Canon cartridge compatibility conundrum

[PeterBJ]

Mixing dye and pigment ink in the small black cartridge will most likely clog the photo black nozzles, So if you are not 100% sure the big black cartridge contains dye black ink, then don't use it for refilling the small black cartridge. I think it is much better to use the big black cartridge as intended. Also it might not be a good idea to refill aftermarket cartridges, problems with ink starvation might damage the print head.

 

[canon-do]

Thanks Peter. Then I'll just use it to replace the large black when it goes belly-up. According to the supplier, both the Hi Capacity and Large Capacity share the same ink.
Cheers

 

[Technician]

Which brings into question the whole purpose of having the extra black cartridge if two are sharing the same ink ?

 

[canon-do]

Which brings into question the whole purpose of having the extra black cartridge if two are sharing the same ink ?

Yes, you're right. Quite pointless.
And it's now occurred to me that, because I always replace a new Canon printer's original carts with compatibles (after the originals empty, of course), that the original large black must have contained pigment ink.

 

[Technician]

Yes, you're right. Quite pointless.
And it's now occurred to me that, because I always replace a new Canon printer's original carts with compatibles (after the originals empty, of course), that the original large black must have contained pigment ink.

I should imagine the overwhelming majority of printer users do just that, I did even when I didn't want to thanks to being sold the wrong ink.

 

[PeterBJ]

Some compatible cartridge sets actually include a "big black" cartridge containing pigment black ink. See this. Good printer specific refill inksets, as opposed to universal inks, also include both the dye and pigment black inks. And of course Canon OEM cartridges have both ink types.

 

[PeterBJ]

It is interesting that the test for pigment vs dye ink on photo paper described in this thread is exactly opposite in results from what I recall as the original test on plain paper when water is streamed over the paper. Why use the more expensive photo paper rather than the less expensive plain paper?

You can of course wet a piece of paper where the ink to be tested is either printed on or applied as dots using a q-tip. But smearing of the dye ink does not start immediately when the paper is wetted, you have to wait for it to possibly happen.

Here is a comparison of text printed with pigment and dye inks, the prints have been wetted in the right hand side half:

I think dots applied by a Q-tip on a piece of plain paper is better for this test and also easier as you don't have to print text documents and the dye ink starts to run quicker than in the printed sample when held under running water:

But I think my test using photo paper is more convenient especially compared to testing the text samples, and a lot of test strips can be cut from one 4"x6" or 10x15 cm sheet of an inexpensive photo paper.

 

[Technician]

Some compatible cartridge sets actually include a "big black" cartridge containing pigment black ink. See this. Good printer specific refill inksets, as opposed to universal inks, also include both the dye and pigment black inks. And of course Canon OEM cartridges have both ink types.

You can never be really sure of what you're getting in a cartridge until you start printing or at least test it first. I was assured the cartridge I purchased when I had problems contained Pigment ink and discovered (eventually) it did not.

Another problem is this, just because an ink cartridge says " Made in blah blah blah " on the packaging doesn't mean the ink was manufactured there. China and India have a great many chemical dye production plants, probably more than anywhere else so the chances of getting ink from either of those two countries is high. What worries me is factories that need a ready supply of water are often situated near rivers that themselves could have a high level of bacterial infection, and it doesn't surprise me one bit that we see pictures of cartridges with possible mould growth. Another reason why these days I prefer to buy ready filled cartridges.

 

[stratman]

Here is a comparison of text printed with pigment and dye inks

You can use the same piece of plain paper for the water test by printing text and some sort of image on plain paper using the plain paper setting. Convenience and cost efficiency. No need to print plain paper setting text then switch to matte paper setting (or whatever) to force dye ink use for text.

I do like there are at least three ways to test for pigment vs dye ink. Whatever you like, whatever you can.

 

[canon-do]

Until this discussion moved in to the area of dye versus pigment inks, I hadn't fully appreciated the choice I made years back to do 99% of my black printing with various Brother mono lasers.

So I've never had the problem of ink being affected by rain water or spills.

The only downside with having the mono Brother as well as two color printers is that I use the Canons infrequently and have to make a point of at least doing a test page once a week.

BTW, I have an MP830 print head that came out of the machine I gave up trying to reassemble. It's clean and I think it'll work but can't guarantee it.

So it's free to anyone who is prepared to pay the postage from New Zealand.