Ink use per square metre

How much ECO-solvent ink a print uses, from AM.CO.ZA print simulations on the Epson DX5 head, at each resolution and pass count.

Ink use decides the cost per square metre. AM.CO.ZA ran solid colour print tests and simulations at five resolutions. Real jobs mix colours, for example cyan and yellow for green, so 250% of the single colour figure is the value generally used to work out full colour ink use. The number of passes changes the speed and the quality, not the ink used per square metre at a given resolution.

Ink used	360×720 DPI, 2 pass	360×1080 DPI, 3 pass	720×720 DPI, 4 pass	720×1080 DPI, 6 pass	720×1440 DPI, 8 pass
1m² solid single colour (C, M, Y or K)	4.18 ml	6.27 ml	8.36 ml	12.54 ml	16.72 ml
1370mm full roll, 50m	286.33 ml	429.50 ml	572.66 ml	858.99 ml	1145.32 ml
1520mm full roll, 50m	317.68 ml	476.52 ml	635.36 ml	953.04 ml	1270.72 ml
1600mm full roll, 45m	300.96 ml	451.44 ml	601.92 ml	902.88 ml	1203.84 ml
1m² full colour (250% of single colour)	10.45 ml	15.68 ml	20.90 ml	31.35 ml	41.80 ml

Figures from AM.CO.ZA software print simulation on the Epson DX5 printhead. Head cleaning uses additional ink.

To turn millilitres into rand, divide the bottle price on the ink pages by its volume.

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Ink per square metre in one colour

A solid square metre of one colour used 4.18 ml at 360×720 DPI and 16.72 ml at 720×1440 DPI in AM.CO.ZA's Epson DX5 simulation.

Ink per square metre in full colour

Mixed colours use more than one ink, so 250% of the single colour figure is the value generally used for real jobs: 10.45 ml to 41.80 ml per square metre.

Ink per full roll

One colour across a full 1520mm by 50m roll used 317.68 ml at 360×720 DPI and 1270.72 ml at 720×1440 DPI in the simulation.