Mixing Dye Based Inks To Get Different Colors???

[Nifty]

I'm addicted to refilling... so much that I've refilled my ink rollerball pens!

I've got the CMY (cyan magenta yellow) colors for my inkjet refills. I thought, "Maybe I could use this ink in an empty pen." I drilled a hole, used my syringe, and injected some ink... it worked GREAT! I've been using my Canon ink to refill my Pilot Precise V7 pens.

I just refilled my red pen with magenta and it works great. Only issue is that sometimes I notice the magenta tone looks more magenta than it does red (inkjet printers add yellow to magenta to make vibrant red) and I'm thinking about adding some yellow to my magenta pen give me a true red.

Only problem is that I don't know the proportions / ratio of mix.... I don't want to end up with orange!!!

So, when I'm mixing magenta and yellow to get red, what ratio should I use? I don't think it is 50 / 50 but I've got no idea?

Any suggestions?

 

[Tysonic]

You could just use the Red ink from the i9900, much easier then mixing!

If you're intent on mixing, just document it and try all base percentages, 10% first, then 20% trying the batch till you get what you want.

Tyson

 

[Nifty]

Tyson - Thanks for the suggestion on i9900 ink, but I've literally got bottles and bottles of CYM for my old BJC-1000 that I need to use up.

So, if you were to guess, what mixture do you think I should shoot for?

 

[Tysonic]

I'm pretty confident that 50/50 will make orange. I say use the drop method, then scale it up for what you need in the ink cartridge.

One way to do this would be to use 1 drop Y to 10 drops M (10%) mix it and see what you think. Not good enough? Increase the Y to 2 or 3.

When you get something you like, check the ml on the syringe for the number of yellow drops used vs the magenta. Scale it up or just make enough batches for what you need.

If you record what you do and the result, you could literally make millions of colors that are fully reproducible for anyone with those inks. Great for Calligraphy/Scrap bookers/Fountain Pen, or even Stamp pad users I'd imagine.

Tyson

 

[Nifty]

Okay, I put on my mad scientist hat and did some testing (if you don't think this stuff stains... you haven't messed with it much)!

I did some mixing and my results are below (click for a larger image). The far left is pure magenta. I progressively added more yellow as you move to the right.

The three lines are: Sharpee Perm. Red Marker, Red Crayon, My Magenta refilled pen.

So, I'll let you guess how much yellow has been added to the magenta in the different stages of mixing. There are 13 total mixes that I did. Guess what the ratios / proportions are!


Click for larger image!

 

[Nifty]

By The Way...

When I first tried to refill one of these pens :
http://www.staples.com/Catalog/Browse/Sku.asp?PageType=1&Sku=463810

I thought I'd simply drill a hole into the top / side and push in some ink. When I started to inject the ink I noticed it was pouring out the roller ball in the pen. At first I though the ink viscosity was too thin, but then I realized that I had removed the vacuum from the pen allowing ink to freely pour out the bottom. I solved this two ways:

1) Turned the pen upside down and drilled the hole close to the writing end of the pen.

2) Dipped the roller ball end of the pen in some hot candle wax to create a nice seal around the ball to stop the ink from running out.

Footnote: I'm super surprised how little ink is in these pens (compared to inkjet carts) and how very long they last.

 

[Tysonic]

Can't see your picture, got another link I can try?

 

[Nifty]

Whoops, sorry about that! Try it now.

 

[Tysonic]

The middle ones look the best as far as red is concerned, and by the looks of it, you just added one extra drop as the patches went to the right 12 total.

Right?

Tyson

 

[Nifty]

Tyson,

I agree, I think the middle dot, or # 6, looks the most "red" to me too.

I started off with 2 cc / ml of magenta and slowly started adding yellow. So, what are the 1/5 increments of a cc or ml called? Whatever they are, that totals 10 of those micro measurements.

So, Tyson, are you saying that you think I added 1/10 yellow and then added that same amount again as I went along? So, after 10 additions I would have a 50/50 mix and a total of 4 cc / ml of ink?

Am I right so far???