Mixing Canon and Precision Colors inks?

[PalaDolphin]

The strategy that I'm most comfortable with, as explained by @jtoolman, is to swap out all ink cartridges once just one becomes low. This reduces the number of cleaning cycles run by the printer whenever even just one ink cartridge is replaced.
For purposes of this discussion, "first carts" refers to my original Canon OEM ink cartridges that came with my new Pro-100 printer and "second carts" refers to my flushed cartridges refilled with Precision Colors' (PrC) ink.

Currently, BK and GY carts are 30% used while PC and C are only 10% used; yellow is 25%. In the race to the bottom, I'm sure BK will become low first. (I have another printer I could use for business printing, but it's old, has clogged color ink jets, only black works consistently, must be connected via USB, no WiFi, and space near my desktop is at a premium. So, the little business printing on plain paper will be done on my Pro-100 for now.) Eventually, I will be using only PrC ink, but for the first carts, I'm not sure what to do with the Canon ink.
I understand and accept throwing out and completely flushing the yellow cart from the first carts; there's no mixing yellow ink with anything. It's all the other inks I don't know what to do with.
So, let me set the scenario. One ink reports low. I pull the first carts and replace them with the second carts. I flush and refill the yellow cart with PrC ink; that's a given. Now I've got seven other ink carts from the first carts with various levels of Canon ink. Do I,

A. Drill out and remove the ball on the first carts while they still have Canon ink in them and top them off with PrC ink mixing the two?
B. Are the ICC color profiles so close between the two inks that I can use one or the other while using mixed inks.
or...
C. Throw out all the original Canon ink when the first cart becomes low and start fresh with PrC ink?
or...
D. A hybrid where, just initially, only replace one cart from the first carts one at a time until I'm no longer dealing with Canon ink and how do I deal with ICC color profiles when I've got a mix of Canon and PrC carts in the printer at the same time?​

Since this is my first time, I'm only going to have to deal with this situation once. I'm just not fond of throwing out expensive Canon ink, if you know what I mean. I'm a man of limited means.

 

[stratman]

Unless you seek perfection or are selling your prints, then it is OK to mix OEM ink with PC refill ink. Of course the Canon OEM Yellow ink should not be mixed with refill ink or the Yellow CLI-42 cartridge refilled at all unless you flush it completely using Windex or else risk the Yello Gello and a clogged print head.

Refill the OEM cartridges whenever you want. The recommendation by Mikling is to not let the sponge lose ink. So, either refill when the spongeless side is (reasonably) empty or use the OEM cartridge till it is empty and then flush and refill.

PC refill inksets are typically close matches to OEM. You will need to decide for yourself if you find printed images pleasing. If you decide to not flush OEM cartridges then it may take several refills till you use up OEM ink sufficiently to no longer alter the gamut of PC inks.

There is no wrong way except what you choose. This is part of the beauty of refilling - individuality.

 

[PalaDolphin]

I'm going to be stubborn and use the CLI-42 yellow cartridge I flushed that is at a weight of 13.87 grams instead of the CLI-8 yellow cartridge from the PC kit and have to swap the chip. I think I did a decent job of flushing the yellow CLI-42 cartridge with Windex and sucking it dry to be able to refill it with PrC ink.

 

[The Hat]

Then you can safely run the yellow till its dry, there’s no need to pull the cart till the printer says its empty, because you’ll be purging it anyway...

 

[PalaDolphin]

Then you can safely run the yellow till its dry, there’s no need to pull the cart till the printer says its empty, because you’ll be purging it anyway...

Purging the Canon ink, right? Just this first time. After using PrC yellow ink, I plan to top it off, not purge it.

 

[The Hat]

What I meant was, when your OEM yellow is used up fully, then purge the cart, and later when you refill with PC yellow, only use the cart till the ink in the reservoir side is almost gone, then it is time to refill once more, don’t try to use till empty...

 

[kdsdata]

@Fan of Printing: I have noticed that my colors are used at relatively the same pace, except the blacks/grays. I print mostly software code (text in color), but often 30 to 50 pages at a time, and I like the Pro-100 fast print, because it does save ink, and for text print outs that's just fine. But blacks/grays get used up about 7 to 1 color. So it's important to identify the need, before making a decision on the approach for refilling. I now replace only the blacks/grays when they give me the (!) warning and when the colors are well above their similar warnings. On the replace there is of course the (mandatory) cleaning cycle, but it has apparently not seriously affected the overall economics of the strategy (i.e. seriously drawn down the colors). BTW, when I switched to 3rd party ink, I did not flush anything (didn't know about this requirement then). I simply started using replacement carts. However it probably was the type of printing that I do which prevented any apparent degradation in print quality. I can therefore say I am (so far) happy with the results. I am on about the 4-5 color replacement, meaning 25-30 blacks/grays. The first 1 - 2 color replacements were Canon OEM, so expensive, that's why I started to look for replacements. And that's why this "The Supreme Court Just Bolstered Your Right to Repair Stuff" is an important step toward getting the replacements legalized and also to provide more competition. At least in the future.

 

[PalaDolphin]

What I meant was, when your OEM yellow is used up fully, then purge the cart, and later when you refill with PC yellow, only use the cart till the ink in the reservoir side is almost gone, then it is time to refill once more, don’t try to use till empty...

Got it.

 

[The Hat]

@kdsdata, if you have refilled your yellow cart and continue to use without purging, after the third or fourth fill you will notice the nozzle check getting a bit patchy with missing segment in the yellow.

It takes that long before the Yello Gello starts to make its present known, the more you refill the more you dilute the remaining OEM yellow causing it to form a gel and then stick to the print head nozzles.

It wont destroy your print head but will leave it useless for printing photos for at least six months or more, till all traces of Yello Gelllo leave the head and the yellow nozzles will become clear again.

The best practice is to remove and purge the yellow cart as soon as possible and then continue using it, the more you print the quicker it will clear, it’s something you should be aware of...

Fan of Printing

Who is this Fan of Printing... ?

 

[PalaDolphin]

It takes that long before the Yello Gello starts to make its present known...

So, Yello Gello is a present? I guess a clogged printhead is its gift...LOL!
Seriously, thanks for the advice.

BTW, I just refilled at the cartridges with PrC ink. Now, I clean up, store them, and print like crazy until ink runs low and I can install my newly refilled ink cartridges.