Inexpensive color printing service?

[jawspr...@my-deja.com]

I am trying to locate an inexpensive color
service to print a manuscript that is mostly B&W
text but with color figures on most pages.

In the ideal case, I would like:

11 x 17 page size
double sided printing
permanent "ink" (i.e. not water soluble inkjet)
low price at low volume

The book is about 400 single-side, 8.5 x 11 pages
so a per sheet (or worse, per 8.5 x 11) print
cost of $1 to $2 that I've found at a number of
shops is not very attractive.

Does anyone know of any service that might be
able to do what I need?

Thanks in advance.

Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Before you buy.

[Kay]

jawspr...@my-deja.com wrote in article <88k9f3$g65$1...@nnrp1.deja.com>...

[Gary V. Deutschmann, Sr.]

Hi Jaws

That was the business I was in before I sold all the printers and
customers.

Keep searching, you will find someone.

On what you describe, my price would have been roughly 6 cents per
double sided page, maybe lower depending on the number of books you
were looking for.

In any case, we used ink-jet printers and I would guarantee that the
ink would not bleed, smear, smudge or run under normal usage.
We used offset ink in our ink-jets.

TTUL
Gary

[Dennis]

Ron Cohen wrote:

> Gary,
> Can you explain how you got offset ink to work in an inkjet? Was it
> oil, rubber or acrylic based? Offset ink has about the same consistency
> as fresh plumbers putty or wheel bearing grease and has to be dug out of
> the can with a putty knife. If mixing a very small amount with an
> appropriate carrier resulted in an ink mixture capable of being put
> through a 5700's nozzles a fortune could be made selling refills since a
> pound of offset black is about $6 and colors are $12 to $18. Because
> offset inks are not water soluble, but ink jets are water based I don't
> see how they can mix. --
> Ron Cohen
> llp...@virtualhosts.net
> L & L Printing

Yes, I to am interested if Gary Deutschmann can explain how the two media's
are mixed. I can't believe that without some explanation.

[Gary V. Deutschmann, Sr.]

Hi Ron

I was using oil based! Only I was paying about $8.00 for a can, which
needless to say is a lifetime supply and yes, it is the consistancy of
tar.

I had started doing this back when the Canon BJ series printers first
came out, namely in the BC-02 cartridges. Then as printheads improved
I had to improve my formula and use progressively higher filtration
systems to purify the ink.

Oil and water mix just fine when using the proper catalyst. But it's
not as easy to make as it sounds. I quit making my own ink when a
refiller started making totally waterproof ink. Now that I'm not in
the business, I am using ink from another source, it's not totally
waterproof but close enough.

My formula only consisted of 4 ingredients
Offset oil based ink at around 1 to 2% of volume
Propyl Alcohol +-5% of volume
Diethylene Glycol +-3% of volume
Triple distilled water +-90% of volume

The Glycol gives the ink body, prevents dripping cartridges.
The Alcohol, besides being a catalyst speeds drying.

I can't give you an exact formula because I never had one. I would
just mix the ingredients in a glass gallon jug, and then make
adjustments to it as I went along.
Too light I added more ink base, not drying fast enough I added more
alcohol, dripping I added a little more glycol, to thick I added more
water. In other words, I was always toying with it, that's why I was
glad to see refillers starting to make waterproof inks.

I should warn you, waterproof inks reduce head life considerably.

Xpedx carries all the ingredients.

TTUL
Gary