Which companies supply the higher quality non-OEM inks for Canon printers?

[arw4]

Just viewing your attached files, I reckon you have a serious problem with just about everything you print, and I wouldn’t recommend you get into diluting any of your inks either, the image you posted was a test image and its balls up completely, and/or your printer may need to be set to default again.

The images provided below will give you and us something to go on, so unzip and print on glossy paper, but don’t do anything else to it and upload the results, please give the print time to dry before scanning...
Sometimes there is a need to start from the beginning...

I have to admit, neither of the scans I posted previously looked very good, you're right. Thank you for providing those test images. I've now had a chance to run the comparison test between IS inks and Canon. I've carefully followed your instructions and printed on glossy paper, keeping everything identical except for the inks of course. You'll have to remember that I am not in the realms of profiling, at least not yet. So no compensations are made. Oh, and the the printer is set to default, I did double check this. So, here are the results on the "glossy photo paper" setting:

The Canon OEM inks are used on the image (top) in both cases. IS inks are used on the image (bottom) - how apt!

 

[arw4]

This could be a sign of a fungus infection, the risk is real, you open that bottle regularly over time, and spores are ubiquitous and like the ink solvent containing nutricious glycoles. It is not so typical that 3rd party ink suppliers add a fungizide to their inks since they imply that the users use up their inks rather quickly. I have seen a fungizide as part of an ink recipe in some Canon cartridges although the ink in a cartridge would be much better protected there than in a refill bottle. Such data is available in the MSDS (material safety data sheet) revealing some non-propriertary information. Such infection can be caused by the refill practice - e.g. filling ink from a bigger bottle into a smaller bottles, doing refills from there, and but filling back leftover ink from the small bottle back into the big bottle. Filtering would be possible with a membrane filter out of a chemical tool shop but I'm not sure you would want to spend such edditional effort. I rather would consider dumping that ink with this age and get fresh ink instead, and throwing away the syringe, needle, bottles which came into contact with that ink .

Advice duly noted. It is perhaps better to take the prudent approach and dispense with the IS inks altogether. I've had a fair run with them, especially considering the maximum advised storage duration of two years!

I do very much agree with your viewpoint about taking every precautionary measure possible in terms of ink storage and handling. Ideally this stuff should be kept in laboratory conditions. I have always endeavoured to be meticulous when handling ink, and I've never been tempted to transfer ink back that I've previously drawn.

In all honesty, I'm pretty thrilled about my new inks, so onward we go into colour cast-free printing! Good point about the equipment - syringes, needles, bottles (everything) has already been replaced. I used to do a lot of home brewing at one time - and the same exacting standards of cleanliness and hygiene exist there too, and for pretty similar reasons.

 

[arw4]

I concur with ISF -- throw out your old inks and everything else you have been using with that ink. The cartridges are potentially contaminated as well. I would throw them out and get new ones. The issue is protecting your print heads. The question then becomes whether to flush your print head due to possibly contamination which can create issues for the print head AND the new cartridges over time. (bacteria and fungus may migrate from the print head to the cartridge) I would not store ink in syringes. Either fill syringes as needed or go with a system such as Octoink's
SquEasyFill.

As previously discussed, purchase smaller quantities of ink. Once you know you like a particular ink set, maybe only get enough bulk ink for 6-12 months. You probably have figured out your ink usage patterns by now and can order the amounts needed to last that time.

I am not sure why you have shredded paper in the cardboard box but I would get rid of all of that as well. A plastic container, without any "filler" shredded paper, would be the best as it is more difficult for bacteria and fungus to grow on and can be easily cleaned. I don't know the conditions of your "cellar" but it may be conducive to bacteria and fungus and therefore not be the best place to store the inks and other refill kit.

I am with you on this. Out with the old and in with the new - and that's everything (except the printer of course). I'll flush the print-head too, just as a precaution. It's funny you should mention Octoink's system - in fact I've already gone ahead and ordered this for all the inks.

Just to clarify my practice of storing inks in syringes. IMHO it was actually quite a good system, not dissimilar to Octoink's SquEasyFill system. The syringes I used were sterile and specifically intended for ink storage - not the usual kind. They were used only once, and only operated one way (to expel ink). It was not possible to draw the plunger back. In actual fact this method had one advantage in that air was not drawn in (source of contamination) to replace ink withdrawn.

To answer your question about the shredded paper - my thinking was to use this merely as a form of insulation to guard against any possible temperature fluctuations, for whatever reason. The inks, of course, were sealed in bottles from outside air, but I follow your logical argument about cross contamination when opening the inks for the purposes of refilling, especially if ink was spilt. And the same applies with the cardboard box. I didn't think of that! It never ceases to amaze me where this fungus and bacteria stuff can grow - and thrive! As ISF said, it's ubiquitous.