The Epson C66 printer on sale at Staples....for transfer work

[Ed Caffrey]

I stumbled into a wonderful deal today on one of the Epson C66 printers. Staples has them on sale right now, with a $40 rebate that you can do online. Total cost for the printer after rebate is about $16! Of course I had to get one. I just finished running a couple sheets of transparencies, and they are working pretty good. I had to thicken up the mixture of Bullseye shellac to about 50/50 with denatured alchol to get a good image, but it sure allows for much more detail than the copier method.

Thanks very much for sharing the knowledge of this method....now if I can just get in the habit of grinding those gravers smaller and smaller, I might be able to actually cut some of that detail.

[Andy S]

Thanks for sharing that Ed. I use an HP 5550 and it works pretty well. The ink transfers very well. But I think the Epson model imparts a bit more detail to the transparency. For that price I think I'll pick one up.

[ron p. nott]

if you are using an apple computer system the c66 will not work but the c86 works very well .. ron

[Andy S]

I picked one up today. At $16 I couldn't say no.
Thanks again for the heads up.

[Tom White]

That is a heck of a deal considering what I have spent on printers. For those of you using my solution and those of you experimenting here are the settings I have found work best for the Epson C66 line of printers using the t0441 black ink on Epson films.

The Epson settings for the printer
first screen check best photo
paper selection Plain paper
at the bottom click advanced
in the advanced screen set gamma to 2.2
select black ink only
set brightness to -18 to -25 experiment a little 18 is usually enough.

If you save these settings with a name and check the box on the advanced screen that says show this screen first the printer will not keep reverting back to the default setting. Otherwise you will need to set this each time.

Thanks Andy for the message it was received and understood.

Tom White

[Andy S]

Thanks for sharing Tom. Your input is always welcome.

[pilkguns]

Tom,
can you share a little of the science of these settings?. I assume the end goal is get as much ink as possible on the paper and then for it to remain "wet" as long as possible but why or how does some of these effect what we want. Like setting the brigthness or contrast in the negative range seems counter intuitative.

Now I am off to Staples to get me a 66.

[Tom White]

I will explain the settings that I use understand this is from countless printers and films testing. Also understand this is with the use of my solution I do not know how it will be with your homemade solutions.

First to clear up one thing the ink should not be wet or smear when touched on the film this will lead to a blurry transfer and one that is not durable you should be able to rub the films with no problem if you are using them wet you will not get the best results. The transfers I make will work with my solution for months after use and I can carry them around, send them in the mail and throw them around the bench. I do not know if any of the homemade solutions will work on old films you will have to try for yourselfs.


The Epson settings for the printer
first screen check best photo ---This makes the printer print at its highest possible DPI in english better and finer detail

paper selection Plain paper --- This applies more ink then the Transparency setting or Glossy paper and still allows the best photo setting which is not available for transparencies.

at the bottom click advanced
in the advanced screen set gamma to 2.2 ---This is for printing color images to the printer and using black ink only for a grayscale image the results will be easier to transfer.

select black ink only ---Because of the pigments in the black ink it is the easiest to see and also bonds to the transfer agent better.

set brightness to -18 to -25 experiment a little 18 is usually enough. ---Scott, this setting actually darkens the image if you increase brightness the image gets lighter and lighter.

These settings took a lot of trial and error and films, my god there are so many, some will be better than others some will not let go at all with some printers.

Photo inks seem harder to transfer than regular inks.

I do not use the computer to make my drawings and images grayscale I allow the printer to do it they seem to make better transfers.

It would take a whole new post to really get all of this correct File Types, Inks, Pigments, Solutions, How To's I will do my best to answer any questions you have who knows someday I may actually recover the costs of this project.

As far as common file types to print and scale. BMP files will be jagged if scaled too much I do not use them. JPG and GIF files will scale better and produce a finer line edge for the fine stuff. There are other proprietary file types with some of the high end drawing programs but again that is another whole problem.

Tom White

[Tim W]

Tom,

Let me be among the first to thank you for going through all the trouble and expense to find the best combinations. I know what a pain in the butt this sort of thing can be and my hat's off to you. You may well recoup the funds expended but never the time. Thanks again!!!

Tim

[Tarl_cabot]

Can someone explain the transfer agent and process or point me to the thread?

Thanks in advance,,,,

Mike Roesch
Chattanooga, TN

The proud owner of an original Gravermeister!

[pilkguns]

Mike,
the easiest and best solution is to buy the solution straight from Tom and then you have a lifetime supply without having to fiddle with amounts and mixtures. His mixture works amazingly well. Or if you want to play, there a several discussion in the not to distant past that discuss this. Since you in your Chattanooga, why don't you come up sometime?

oh, and Tom, Thanks for the insight into the settings.