Powerchrome K3 on 1500W

Hi,

I finally run out of OEM ink provided with the printer.

Time to start a new journey: using the Powerchrome K3 ink from Octoink.
I ordered 250 ml of each color what should correspond to my entire printer life...

1) Ink:

I started first by a newbie mistake: I did not removed the vent plugs from my refillable cartridges. Cause: a big "DO NOT REMOVE" tag just next to them...
But it works much better without
With the plugs no ink any more arrived on the paper surface.

I had to perform several head cleaning cycles and let the printer rest a night in order to have the ink coming again from all the nozzles.

Since I've been using this ink I noticed 3 issues:

1. Sometimes I see some very small white areas in plain blacks. I suppose they correspond to one point definition that did not receive ink.
   Why? Air bubbles?
   
   
2. I see patterns in plain blues.
   (I zoomed on such pattern on the image below)
   Could it be due to a bad alignment?
   
   
3. I have regularly a large drop of magenta ink on the sheets.
   See image bottom right.
   Would this cartridge have a leak?

Do you have an idea of what's going wrong or what I could test?

2) Profiling:

I've made a first profiling test using my Datacolor Spyder3Print using a 729 colors patch and at first sight everything seems good except the black and white scale:
if you look a the picture (my old scanner is not profiled, colors are poor): Pure black is OK but the 2nd and 3rd patches are really brownish. All the other grey patches are OK. Does anyone has an idea why?

I'll perform a second measurement in order to average the results.

Hi compatriot,

If you want: I made some profiles for the Epson 1500W combined with the Inktec Powerchrome K3 ink set, so drop me a PM for a download if interested. The profiles are dead neutral.

I presume the nozzle checks are 100% OK ?

Yes the last check I did was 100% OK.

I send you a PM.

Depending on the orientation of your image showing the banding on the BLUE patch. Yes it is your head alignment. And for whatever the reason, it will really show up on Blue areas.

You Primed the refillable carts correctly? The cause for your initial problems not getting ink to the head.

I don't know what your white dots / marks may be on the blacks.

The Magenta blotch? You may have a leaky cart.

And finally the Do not Remove refers to the LABEL not the VENT plug which of course needs to be removed. That was also the initial ink flow problem. I am sure you created a vacuum inside the carts.

But doesn't that printer use Dye inks to begin with? If so how is it working so far with the Inktec Powerchrome K3?

Joe

OK thanks. I'll take a look tonight at the head alignment utility. I think I have see one in Epson printer tools.

You're right, because of the vent plugs I did not prime the carts correctly at start.
But after some cleaning processes it should be OK now.
At least, I've seen so much ink flowing in my printer potty that I can tell that they are primed now! And the Datacolor targets are well printed except for some blue patches.

Yes, it is sold as a dye ink printer but I've read that a lot of folks use it with pigment ink (thanks to its head techonology which it shares with its Rx000 sisters using pigment ink).

The Pharmacist uses this ink without problem on the same printer model.

Laurent.

If I understand correctly you have used the OEM first, which is dye/claria, now the powerchrome pigment. So I would like to know your opinion about this ink - compared to dye on certain papers:
- how deep is the black (on which paper)
- what sort of paper you would prefer or avoid (with pigment or dye)
- how "vivid" or "muted" are the colors in general (on which paper)

Hi Martin,

Didn't I send you some test images on both Netbit as well as on Epson Premium Semi Gloss paper with the ink? I don't see much difference when printed with dye or pigment ink. Dmax with dye ink is of course better. How do you compare those prints with your dye based images in terms of Dmax ?

Hi pharmacist,
yes - your samples are looking really good, also regarding deep blacks. I compared them visually with prints of the same test image made with my r285 and the powerchrome ink. What I don#t remember: were your test images made with a 6 channel printer like mine (or like 1500w) or were they made with a 3K printer (like 3000 or 3880 with all three blacks)?
My own first impression (having used mostly dye before) was "muted" color.
I was particular disappointed when using the "black ink only" mode for neutral b&w: the results are missing the deep blacks compared to dye ink...I had thought pigment would be at least as black as dye on cheap matte paper...but the choice of paper seems to be very important particularly with pigment.
Meanwhile after testing other photo papers and profiling the ink+media my results with color prints are getting better.
But I am still surprised that text prints on plain paper (not the main purpose of this ink I know) are clearly not as black as with dye...while pigment black is said to print sharper and deeper blacks for text...or does that only apply on canon??

martin0reg said:

But I am still surprised that text prints on plain paper (not the main purpose of this ink I know) are clearly not as black as with dye...while pigment black is said to print sharper and deeper blacks for text...or does that only apply on canon??

Click to expand...

Since Dye black (or any other color) ink is absorbed by paper and pigment is not, it's the paper that plays critical role in how vivid (black) the color is when using Dye inks. Good test is Canon PT-101 paper with Dye ink it's very very black and glossy, with pigment ink just another overpriced paper.

@GauffDeLieche

I see is that micro banding of the cyan? Have you fixed it, maybe the viscosity of cyan ink is too high? Did this happen only with third party inks?

Hi Martin0reg,

I think might have experienced the exact problem that pigment printer manufacturers are trying to cope with: photo black looks like dark grey on normal and matte papers. This is the reason why pigment printers usually have 2 types of black: photo and matte black. Dye ink still looks very black on both type of papers, but pigment ink not: using photo black on matte papers will disappoint you.

The prints are made on my Epson 1500W with the CcMmYK sub set of the Inktec Powerchrome K3 ink, so I think you should be able to get that quality .