Black Ink for CISS printing

[way out west]

Hello-
I recently switched from Epson's Durabrite cartridges to a CISS system from Ink Republic for my Epson C88+ printer. I print catalog pages, with both photos and text ,in quantity, and I use plain paper to reduce the cost. After switching I noticed the black ink was really printing more of a dark grey, and the photos and text both looked washed out. This ink was supposed to be equivalent to the Durabrite. I thought I would try another, so I e mailed another supplier (Inkjetfly) and requested the blackest black ink. They sent a V3PK, which I am currently using - But results seem about the same.

Am I doing something wrong?

Thanks in advance.

 

[cwongtech]

I think it may be something to do with Durabrite inks being pigment based and the CISS system from Ink Republic using dye-based ink.

 

[mikling]

You are likely being shipped Photoblack pigment ink.

On printers like the C88 and other CMYK Durabrite based printers, the proper black pigment ink to use is Matte Black. This category of printer will only use the Black channel on plain paper and matte paper. On all other papers, the printers mixes Cyan Magenta and Yellow to make Black and greys. This mixing is a very tricky process and deep blacks are sometimes not achieved if the standard profiles for the printer don't match the inks precisely.

If one uses good dye black inks, the blacks will be very good. Furthermore, by using a matte paper setting on photos you get the benefit of printing with the black channel and achieve very good blacks on photos as well. Furthermore, the high gloss of the paper used will be retained.

For what you want to achieve, economy of operation without the need of archival pigment, the dye based solution with the prescribed trick will solve the problems as well reduce your cost of operation.