HP Latex inks with HP wide scan printing technologies.

Samples of HP Latex Printing Technologies.

HP Latex Ink samples

Now that the HP latex ink chemistry has been announced to the public, we can mention this exists. Indeed there are other new ink announcements by other companies as well (being a professor tends to mean that we find out about things early, plus we can generally estimate that needs to be developed anyway, using common sense).

HP states adamantly that their latex ink is not an ink like the vinyl jet (an ink reportedly from DuPont, used in the failed Encad VinylJet). But another ink chemist questions this and now a second ink chemist has raised the same question: to what degree is latex ink of 2008 a relative of VinylJet ink of many years ago? This also reminds us that most other innovative inks require a heater such as Lumocolor, by Staedtler (one of our favorite inks).

This sample is printed with an after-market "latex ink" that attempts to emulate at least some of the properties of the HP latex ink. But this third-party latex ink does not require a special heating system; it can do okay with the ordinary heating system that is already on a normal solvent printer such as Roland, Mimaki, or Mutoh.

I found this latex ink in the beta-test site for this ink company; I was not visiting the printshop to look for latex ink; I was here to inspect a UV-curable inkjet printer. But in another room I noticed an uncommon ink, I asked about it, and was told it was the first after-market latex ink, with the important feature that it does not require any new printer. Of course it is unlikely this third-party solution offers the finesse of the HP system, but it costs $100,000 less, so is more palatable for clients in countries that can't afford a hundred-thousand dollar printer.

There is also another unusual and atypical ink, Magic Ink by Eastech. But this ink has not yet been commercially successful and is not easily available in the US or Europe. Besides there are several newer inks from other sources that appear to be better than Magic Ink. If you read between the lines on FLAAR reports during 2009 (if you order the new reports called “TRENDS” from www.wide-format-printers.NET; go to the links at the right to UV); if you get all the TRENDS reports you will see what new inks we are alluding to here.

I expected more information on HP latex into to be available at DRUPA 2008, but until it is possible to inspect a printer at an actual beta test site, I can’t provide a realistic evaluation.

During DRUPA I kept track of:

Whether other competing companies were even worrying about latex ink
Questions and uncertainties about HP latex ink

Most other companies were not concerned and had no plans to introduce printers in the direction of latex ink. As is not surprising, I found the usual mis-information and confusion that would be expected for any new ink. But without more factual data (information that I myself obtain, not from the endless Tsunami of PR releases from the distributor (in this case HP)). So at present there is not that much substantive that I can add, other than there is considerable misgiving about the origins of this ink (such as whether it is a DuPont ink that was in DuPont labs many years ago). All this is typical of any situation where there is a lack of available facts, so all kinds of rumors fill the industry rumor mill, especially at a trade show like DRUPA.

HP Latex Ink event at HP-Scitex in Israel, attended by Professor Nicholas Hellmuth.

HP latex inks are for billboards and banners, vehicle wrap and building wrap.

But the quality is good enough for indoor POP as well.

The HP Designjet L65500 is a $100,000+ printer, designed from the ground up to handle HP latex inks. I was told that a beta test site would be accessible for me to interview the owner and printer operator to find out how the ink actually functions, but five months later there has not been any visit arranged (other than a beta test site in Barcelona before DRUPA but this was under NDA and thus it was not possible to take any photographs). I need to have enough time to do at least basic test printing on my own.

HP Designjet L65500 with HP latex inks as functioning beta-version wide-format printer at DRUPA 2008.

In the meantime, while I was doing a site-visit test study of a UV-curable inkjet printer in another city, I saw another printer using an after-market latex ink. This was a normal Roland eco-solvent printer, with no change in hardware, simply with third-party alternative latex ink. This means that if you wish latex ink you can simply add it to your Mutoh, Mimaki, Roland, DGI or other eco-solvent, mild-solvent, or lite-solvent printer.

Since access turned out to be easier to this after-market latex ink usage, I will learn more about it and update the FLAAR reports. A lot of our readers ask us about alternative third-party after-market solvent inks. I stayed away from this subject for many years, but after I noticed that all the magazines were recommending after-market inks I began to take a look myself. I recently visited the factory of InkWin, and then visited their ink test labs: several million dollars worth of testing equipment in more than twelve lab rooms in two buildings.

And I visited the LED-curable UV ink labs of Sun LLC in Russia and ink labs of additional companies in other countries also.

An even more interesting multi-purpose ink is from a new ink lab that I hope to visit later this year (in 2009).

In conclusion: some inks start out with substantial PR: bio-ink was a big splash two or three years ago. But then that fad fizzled rather quickly. Although bio-solvent inks are still being touted in PR releases, and although obviously some printshops do use them, they are not catching on as much as industry analysts would have expected considering the volume of PR cranked up when these inks were launched.

One aspect of latex ink is the difficulty in obtaining unbiased independent information on it. At least on cationic UV ink it has been possible to learn about this ink because it is now widely used (in the Gerber Solara ion). Over 200 units are available to inspect.

Most recently updated January 29, 2009.
Previous updates:December 1, 2008, July 29, 2008, March 18, 2008, March 10, 2008.

Compare prices; is it best to buy by lowest price comparison? Your best deal is to buy from a respectable printer dealer who can provide tips and assistance. LexJet is among several places we know that offer HP Designjet printers. They can be reached at sales@LexJet.com. Buying from a box-pusher, gray market, and other dubious outlets is not always a clever idea. We have visited LexJet headquarters several times and have visited their booth at key trade shows. Their other advantage is that they offer all three major brands: Epson, Canon, and HP. So they do not need to push you into only one brand. Plus LexJet knows eco-solvent and UV-cured as well (which FLAAR covers on www.large-format-printers.org).

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