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Thread: How Long for Ink to Dry Before Handling Print?

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    http://www.spiritsofsilver.com tgtaylor's Avatar
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    How Long for Ink to Dry Before Handling Print?

    How long should one allow ink-jet prints to dry before handling them? I've read various recommendations from as little as 15 minutes, to “at least an hour” to Epson's recommendation that it takes about 24 hours for the colors to fully dry and stabilize.

    I have several thousand 6x7 transparencies and some are quite good notwithstanding they may have been projected dozens of time over the years. Today I decided to go all out and print one (posted below) to 8.5x11 for my print album taking pains to remove all the dust in PS. It's out of the printer about two hours now and the smell of the ink is still detectable by the nose. The smell of ink on one that I printed yesterday is no longer detectable. Would whether or not the smell is detectable by the olfactory sense be a reliable reference gauge?



    Since Cibachrome is no longer a viable alternative a worthwhile spare-time project would be to revisit the transparency collection and digitally print the better ones for an display album.

    Epson 2200 on Premium Glossy Epson paper from a Epson 3200 scan.

    Thomas

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    Re: How Long for Ink to Dry Before Handling Print?

    At least 24 hours yo.

    I have seen a tiny hint of outgassing for prints that have been framed within 36 hours of being printed. To be safe, I pin them to the wall and let them air out for 2 days. It also gives me the time to look at them under different lighting conditions, etc.

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    Re: How Long for Ink to Dry Before Handling Print?

    If you're talking about "handling" as opposed to framing, I handle them as soon as they come out of the printer. I don't print many at a time and I just put them side by side on a clean table top for a few minutes to a few hours, then stack and store them until I decide what to do with them. I've never researched the question of exactly how long it takes for the ink to dry because I've never had a smudging or other problem. But for purposes of just taking them out of the printer, letting them sit for a while, and then stacking and storing them, it seems to dry virtually immediately with the matte papers I use.
    Brian Ellis
    Before you criticize someone, walk a mile in their shoes. That way when you do criticize them you'll be
    a mile away and you'll have their shoes.

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    http://www.spiritsofsilver.com tgtaylor's Avatar
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    Re: How Long for Ink to Dry Before Handling Print?

    It's been out of the printer a good 5 hours now laying flat and open to the air. There is no detectable odor on the surface. I think, as suggested by false_Aesthetic above, leaving it that way for 24 hours would be a safe bet before framing or, in my case, inserting inside a print storage page. I don't think that it is a good idea to "handle" them while the ink odor is still detectable on the surface. Also I scanned the transparency for 8.5x11 output at 300DPI and printed it using Epson's "Best Photo" printer setting. Five hours is about the same length of time that it takes for film to air dry.

    Thomas

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    Re: How Long for Ink to Dry Before Handling Print?

    Quote Originally Posted by tgtaylor View Post
    It's been out of the printer a good 5 hours now laying flat and open to the air. There is no detectable odor on the surface. I think, as suggested by false_Aesthetic above, leaving it that way for 24 hours would be a safe bet before framing or, in my case, inserting inside a print storage page. I don't think that it is a good idea to "handle" them while the ink odor is still detectable on the surface. Also I scanned the transparency for 8.5x11 output at 300DPI and printed it using Epson's "Best Photo" printer setting. Five hours is about the same length of time that it takes for film to air dry.

    Thomas
    With matte papers, I have never had any problems with wait time.

    However for coated paper, especially glossy like you are using, you will need to be much more careful. You can wait many days for air drying, frame it, then put it in direct sunlight (not that I recommend that, but it happens), and you will still get considerable outgassing that shows as a fog on the glazing which will never go away on its own. My recommendation for glossy and luster papers is to let it air dry for at least 24 hours, then use a blow dryer on it's lowest setting to evaporate any remaining glycol.

  6. #6
    Tech Support, Chromix, Inc.
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    Re: How Long for Ink to Dry Before Handling Print?

    This will naturally depend on how much ink is on the page; if you have a very saturated print or not. Dry time will also be affected if you're printing through a RIP that has been optimized to give as much saturation as possible for the media to handle. Just for the record, we always wait at least 24 hours before measuring the profiling targets we get in. Most inks will have stabilized by then in terms of color.
    Pat Herold
    CHROMiX Tech Support
    www.chromix.com

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