Ultrachrome Inkset vs Ultrachrome K3

Edd

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Hi guys.
I will try to be succinct for you and apologize if this has been asked and answered before. My searches on here couldn`t find the answer and neither could I find anything by google searches.

I am refilling 3880 carts with Original Ultrachrome K3 inks (or HDR) from original Epson carts of varying sizes.
I have acquired a few carts from Epson 4400/4450 which are Ultrachrome but not Ultrachrome K3. Specifically cyan and yellow carts.

Now, I know the 4400/4450 are four cart printers (and so couldn`t use the full Ultrachrome K3 inkset anyway) but I am unsure of the comparability of the inks used by these printers and that of the Ultrachrome K3 inks.

My question could be simply put as Is the Cyan and Yellow ink in the Ultrachrome ink set the same as that used in the Ultrachrome K3 inkset?

I can`t dig out anything that says it is or it isn`t. I do believe the Ultrachrome K3 inks are the same as used in the HDR inkset.
 

Ink stained Fingers

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Ultrachrome is a family name for a range of ink sets, and Epson is not very clear about the actual differences between them aside from the number of available colors in each set, most of it is marketing speech http://assets.epson-europe.com/eu/Label_Expo_2013/assets/downloads/Fact-Sheet-Aqueous-Ink.pdf and there are more of such ink sets.
It is my understanding that the original Ultrachrome ink set came with the 2100, Pro 4000, 7600 etc type printers followed by the K3 inkset claimed with less bronzing and better, more uniform gloss characteristics, followed by the K3 vivid magenta inks followed by the K3 HD inks for the P800 etc.
I have been mixing inks in the past like you are planning to do without problems. But since those inks most likely have slightly different saturated colors I'm always creating icm-profiles for the inks and papers in use to get a correct color output. Black inks may vary as well in their black level.
 

Edd

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That was pretty much as I was thinking but it is reassuring to here you have been mixing the inks without problem. My reasoning was if the chemistry had changed the marketing people would have jumped straight onto that and sold everyone on the need to upgrade.
 
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