Ink Composition

[jasiiboss]

Hi Everybody,

I was sold two bottles of yellow ink by a vendor, claiming both to be different in composition. One was to refill Hp 22 no & the other one was for HP 861.
I suspect that both the bottles contain identical ink and the vendor sold me two bottles to make more money.

Can anyone (This is a special request for Pharmacist) suggest a simple method whereby it can be checked if both the bottles contain the same ink?

Rgds,

Jasii

 

[fotofreek]

you can go onto the MIS website and see their codes for the inks they sell for these carts. If they are the same code you should have your answer.

 

[jasiiboss]

Thank you for your reply
Ink in Q is a non branded ink sold as Prodot in India.

 

[SpideRMaN]

I know this is not 100% accurate but it gives me a clue

I put 1 drop of ink A and 1 drop of ink B on one peace of white paper (A5)

let the ink dry

scan the paper and use photoshop color picker to get a rough idea of the color difference

 

[Nifty]

Very interesting discussion! It would be interesting to get some expert chemist types to throw out a few tests that we could use to really determine if they simply took the same ink and put it into two bottles or not. Maybe some kind of chemical or viscosity or interaction with other chemicals / materials tests?

I've heard of this happening quite often. A company buys 50 gallons of "universal" ink and then puts it in bottles with lables for whatever printer someone is ordering. They can sell and charge more since instead of buying one 6 oz bottle of ink for both printers they can sell you two four oz bottles that supposedly are "different formulations".

Obviously the problems are:

1) If your printers do require different inks and the inks are the same (just in diff. bottles) then you could be in trouble.
2) If your printers do not require different inks and the inks are the same (just in diff. bottles) then you are probably overpaying.

 

[jasiiboss]

Thank you guys for your time.

I shall use the method involving photoshop picker suggested by our friend and report the results soon, In the meantime it would be great for all concerned to pool in our knoweldge base and suggest methods by which ink types can be be generically classified. Believe me this certainly is big time rip off as the majority of vendors do not manufacture and only trade in ink.

Rgds,

Jasii

 

[NoixPecan]

Even when using the same formulation, it is very difficult to make the same ink twice. There is always a slight difference in color, hopefully not noticeable. When the formulation is different, an exact same color is even less likely to happen, and the difference should be discernable. So the test suggested by SpideRMaN should give a good hint.

 

[qwertydude]

There may not even be a difference in color but composition could still be different, a few tenths of a percent difference in the amount of surfactant in the ink won't affect it's color but sure will affect its flow rate and viscosity.

 

[jasiiboss]

I guess finding ink composition is not as easy as it looks. Even the data sheets are vague and approx in their findings. QD is right that the most imp ink characteristic viscosity would change by adding small additives without major changes in the composition chemistry.