Diluting Dye based Ink with water?

[pdfman]

I have been refilling my Brother DCP 115 Inkjet printer cartridges for the past three years satisfactorily.Unfortunately the ink brand I was using in the past is not available any more in the shops so i switched to a different brand only to notice that:
1-The black is not completely black but some how dark redish.
2-The magenta is too dark
My questions are:
3-Is there a solution for making black really black?
4-Can I dilute the magenta with water to make it lighter?
thanks and regards

 

[The Hat]

I have been refilling my Brother DCP 115 Inkjet printer cartridges for the past three years satisfactorily.
Unfortunately the ink brand I was using in the past is not available any more in the shops so i switched to a different brand only to notice that:
1-The black is not completely black but some how dark redish.
2-The magenta is too dark
My questions are:
3-Is there a solution for making black really black?
4-Can I dilute the magenta with water to make it lighter?
thanks and regards

When buying ink for refilling its too easy to buy rubbish as you have now found to your horror.
Search Google for the best inks that you can get but not the cheapest also try to
avoid the ones with free shipping thats usually a dead giveaway (i.e. $8 + free shipping.)

With your existing black ink problem you could try and put a little of cyan and yellow
into your black that will help to get it a shade darter.

Diluting your magenta ink with water will only make your problem worse,
I could suggest a mix of the other colours to lighten the magenta
but that takes an awful lot of practice patience and skill and not for the faint hearted.

My advice to you is to dump this batch of ink as soon as possible and go for a well known brand for Brother Printers..

 

[pdfman]

Thanks for your prompt reply.But are Inks categorized in per Printer brand?What is a good one for Brother printers to you experience please?

 

[The Hat]

Thanks for your prompt reply.But are Inks categorized in per Printer brand?What is a good one for Brother printers to you experience please?

As I dont know your location it is hard to recommend any ink supplier.
But one that has cropped up for Brother Printers is inkowl.com you could try them.
http://www.inkowl.com/index.php?C=10&S=37

 

[lin]

I have been refilling my Brother DCP 115 Inkjet printer cartridges for the past three years satisfactorily.Unfortunately the ink brand I was using in the past is not available any more in the shops so i switched to a different brand only to notice that:
1-The black is not completely black but some how dark redish.
2-The magenta is too dark
My questions are:
3-Is there a solution for making black really black ink?
4-Can I dilute the magenta with water to make it lighter?
thanks and regards

You do not need to do anything to your black.
The reason your black doesn't look completely black from the bottle (by looking at the bottle) because it's compatible dye ink. The aftermarket black dye ink that gives true black is a little greyish (That is it look like black color that is too light, not dark enough). As such, the aftermarket manufacturer tend to add certain color (C/M/Y) more to give you a darker black. Which explain the reddish/bluish hue in the black ink when you view from the bottle.

Despite that the black dye ink should look black on paper. If you don't believe me, just use a cotton bud and wet it with the black dye ink you have and slide/stroke it on a piece of plain paper, what color do you see? Do you see the reddish hue? Or does it look black for you?

Now the problem is, when during printing, for some printer, black is derived by printing the CMY and K (if you have one and depending on the setting you have selected during printing).
For some printer. they have a option to make use of the black ink alone from the black cartridge (you have to select grayscale and plain paper and ??? depending on your printer). For eg, for epson (and depending on model), you have to select grayscale, plain paper and TEXT to make it uses black ink. Selecting "TEXT and Image" even if you have selected grayscale and plain paper, it would still use composite color (a mixed of CMYK).
As for you, your problem is not so much of the black ink which looks dark reddish in color when view from the bottle. But rather when during printing. the black doesn't look black because your certain other color is too strong. A lot of sellers are selling universal ink and are not specific ink that match for your printer. As such, when during printing with certain color that is too strong, it causes the black color to be off.

As to your other question, about diluting the ink, I can't answer.

 

[pdfman]

Thank you all for your replies.you have been informative.viva nifty stuff.com