- Joined
- May 29, 2007
- Messages
- 2,638
- Reaction score
- 1,389
- Points
- 313
- Location
- Ghent, Belgium
- Printer Model
- 2x SC-900, WF-7840, TS705
Last week I finally received my Epson SC-P900 refillable cartridges from aliexpress.com. In the previous week I already received my bottles of Inktec Powerchrome from Ebay (printout24.de), but I had to wait until I received te cartridges.
I ordered extra LLK and VLM, because these colours are consumed at a much higher rate than other colours. Especially the LLK is used as a type of gloss optimizer in the P900 to even out gloss differential on glossy papers and also to increase blacks (black overcoat technology significantly improving blackness/black point compared to the older machines).
The refillable cartridges from Aliexpress:
During the refill process I discovered one of the cartridge (LC) did not have the necessary chip holder, forcing me to transfer the chipholder of the MB cartridge to be transferred on the LC cartridge. I had to use the existing modified and refilled and reset original Epson MB cartridge. I kept the original Epson MB cartridge and did not used the Inktec Powerchrome K3 PB ink, because I found the blackness not as good as original Epson PB (I am using original Epson PB from large format printer cartridge of 350 ml). The rest of the colours are Inktec Powerchrome K3 inks, including the violet ink.
The LC cartridge without the necessary chip holder (on the left) and on the right the VLM cartridge with the chip holder:
One thing to note: the Epson SC-P900 is warning at each startup that you are using non-genuine cartridges and that you should click on several buttons to accept before you can proceed. This is the price for resetting the original chips that made them non-genuine to the printer. And from time to time after executing a print job there will be a pop-up warning you there are non-genuine cartridges installed and you have to accept them before the printing proceeds (note: only for EU-printers. US-printers will say NOOO......)
The cartridge installed, the MB is original and modified because of the problem with the missing chip holder. All inks Inktec Powerchrome K3 except PB and MB (both genuine Epson).
After executing 4 deep cleanings I did a nozzle check to check the result:
Note the darker hue of the violet ink nozzle row. The scan does not show it clearly but it was significantly darker than on the scan. It is more towards bluish purple. All the other colours are very similar/identical to the original Epson Ultrachrome Pro-10 ink set. This gives me the feeling there will be differences in hue/gamut towards the blues/purples with this Inktec Powerchrome ink set, because their violet ink is not the same as the orginal Epson violet ink in terms of colour and hue.
I took the time to profile the new ink set in my printer by making dedicated profiles with my i1Profiler to see how the new ink behaves.
This is the result in profile viewer Inktec Powerchrome ink (with original Epson PB) for the Inktec Powerchrome ink: a nice and regular profile as expected:
The blackpoint of the profile: very good indeed (orginal Epson PB) combined with black overcoat enhancement checked:
Now with the profile I made with the orginal Epson Ultrachrome Pro-10 ink set for the same paper projected on top of the 3D-model (blue: Inktec Powerchrome, red: Epson Ultrachrome Pro-10):
This reveals the Inktec violet ink is not up to the standard of original Epson Ultrachrome Pro-10 ink: you can clearly see the effect of the original Epson violet ink in reproducing the blues/purples and significantly increased the reproduction of these colours in prints.
What about the blackpoint of the new ink combination. I am not sure if Inktec Powerchrome PB performs, since I am using original Epson PB harvested from large format printer and this si the comparison (black enhancement overcoat enabled):
You can see: the same black point as expected using original Epson PB ink.
I ordered extra LLK and VLM, because these colours are consumed at a much higher rate than other colours. Especially the LLK is used as a type of gloss optimizer in the P900 to even out gloss differential on glossy papers and also to increase blacks (black overcoat technology significantly improving blackness/black point compared to the older machines).
The refillable cartridges from Aliexpress:
During the refill process I discovered one of the cartridge (LC) did not have the necessary chip holder, forcing me to transfer the chipholder of the MB cartridge to be transferred on the LC cartridge. I had to use the existing modified and refilled and reset original Epson MB cartridge. I kept the original Epson MB cartridge and did not used the Inktec Powerchrome K3 PB ink, because I found the blackness not as good as original Epson PB (I am using original Epson PB from large format printer cartridge of 350 ml). The rest of the colours are Inktec Powerchrome K3 inks, including the violet ink.
The LC cartridge without the necessary chip holder (on the left) and on the right the VLM cartridge with the chip holder:
One thing to note: the Epson SC-P900 is warning at each startup that you are using non-genuine cartridges and that you should click on several buttons to accept before you can proceed. This is the price for resetting the original chips that made them non-genuine to the printer. And from time to time after executing a print job there will be a pop-up warning you there are non-genuine cartridges installed and you have to accept them before the printing proceeds (note: only for EU-printers. US-printers will say NOOO......)
The cartridge installed, the MB is original and modified because of the problem with the missing chip holder. All inks Inktec Powerchrome K3 except PB and MB (both genuine Epson).
After executing 4 deep cleanings I did a nozzle check to check the result:
Note the darker hue of the violet ink nozzle row. The scan does not show it clearly but it was significantly darker than on the scan. It is more towards bluish purple. All the other colours are very similar/identical to the original Epson Ultrachrome Pro-10 ink set. This gives me the feeling there will be differences in hue/gamut towards the blues/purples with this Inktec Powerchrome ink set, because their violet ink is not the same as the orginal Epson violet ink in terms of colour and hue.
I took the time to profile the new ink set in my printer by making dedicated profiles with my i1Profiler to see how the new ink behaves.
This is the result in profile viewer Inktec Powerchrome ink (with original Epson PB) for the Inktec Powerchrome ink: a nice and regular profile as expected:
The blackpoint of the profile: very good indeed (orginal Epson PB) combined with black overcoat enhancement checked:
Now with the profile I made with the orginal Epson Ultrachrome Pro-10 ink set for the same paper projected on top of the 3D-model (blue: Inktec Powerchrome, red: Epson Ultrachrome Pro-10):
This reveals the Inktec violet ink is not up to the standard of original Epson Ultrachrome Pro-10 ink: you can clearly see the effect of the original Epson violet ink in reproducing the blues/purples and significantly increased the reproduction of these colours in prints.
What about the blackpoint of the new ink combination. I am not sure if Inktec Powerchrome PB performs, since I am using original Epson PB harvested from large format printer and this si the comparison (black enhancement overcoat enabled):
You can see: the same black point as expected using original Epson PB ink.
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