dye-based ink on pigment printers

[somebodyhere]

Is it possible to use a dye-based refill inks on printers which normally use pigment-based ink?
The particular models I have in mind are Canon MP160 and Epson CX3900.
I don't need the extra advantage of pigment (being smear resistant).

And if it can print ok, will it damage the printer in the long run? How long are we talking about?

Thank you.

 

[mikling]

On Epsons that is generally fine. Best thing is to make sure you flush the old ink out of the system well before letting the printer settle down and turning it off. A couple of head cleanings with printing a few purge images would do well. Make sure to purge the older pigment ink out of the system. There can be incompatibilities between dye and pigment . You may need to do some adjustments to get the color correct again. This can be achieved on a hit or miss basis within the print driver or you may elect to get a new color profile for your printer.

On the MP160, while dye ink may work, it's probably best to just stick with pigment on the PG40. Flushing the pigment from a sponge cartridge is probably not worth the work involved.

 

[somebodyhere]

On Epsons that is generally fine. Best thing is to make sure you flush the old ink out of the system well before letting the printer settle down and turning it off. or you may elect to get a new color profile for your printer.

thanks for your reply.
what did you mean by "well before letting the printer settle down and turning it off"? can you elaborate?
also how do you flush out the ink? use a syringe or?

or you may elect to get a new color profile for your printer.

how would you obtain one?

by the way im trying to decide whether to get epson cx3900 or canon mp160. which one would be the cost effective?
is the problem with epson's head clogging really bad? sometimes i may not print for 1-2 weeks, but when i do print it'll be many pages. and does it happen if i use dye ink as well?

thanks again

 

[mikling]

To flush it out, do a few head cleanings and print a few full pages of color. That way only the new ink would have moved through the system and pushed out the old ink.

I have found that integrated head like the 160 cartridges work well for users that either don't print a lot or that often. You can leave them for weeks and most times they fire right up when they are used again. Most people don't have that similar luck with Epsons which prefer to be used on more regular basis but YMMV.

The 160 cartridges can be easily refilled but you lose the ink level monitor. So before large jobs are tackled, refilling might be a good idea. Keep in mind that if you are printing lots of color or photos in one run, the color ink capacity is quite a bit lower than the Epson.

 

[somebodyhere]

thanks again

I have found that integrated head like the 160 cartridges work well for users that either don't print a lot or that often. You can leave them for weeks and most times they fire right up when they are used again. Most people don't have that similar luck with Epsons which prefer to be used on more regular basis but YMMV.

do you know whether the head clogging is just typical of epson, or of any printers which has the printhead on the printer itself, or of printers with pigment-based ink?
i have a canon i320 with the printhead on the printer, it seems to be fine even after several weeks of no printing. there was one time where it didn't print, but it was easily fixed by just doing a standard head cleaning (no need to physically mess around with it).

 

[mikling]

With Epson, more times than not head clogging issues during use are really air related in that somehow air got into the head rather than a real blockage from dried ink -------the symptoms are the same. However, after a period of non use, real clogging may have occurred due to ink drying on the bottom of the head. If the printer is seldom used, the clog risk is higher because the parking pad might not be soaked with ink. If it is used regularly, and the parking pad is soaked with ink, then it can be dormant for a longer period of non use. I imagine this would be equally applicable to Canons as well.
Prior to the period of dormancy, one can place a few drops or water or windex on the parking heads by moving the head to the side as if changing cartridges. Both dye and pigment can clog but clogged pigment requires more effort to unclog.

 

[somebodyhere]

1 more question,
can i use pigment-based ink on a dye-based printer?
if i have both a pigment printer and a dye printer, but only want to buy 1 set of refill ink, should i buy a dye ink or pigment ink?

also if i buy like 100mL of pigment ink but dont use it all up until 1-2 years, will it still work?

thanks again

 

[mikling]

When you see the price of good quality pigment ink, you will quickly find the answer.

Pigment ink is multiple times more expensive than dye. Pigment ink is more prone to clogging and is harder to unclog. Each time you do a head clean, you're hurting from the expense.

Remember inks have all different shades you just can't switch for convenience and retain the same print quality. If you do so, be prepared for a lot of work to adjust colors.

If you want and need archival quality then you know what you have to get. Otherwise stick with dyes for dye printers.