Inktec resin coated pigment inks in epson xp-850 all in one printer

[nikolaj_sofus]

Hi all,
about a year ago i bought an epson xp-850 and quickly ruled out original inks, since it was just too bloody expensive, especially since there were too much air in the ink to print anything when i reached an ink level of about 25%

i then went on a hunt for a suitable replacement ink and ended up buying refillable cartridges and fotorite pigment ink from cityink express.
I knew that there could be some issues with clogging and colours being a bit off. There havent been any issues with clogging, but colours were quite off. With the adjustments that could be done in drivers i could either choose between over saturated magenta or green colour casts in the shadows.
for quite some time i didn't use the printer for photo printing.
i then recently bought a colormunki photo and now it produces some very pleasant looking prints.

The next issue to address is longivity.
the pigment should offer good light fastness, but scratch resistance of this ink is not very good, so the photos have to be handled with care.

By browsing through this forum, i stumbled upon Inktec powerchrome k3 inks, which was evaluared to be almost on par with epsons ultrachrome inks.

My question is now.
does anyone have experience with using resin coated pigment inks in xp series dye printers?
are the resin coated pigment inks somehow more "sticky" than non coated pigment and thereby clogg my print head more easily?

the photopaper i use is permajet oyster 271.

hope someone can help me out here

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

the first condition for good photoprints is a clean printhead, a perfect nozzle check without missing nozzles, as long as you print regularly and keep an eye on it it should not be a problem.

When you start using 3rd party inks, and 3rd party papers, you need to do the basics of color management, getting a icc-profile made for your ink/paper/driver settings combination, that profile will do the color corrections, and you need to use this color profile within the software you are using to print - whether it's Photoshop or any other.
The scratch resistance is a combination of the ink and paper, I cannot give there a general advise.
I don't think you can buy any other than resin encapusalated pigment inks, I never have seen inks offered with a choice of encapsulated or not.
Longevity, resistance against UV and ozone is much better with pigment inks than with dye inks, but pigment inks may show some other effects on glossy paper like bronzing, gloss differentials between colors and the paper, but all this is very specific for the ink type/paper combination you are using.

 

[nikolaj_sofus]

so what you say is that all pigment inks are resin coated, meaning that my printer should survive just as well with inktec as it should with fotorite?

my observations with fotorite is that it shows a bit more gloss in areas that is completely black on semi matte paper.
on glossy paper it's completely hopeless.

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

actually I don't really care whether the pigments are resin coated or other, I don't have a choice. They just should stick to the paper, and therefore you need some adhesive effect.
You'll read lots of promises about inks and their compatibility with the original Ultrachrome K3... inks, those 3rd party inks are all somewhat different, vs. the original Epson inks, and against each other, don't believe much of that. One may be colorwise very close, so that you don't need a new profile, but the gloss is terrible, another one has a good gloss, but not a very good black level, etc, and all these effects are somewhat different on different papers. You need to experiment and find a combination which you like most.
(You may think you can save money with 3rd party inks, but there is a learning/testing period upfront which will eat up your savings for a while)

 

[nikolaj_sofus]

i know,
so far the figures are.
600ml of original ink = 800 euroes.

600ml of fotorite pigment + 2 sets of carts = 100 euroes.
x-rite colormunki photo (used) 280 euroes.

if i buy 600ml of inktec ink, i get roughly 110 euroes closer to the 800 euroes, but I'm a tinker på nature and actually enjoy the process.
and as you say, short term i won't save anything, but as my experience grows, I will be able to make significant savings on the long run.

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

yes, and don't forget the time for all that, if it's your hobby time doesn't calculate in Dollars or Euros

 

[nikolaj_sofus]

i know that time doesn't, but euros does
one of the primary goals here are to obtain an understanding of these sorts of things, making me able to make some qualified decisions about which inks to choose in the future and in that way save some money on the long run.

 

[Smile]

I recommend OCP German inks, they really are very good. I use them in my brother printer, Canon's and HP. I don't have an EPSON but my clients never complained about OCP inks clogging the head so I do not think you would have problems.

Inks should be flushed with cleaning liquid, then replaced to another brand. This makes sure no reaction can take place and damage the print head.

 

[nikolaj_sofus]

It's mainly pigment inks i'm looking for and me reason for asking about inktec, is that i red a review, on this site, comparing them to epsons own, ocp and a third cheap brand.
Out of the 3 non oem inks, inktec came out on top.
But thanks for the advice, the more input the better

I red somewhere else on this forum, that before changing from dye to pigment ink, you should run a cleaning solution through the print head. Will this also be needed if i change from pigment to pigment?
I never cleaned the head after changing from dye to pigment, but i did run a purge three times in a row after installing the new carts, to make sure there were no new ink left. I never experienced any problems.
If cleaning should be done, which kind of solution should i use? anything homemade or should i buy something especially for the purpose?

 

[Smile]

Will this also be needed if i change from pigment to pigment?

It never hurts to clean the printhead and ink system before switching inks.

I recommend to use
http://www.octopus-office.de/en/sho...aner/p/barock-nozzle-cleaner-for-print-heads/

You could use pharmacist homemade cleaning liquid but at that price I doubt it's worth it. If you buy 1 liter you probably will use just 1/4 or half at best if you need to fill multiple carts with it.