It seems Ultrachrome Hi-Gloss2 ink set uses light colors...

In an attempt to create the red and orange inks for my Epson R2000 using standard K3 compatible inks, I discovered the Ultrachrome Hi-Gloss2 ink set uses a much lighter version of the magenta/cyan/photo black inks similar to the light cyan, light magenta and light black in the K3 ink set:



I will try to make the red and orange inks starting from the intrinsically more reddish OCP normal magenta.

I am still experimenting now and I am getting pretty good results with the following mix:

Matte and Photo Black and yellow remain the same. For magenta I am now using a mixture of 25% Vivid Magenta + 75% Vivid Light magenta of the K3 compatible refill ink. The same goes for the Cyan.

For red I am using a mixture of 1 part yellow + 4 parts of vivid magenta + 5 parts of gloss optimizer.
For orange the mixture is 3 parts of yellow + 1 part of vivid magenta + 4 parts of gloss optimizer.

Gamut is satisfactory (I can obtain very vivid reds and purples and blues, but also orange is good after profiling).

However: for greys the profile needs to pump up the amount of the magenta to neutralize the printing, So somehow the magenta might a bit too weak and needs to be increased in intensity. I am now printing with the homemade mix but using the Hi-Gloss2 profile to see where the culprit is hiding and adjust the mixture accordingly.

Hmmm, my homemade inks for orange and the gloss optimizer tends to "clog" my printhead. I don't know why.

pharmacist said:

Hmmm, my homemade inks for orange and the gloss optimizer tends to "clog" my printhead. I don't know why.

Click to expand...

One of the biggest problems you may face while mixing pigment inks is the different chemicals that are used in each colour, they can react with one and other to form gelling or solids that are too big to fit through the nozzles.
My two cent worth..

OCP Matte Black tends to slightly clog the printhead. I also have some semi-clogs with the OCP Gloss optimizer. I don't understand why. Maybe it is caused by the OCP K3 ink heavy glycol fumes.

Well I gave up my experiments with ink mixing. I ordered some R1900/R2000 on the internet from a german seller. I hope to get better performance and less clogging.

I would not recommend to mix K3 inks for use together with HiGloss inks in an R2000, the gloss behaviour of those inks is different. It's not just the gloss optimizer in the R2000 which gives a better gloss on glossy papers, the inks themselves are already more glossy than K3 inks, and the GO over those mixed inks will not compensate for that. I'm doing the opposite, I'm using the HIGloss inks in an R265 and Pro 4000 to get a better gloss on glossy papers, and basically no bronzing, without any GO. I'm thinning C and M with an inkjet nozzle cleaner down to the LM and LC and Light Black, and I'm running ICM profiles on that inkset in the printers.

Thanks for the tip. Is it possible to use GO to dilute these concentrated inks ? Which type of Hi-Gloss2 compatible ink are you using now ?

It's overall a pretty complicated situation, I did some testing and found that various K3 compatible inks from different suppliers - all claimed to be '100% compatible' - are not really alike in terms of bronzing and gloss on a glossy paper, and with more visible difference on various glossy papers. I tested as well an GO overprint on K3 inks, it improves the bronzing, but still shows gloss differentials. With HiGloss inks it looks better overall, even without GO.
The GO seems to be a kind of water/glycol soluble varnish and may lead to some more clogging. I'm using at this time Higloss compatible ink from farbenwerk.com and a nozzle cleaner from octopus-office as a thinner. Everything is a compromise, but this works quite well for me.

I am diluting ink to light color with GO (epson compatible from octopus-office):
http://www.printerknowledge.com/thr...-ligh-cayn-by-diluting-magenta-and-cyan.7545/
(For his b&w mixes Paul Roark refers to a clear base available from MIS)

Until now I have no problems - but the idea of using nozzle cleaner for diluting sounds interesting. In GO there is probably some kind of coating, uncalled for this purpose ... while cleaning solution could be helpful - if the cleaning part is compatible and not too strong...
@Inkstainedfingers
which cleaning solution exactly are you using? There is also a "conserving solution" for printheads at octopus which might be usable...
I tried to search or decode the ean number for those fluids, but found no information or mds sheet.

From mds for ink from epson (R800)
Water 70 - 75
Proprietary organic materials 10 - 15
Glycerols 10 - 15
Proprietary dyes and pigments 1 - 5
and for GO
Water 60 - 65
Glycerols 25 - 30
Proprietary organic materials 5 - 10
"TEGBE" 1 - 5
Proprietary coatings 1 - 5

It was more accidental than planned at one time, I didn't have a light ink at home, so I was looking for something to dilute it with, and I had the cleaner on hand, and I tried, and it is working for me since then, with dye and pigment inks. It's not the more aggressive Nozzle Rocket but this one http://www.octopus-office.de/shop/d...tronen-druckkopfreinigung-rsl-rinse-solution/ . I'm doing my own profiles, so I don't really depend on the exact same mix ratio as the original inks. I so far did not experience any coalgulation or fall-out, decoloration or whatever. I'm mixing 1 part of ink with 2.5 parts of the rinsing solution, for practical reasons - small plastic ink bottles come in 100 and 250 ml sizes, so it's one bottle each.