Progress report on pigment ink clogging test

[ghwellsjr]

First some background information:

I had been refilling BCI-3eBk cartridges with Inktec pigment black ink for several years and supplying these refilled cartridges to several of my friends that had MP760 and MP780 printers. None of these printers had nozzle clogging problems but last year every one of them developed clogs in the pigment ink purge systems which renders the printers non-functional for the pigment black ink but it is something that can be fixed by cleaning the small purge pad where the print head parks, flushing the tubing that goes through the purge pump, replacing the large waste ink absorber pads and switching to another pigment black ink.

The question for me is: which ink to switch to? So I am in the process of developing a test that will demonstrate clogs for the Inktec ink and not for some others.

Here is a progress report on what I'm doing for this clogging issue:

I took some of the small waste pads that go in the left side of the printer (there are three identical ones that usually haven't gotten any ink when I replace the full set of pads) and cut them into small half-inch squares. Then I put ten layers of them in a pill bottle and inject ink at the level of the bottom pad, wait for it to soak up and repeat. I'm testing just my old Inktec ink and Image Specialists (IS) ink for the time being until I find a way to demonstrate clogging in the Inktec ink.

When I repeated the above process tens times over a matter of minutes, both quickly soaked up through all ten layers of pads up to the top layer of pad which proves not to be a good test.

Next I started a new process where I am waiting one week between injecting ink each time. This is showing promise because the IS ink immediately soaked up to the next layer of pad whereas the Inktec took tens of minutes to do the same soaking. I'm only up to the third level so it could take several more weeks. What I'm looking for is a time when the Inktec ink refuses to soak up but just remains as a puddle at the bottom that eventually thickens into a paste or dries out completely while the IS continues to soak up immediately.

If and when that happens, I'll repeat the test with all the pigment inks I have which are:
Canon OEM for BCI-3eBk
Canon OEM for PGI-5Bk
Inktec for BCI-3eBk
Inktec for PGI-5Bk
Inktec for PGI-220Bk
Image Specialists (Precision Colors C1020P)
KMP Universal
KMP for PGI-5Bk
Hobbicolors
OCP
Staples BCI-3eBk

UPDATE: I have added Inktec for PGI-220Bk, thanks to Red John for pointing out this new product.

 

[Grandad35]

Good test!!

Since you have lots of spare pad material, why not start testing on all of the other inks immediately? This will save time in getting to the final conclusion. If the test proves to be a bust, you can always wash out the pads and reuse them for other tests.

You could speed up the test by moving from the inside of a pill bottle to an open saucer to increase the evaporation rate.

You could really speed up the test by blowing a fan over the saucer.

 

[ghwellsjr]

I'm trying to make the test somewhat realistic. Inside a printer, the pads are almost devoid of any air movement. They never dry out. Besides, I need the pill bottle to keep the pad tower from falling over.

 

[ghwellsjr]

Tonight was the sixth week of my initial process to define a good test to demonstrate the Inktec clogging in waste pads. Last week, the Inktec ink took a day and a half to completely soak up into the pads and it only went to the third layer whereas the IS ink soaked up in just a few minutes and achieved the fifth level (but not saturated). Tonight, the Inktec is again taking a long time but the IS soaked up again in just a few minutes (still only to the fifth layer and not completely saturated). I think this shows a distinguishing difference between the two inks so I have started my testing of the eleven different inks listed in the first post. I expect this test to go on for three months. I'll provide updates periodically as interesting findings emerge.

 

[ghwellsjr]

It's been three nights since I last put ink into the initial test with just the Inktec BCI-3eBk ink and the IS ink as described in the previous post. The Inktec ink has finally dried in the bottom of the pill bottle which means it refuses to soak up into the pads. (There is no IS ink in the bottom of its pill bottle.) I am going to continue running this test along with my more comprehensive test which I started this week. This will serve as a backup to confirm the clogging of the Inktec ink and the non-clogging of the IS ink.

 

[ehuesman]

ghwellsjr helped me isolate my printing problems to a clogged purge system and mentioned that Hobbi Colors (which I currently refill with) wasn't doing too well in the clog testing. I know that the testing has not been completed, so in the meantime is there anything of comparable price that anyone can recommend. I don't need the "best" ink visually because my printer is mainly used for my kids schoolwork, but we go through a lot of ink, so price is an issue. After dealing with this clogged purge system, I'm putting a priority on reliability.

 

[ghwellsjr]

After six weeks of testing, I now have some experience with Canon OEM inks (BCI-3eBK and PGI-5BK) as well as the other inks listed in the first post of this thread. These two inks soak right up into the pads leaving no residue in the bottom of the pill bottles. Only one other ink behaves the same way and that is the OCP ink. After just a few weeks of testing, all the other inks take days to soak up into the pads and they all leave a residue.

The Inktec BCI-3eBk was the one that prompted doing these tests on different pigment inks. That ink was taken off the market, but their PGI-5Bk ink is just as bad and the same thing with Hobbicolors. All three of these inks would only soak up into three layers of pads and left thick deposits in the bottom of the pill bottles.

There were three inks that soaked up into four layers of pads: Staples, KMP Universal, and Inktec PGI-220.

There were four inks that soaked up into five layers of pads: Image Specialists, KMP for PGI-5, Canon OEM for PGI-5, and OCP.

One ink soaked up into six layers: Canon OEM for BCI-3eBk.

So, if your greatest concern is with clogging of the absorbent waste ink pads, then OCP is the best bulk ink to use. I believe it will also be less prone to clogging the sponge material in the cartridge, requiring fewer, if any, purges. I did some additional testing on this ink to see if it runs when wet, bleeds when printing on a color background on plain paper, smears with a highlighter and it looks good in all these respects. However, it is noticeably not as dark as many of the other pigment black inks when compared side-by-side. By itself, I doubt if anyone would notice. Also, when printing a large solid block of black, this ink produced a perfectly smooth image whereas the Canon OEM cartridge, although darker, left visible traces of the print head passes.

I'm not done testing these inks but since eheusman has already lost a printer due to clogging of the purge system with Hobbicolors pigment black ink, I felt that it was prudent to give a preliminary report on what I have found so far. I doubt if there will be dramatic changes in the future, but just in case there are, I want to make it clear that these results should be considered preliminary. And keep in mind that these tests apply only to the pigment black ink and should not be construed to apply in any way to each manufacturer's dye inks.

 

[Nifty]

Fantastic post and wonderful information! Any chance we can see some various pictures of your testing setup and what the layers look like? By chance do you have a macro setting to take some close up pics of the "residue"?

Again, great job!!!

 

[ghwellsjr]

I can take pictures but it's very hard to see anything through the tinting on the pill boxes. Maybe when I'm all done I'll remove the layers of pads from the pill boxes and take pictures of them.

 

[ehuesman]

When I first started refilling I chose Hobbi Colors for it's quality vs. cost ratio, based on recommendations from this forum. I realize the clogging testing being done by ghwellsjr hadn't been done (or even discussed) at that point, and I certainly I am not faulting anyone for the recommendations. I'm only pointing it out because I would like to know if those on here would still recommend Hobbi Colors color dye inks, again considering quality vs. cost. Unless someone enlightens to me something different, I'm thinking I'll continue using that brand for my color refills but will use something different for the pigment black.

Now on that topic, can anyone recommend the best place to purchasing any of the inks that soaked up into five layers (Image Specialists, KMP for PGI-5, Canon OEM for PGI-5, and OCP)?

Also, can someone confirm that PGI-5 is the just European regionalized version of PGI-220. Are the ink the same? The reason I ask is because I did a quick search on the OCP site and couldn't find ink for the PGI-220 cartridge.

NOTE: I just checked for OCP for the PGI-5 and couldn't find that either. Which OCP product should I be looking for?