever became of that idea though.

 

Trying to keep things like records around for more than a human lifetime is quite challenging. So far the leader in this field seems to be cuneiform on baked clay tablets.

[ZeissIkon]

Trying to keep things like records around for more than a human lifetime is quite challenging. So far the leader in this field seems to be cuneiform on baked clay tablets.

 

Not by much, if at all; there are known examples of what's now called Chinese or India ink (the version using hide- or fish-derived gelatin glue as the binder -- similar to modern Chinese/Japanese stick ink) that date back to around 4000 BCE. I don't recall how old the oldest cuneiform tablets are, but they can't be much older than that...

 

Edit to add: and depending on definition, there are animal fat bound inks/paints used in cave art that date back beyond 40,000 years -- but they were applied with fingers, simple brushes, or sprayed from the mouth, because nothing resembling a pen would be invented for tens of thousands of years...

Edited October 25, 2009 by ZeissIkon

[oratek]

Googled upon this thread when looking for information on archival properties of laser printer toner. Thought I'd share this link which pretty much answered all my questions.

 

Australian Government - National Archives of Australia

Preserving photocopies and laser prints

http://www.naa.gov.au/records-management/secure-and-store/preserve/physical-preservation/protecting-photocopies-and-laser-prints.aspx

[pkoko]

Have you considered laminating/protecting the final document with some coat to improve its durability?

[lws]

I think I recall that Nathan Tardif of Noodler's Inks fame said a couple of years ago that he was going to try to develop a bulletproof ink jet ink. I don't know whatever became of that idea though.

 

Trying to keep things like records around for more than a human lifetime is quite challenging. So far the leader in this field seems to be cuneiform on baked clay tablets.

 

Just punch a hole in your ink cartridge and refill it with Noodler's Black. I promise it works, "use only Canon inks in Canon printers" be damned.

 

- Lewis.

[Ink Stained Wretch]

I think I recall that Nathan Tardif of Noodler's Inks fame said a couple of years ago that he was going to try to develop a bulletproof ink jet ink. I don't know whatever became of that idea though.

 

Trying to keep things like records around for more than a human lifetime is quite challenging. So far the leader in this field seems to be cuneiform on baked clay tablets.

 

Just punch a hole in your ink cartridge and refill it with Noodler's Black. I promise it works, "use only Canon inks in Canon printers" be damned.

That's worked for you? I'm dimly remembering various articles from Scientific American and various tech journals from years ago when ink jet printers were new where they were talking about the properties of the ink jet ink. As I recall the process uses heat on a tiny bit of the ink to get it shot out of the ink jet cartridge's nozzle. I've never considered what the consequences of heating some Noodler's Black up to those sorts of temperatures might be :hmm1: .