Sourcing pigment ink for Epson Stylus Photo 1500w

[Scott H.]

Hello all - first post

After reading a lengthy thread from a couple of years back https://www.printerknowledge.com/threads/which-pigment-ink-for-epson-1500w.9323/ I took the plunge 6 months ago and sourced the means from coralgraph.com to push pigment ink through my Epson 1500w. I was getting inconsistent results using Epson dye inks and thought I'd take the plunge....

Now in those 6 months I've got through 450ml of the 600ml of ink that started me off and while the cost has been low I have spent an inordinate amount of time fiddling to try and get good results. Now I think I am getting there but have now found that I can only spot one remaining source of pigment ink - http://www.cityinkexpress.co.uk/cheap-ink-refills/epson/stylus-1500w/photo-series at £12 per 100ml but curiously this http://www.cityinkexpress.co.uk/ciss/epson/photo-1500w/photo-series/pigment-ink whole CISS system is cheaper....

1. Given that we seem to be down to one supplier is this pigment route something I should stick with?
2. Will these inks be close enough the same character as the coralgraph inks to mix them? (I am happy with 'close enough' output)
3. Has anybody used this particular CISS system? (I'm conscious that I could buy it for the cheaper inks but stick with my coralgraph refillables)

Thanks in advance for any help

Scott
http://www.cityinkexpress.co.uk/cheap-ink-refills/epson/stylus-1500w/photo-series

 

[The Hat]

@Scott H., Stick with the refillable carts, the advertised CISS can cause real trouble when used with pigment inks, try emailing Martin in octoink.co.uk for some good advice and answers..

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

I think you are addressing two separate questions - about the use of a CISS instead of cartridges and another about pigment/dye ink sourcing.
I never used a 1400/1500 but several R265 as the A4 predessors. The installation of a CISS , regardless of the ink type, can be somewhat tricky in regards to the tubing, their guidance that they don't get caught by the printhead but have enough room along the movement of the printhead. Manual testing is one thing, but the printhead accelerates and moves pretty quick, and much more than a few times which makes it dynamically more tricky. I spent more time to get the tubing into a stable mode than getting the cartridges working. The other area is the priming of the CISS, the cartridges, not all companies provide good guidance. The cartridges connected to the tubes are in most cases about half size to provide more space for the tubes on top in the left or right position. These cartridges typically come with plugs, like airplugs on normal cartridges , I remove them and pull about 4-5ml with a syringe which fills the tubes and puts some ink into the cartridge as a buffer. They may not be filled completely. But when you operate a CISS you still have the interruptions by the chip empty situations requiring a reset one way or another, e.g. with a litle push button. The firmware is not aware of a CISS avoiding that. The only
printers with an Epson genuine CISS would be the L1300 or L1800 tank system models.
You are currently using pigment inks but with problems as I read your comments, probably missing nozzles. It is not clear whether that is related specifically to the ink you are using or could have some other reason or would go away with dye inks. I cannot say that pigment inks caused more problems than dye inks in the R265 during printing, you just may run a nozzle check more frequently than with dye inks, wihtin a week and not just after a month. But I'm probably printing too much to see the problems after longer idle periods.
You refer to the other thread about inks for the 1500W, I did quite some testing of inks, 3rd party dye inks fade much faster than genuine Epson/Canon/Fujifilm dye inks which fade faster than pigment inks, and these cityinkexpress dye inks are no different.
A CISS would give some more operating converience once it is working properly but I think it would be better to get a smooth operation with regular cartridges first

 

[Scott H.]

@Scott H., try emailing Martin in octoink.co.uk for some good advice and answers..

Thanks - I was thinking of ignoring the CISS anyway, but the ink was cheaper with than without! Unfortunately Octoink do not list pigment inks for Epson 6 ink systems anymore. This is a problem I see everywhere - except cityink which seems to be the sole remaining supplier...

 

[Scott H.]

these cityinkexpress dye inks are no different. A CISS would give some more operating converience once it is working properly but I think it would be better to get a smooth operation with regular cartridges first

Thanks for the additional detail. I was looking at cityink for pigment ink though. I would not use dye other than Claria because its longevity is hopeless. However I have just spotted Lyson Fotonic XG http://www.marrutt.com/find-my-printer/epson-stylus-photo/epson-stylus-photo-1500w-printer/epson-stylus-photo-1500w-printer-ink#refillable-cartridge-system-rcs as a way of going back to dye - it's not Claria longevity but claims to be well on the way at 30 years. Any experience / thoughts?
Thanks

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

The Epson Claria inks as the dye reference are not available in any larger cartridges but only in small 10ml ones making that ink exorbitantly expensive. The only alternative coming close in performance are the Fujifilm Drylab dye inks in larger cartridges from 200 to 700 ml and more affordable and similarly the Epson Ultrachrome D6 Surelab dye inks. The Fotonic XG inks come pretty close , the black is as good, the other colors are slightly weaker. I did quite some of such testing about 2 years ago published here.

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

I don't see a problem to use other Epson Ultrachrome compatible pigment inks in the 1500W, those for the R3000, P600, 3800 etc. I do the same, using the same inks in a R265 and Pro 7600, and I do my own profiles so colors remain consistent. And I dilute M and C to LM and LC with a rinsing/cleaning solution, no problems over lots of years with that approach, and I dilute as well dye M and C into the light colors as needed.

 

[Scott H.]

Interesting stuff! My big problem is that I have a relatively low output for long periods and want to keep thing simple and predictable so just need something that works when I need it so I am very tempted to try the Fotonic XG inks. At present my nozzle checks are perfect but before that changes I'd like to get the Marrutt cartridges and dye inks and change back.
Despite the clean patterns, it would seem that flushing the heads is advisable. Is Magic Bullet going to do the trick? https://www.specialistinks.com/clean-printheads.php

 

[The Hat]

@scott H, if you contact: support@octoink.co.uk, or Tel: (0) 1226 827277 you will get all the help you need with your cleaning procedure and they can also provide you with the right pigment inks for your printer, or try here by PM'ing @websnail

If you need to flush out your print head or cartridges then make up your own solution by using these ingredients, but add a couple of drops of ammonia to the syringe just for head cleaning.

This stuff works..
3 % propylene glycol (or 2 % glycerin)
20 % isopropyl alcohol
distilled water up to 100 %

 

[Scott H.]

OK thanks - I have emailed octoink.

I'll not make my own solution though - sourcing the all the components needed to carry out the operation including syringe, tube and a storage bottle I am sure it will cost rather more than the £12 to source the complete kit. And I'm ready for a few convenient clicks!