Epson XP-15000: how to mix dye ink with clear ink base to obtain red and grey using CMYK

[Ink stained Fingers]

Red - Green - it's just a metter of a personal definition and interpretation as long as we don't use a color standard like Pantone or similar or specify a range of Lab values.

ABW mode - the BW prints look pretty impressive - I assume that the ABW driver does some local contrast enhancement and a stronger black point compensation - I think it's a good feature of the driver overall.

 

[pharmacist]

Red - Green - it's just a metter of a personal definition and interpretation as long as we don't use a color standard like Pantone or similar or specify a range of Lab values.

ABW mode - the BW prints look pretty impressive - I assume that the ABW driver does some local contrast enhancement and a stronger black point compensation - I think it's a good feature of the driver overall.

I presume the ABW is also based on a certain hue of the gray ink: too dark or too light and you will get a shift in the results or colour casts as I think the color inks are also used to neutralise the gray ink. in K3 printers light cyan/magenta and yellow are used during the ABW mode too. So the mixture of 15% PB + 85% CIB is spot on.

Besides: I have still a bottle of Hobbicolors "red" and "green" ink from my old Canon i9950 printer and I can still say: it is certainly NOT red, but orange. Epson red is a true red, because Epson also has a orange and green inks. The previously called blue ink in the R800/R1800 is actually violet (the red ink is a true red, as there is an orange too in the R2000 printer). In the P700/P900 they corrected the name to violet, which is exactly what the colour is.

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

I'm not actively using the ABW mode for monochrome prints, it's great that you are adding your experience with your ink tests to the forum. It shows that such good results can be acheived with the substitute ink sets

 

[The Hat]

It shows that such good results can be acheived with the substitute ink sets

Plus 1..

 

[rminnicks]

It'll be interesting how the gamuts will look - do you have the patch sheets as well available printed with the OEM inks ?

Any chance to list part numbers for cartridge and resetting tool?

 

[pharmacist]

Any chance to list part numbers for cartridge and resetting tool?

Here it is:

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005003508725787.html?spm=a2g0o.order_list.0.0.636c1802c2NUpo

These cartridges can be reset at will, so NO auto reset chips. Auto reset chips are terrible when several cartridges are near empty and you will suffer from the cascading dropping of ink levels and this gives you alot of headache. The resetter can reset original cartridges too, so if you want to refill the original cartridges (dripping method up to 27.3 g) it is possible. But ONLY for EU cartridges !!!

 

[soysauce]

Clear Ink Base (CIB):

-propylene glycol 5 parts in weight
-ethanol denaturated (96% in strength) 30 parts in weight
-isopropanol 15 parts in weight
-destilled water up to 100 parts in weight

Great work! Can you elaborate on the fuctions of the different chemicals in your CIB formulation? My guess is that they all serve multiple functions, with the propylene glycol acting as a humectant to reduce clogging, the propylene glycol and isopropanol acting to increase the viscosity, and the ethanol and isopropanol acting as solvents and promoting quick drying? And the ethannol and isopropanol lower the surface tension? Or am I all wrong? How did you decide to use both ethanol and isopropanol instead of just one alcohol, and what are the effects of varying the rations between them?

 

[pharmacist]

Great work! Can you elaborate on the fuctions of the different chemicals in your CIB formulation? My guess is that they all serve multiple functions, with the propylene glycol acting as a humectant to reduce clogging, the propylene glycol and isopropanol acting to increase the viscosity, and the ethanol and isopropanol acting as solvents and promoting quick drying? And the ethannol and isopropanol lower the surface tension? Or am I all wrong? How did you decide to use both ethanol and isopropanol instead of just one alcohol, and what are the effects of varying the rations between them?

Actually I made it using an educated guess. and several attempts. Propylene glycol used as an humectant and it the isopropanol is used to increase (together with the propylene glycol) the viscosity and indeed lowering surface tension as well (without it the ink will suffer from cohesion forces and the ink will be poorly fired from the print head and puddles on the paper or on the print head and stains the paper with random ink smudges). This way the droplets fired from the nozzles will land more spherical onto the paper (solved the bleeding problem) and the fast evaporating ethanol is needed so the ink dries quickly when it hits the paper surface and also starts to evaporate from the picoliter small droplets as soon as it fired from the nozzle, so the droplets will not bleed when it hits the paper surface and the prints are sharp. Also the amount of ethanol and isopropanol will make the clear ink base be very well preserved for decades. I tried several mixtures and this seems to be the best ratio.

Is someone brave enough to try this CIB together with pigment ink or in bubblejet print heads (Canon, HP) and see what the effect is ?

 

[pharmacist]

some pictures printed with my home made ink set from diluted and mixed CMYK Fujifilm Drylabs fade resistent dye ink.

 

[rminnicks]

Thanks much for info