Which brand of refill ink for BCI-6 cartridges?

[Jane]

Trying to decide who to order refill ink from. I have done refilling of BCI-6 Canon tanks for a number of years. MIS was the closest to the Canon in color (I am NOT into profiling) and the Canon just happens to really match my screen without profiling. BUT, eventually ran into the Glop problem and tried some others in addition to buying some aftermarket and Canon filled cartridges.

I need to get some from someone NOW. I have tried to do my homework checking the forum here. Discovered that many like Hobbicolors; but also get the impression that it is not as close to Canon. Am I right about that? Does anyone know if MIS has conquered their glop problem? If they have, what are their current BCI-6 inks like; do they still match Canon as well? Any other suggestions for quality and very good match to Canon colors? I am in the US and I know location makes a difference in which sources work.

Thank you in advance
Jane B.

 

[fotofreek]

Try backflushing the carts ala Grandad35. That will clean them out and they can be refilled with MIS again. Stick with it if you like the color match.

 

[Jane]

Those particular carts are long gone. I am asking about how likely it is to happen again with their current product! Please see the second paragraph of my posting above.
Thanks
Jane

 

[Jane]

Those particular carts are long gone. I am asking about how likely it is to happen again with their current product! Please see the second paragraph of my posting above.
Thanks
Jane

 

[alchemist]

Jane,

DCI, OCP, and Sensient inks have a very good color match and I have not seen any head clogging.

Alchemist

 

[Jane]

Jane,

DCI, OCP, and Sensient inks have a very good color match and I have not seen any head clogging.

Alchemist

What about sources for these. I don't recognize who carries these (DCI, OCP, and Sensient?).
Thanks
Jane

 

[fotofreek]

Alotofthings has Formulabs Sensient inks. I don't know about the others. I've been using MIS inks for almost two years and haven't had the "glop" problem you mentioned. I have needed to purge carts after many refills whent they ended up not feeding properly, but I think that would be the case with any ink you used. The person who posted the backflushing technique actually uses Formulabs Sensient inks, so I would guess that all carts eventually get some ink dried up in them or get clumps of "glop" as you describe it and need to be cleaned out or replaced. Just part of the refilling process!

 

[hpnetserver]

I used weink RC-52 before. It is not clear if it is MIS ink (weink carries MIS ink). But I found it not matching Canon closely. I could not get the deep saturated blue like Canon ink did. But other than that photos did look very good to excellent without the blue. Then I was told about the glop issue on its PC ink. Weink actually told customers to filter the ink every 6 months or so. It was on their web site. I thought that's hum... and I discovered their price sky rocketed. Then I doscivered Hobbicolors. Print happily ever since. I have not tried alotofthings yet. Their web site is excellent. Price is still a bit higher than Hobbicolors. There are pros and cons for every brand. There is no such a thing Hobbicolors not close to Canon's colors. Everyone is subjective, especially based on only a print or a few. There is no glop growing in the ink issue. Their virgin cartridge's clip is way too soft. You won't get the snap click sound when plugging it into the printer.

 

[Grandad35]

hpnetserver, fotofreek,

I have now refilled my complete cache of carts with Formulabs bulk ink 6 times over the last 14 months (I have used about 120 carts during that time), and I am seeing a definite reduction in how easily the ink flows through the sponge and filter (e.g. it takes more pressure on the vent hole to blow ink out of the discharge). There is no sign of "glop" in the carts or ink bottles, so I suspect that the filter is doing its job and removing any small particles from the ink before they reach the print head. As such, I plan on doing a complete purge on everything before my next refill cycle.

I can't speak for the other bulk inks, but I suspect that this is "normal", and that a similar problem can be expected with other bulk inks. I don't know if the reduction in ink flow is related to the number of refills or to the elapsed time since the last purge cycle, so it would be useful to hear from others who purge their carts as to their experience on how many refills they get between purging and over what time period.

 

[Jane]

Thanks to all. Since Fotofreek has not had problems in around 2 years with MIS and in checking records the last I got from them was before that, I decided to get a small amount and watch it closely.

Back when I had problems (and it did get talked about fairly widely) if caught in the in bottle stage it could make it hard to draw into the syringe, but not be particularly visible in the bottle before hand. Then if ejected through the needle it would leave a long string out the end of the needle rather than a drip or flowing.
Thanks again
Jane