Do I need to stick with brand specific ink?

[tygger]

I have an Epson printer and I plan on buying refillable cartridges. I'm going to use dye ink, but do I have to buy ink that's specifically labeled for Epsons or can I use also use ink that's labeled as Canon ink?

I'm using my printer to mainly print stuff for school so it doesnt need to be the best quality. I just dont want to damage the printer by using ink labeled for different brands.

Thanks

 

[ghwellsjr]

No, Canons and Epsons operate on different technologies so you don't want to swap inks for them. Canons work by boiling the ink which ejects it through a nozzle whereas Epsons use a mechanical device to compress the ink which ejects it through a nozzle.

Not only that, but many Epson printers use pigment inks even for their colors whereas almost all Canon printer use dye ink for color printing and pigment black for printing on plain paper.

It's always a good idea to buy ink specific for your printer model, not just for your printer brand, to get the best color match.

 

[tygger]

Ok, I will stick with the ink designed for my printer brand to avoid complications.

If I buy ink that's not for my specific model, are there any other negative effects other than incorrect color match?

THanks for your help

 

[pharmacist]

Besides some minor or major colour cast if you are using non brand or even non model specific ink one could safely use refill ink formulated for Canon for the HP printers, because both brands uses the bubblejet technology, by which the ink is boiled until a gas bubble pushed the ink droplet from the nozzle cavity on the paper surface. I use my favourite KMP pigment ink, which is formulated for the Canon BCI-3eBK/PGI-5BK/PGI-220/520BK cartridges, without any ill side-effects in HP black text cartridges. It does its job remarkedly well.

Do not use ink formulated for the Epson piezographic technology for bubblejet technology-based printers (HP, Canon, Lexmark), because the ink -especially pigment- can cause serious clogs in these printers, because especially pigment ink for Epson printers can not handle the boiling technology in HP/Canon printers: the evaporation can cause the pigment particles suddenly to precipitate into the nozzle cavity... Epson uses a crystal that expands with an electric charge and this causes the ink in the nozzle to be pushed out, so this is cold process and its inks are formulated accordingly.

So using ink for example Canon CLI-8 dye can be used in the CLI-521/221 cartridges without any physical ill effects, maybe some colour casts.