Dye ink in a Pigment Cart

[russell]

If I were to fill a new PrecisionColors PGI-250BK cartridge meant for pigment ink with their PC25X-BK photo black dye ink, what problems, if any, could I expect? Would the print head accept this change-up?

 

[The Hat]

The print head wouldn’t notice any difference, but you would because your text would be slightly heavier looking and wouldn’t be water proof...

 

[stratman]

Canon print heads heat up ink and spit it out. The ink itself acts as a coolant for the hot nozzles and prevents irreversible nozzle burnout. There have been reports of Dye-based ink in a Pigment ink cartridge causing heat issues in a print head resulting in permanent warping or burn out of nozzles. It seems the forum consensus of the risk is low.

 

[russell]

Right now printing b&w on Canon Matte using gray scale/plain paper settings (Re; https://www.printerknowledge.com/threads/should-i-spring-for-a-new-printhead.12599/) which uses mainly the pigment ink cart to avoid color tints viewed by various light sources. Problem with matte paper is weak black density and streaks (see link) with this method. Am hoping that using black dye ink in the pigment cart will give me heavier/darker black densities.

 

[PeterBJ]

Please report your results using dye ink in the PGI-250 cartridge.

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

Different refill inks - dye or pigment black - will give you different black levels - not all inks are alike, it's not possible to make a forecast upfront. And dithered dye black inks may give you as well a color cast in the lighter gray tones, you need to test that to find the best ink for you. The Canon pigment black tends to show a more brownish gray whereas the the dye ink tends more to a blueish black, but again it depends on the inks you are using. And the paper, the coating influences as well the perceived color or the neutrality of grays.

 

[wilko]

Black dye ink will probably be less troublesome for PH blockages but you won't get the same crispness if you don't use pigment black

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

The black pigment ink nozzles oprate with a larger droplet size - typically 30 pl - than the dye color nozzles - down to 1 or 2 pl depending on the nozzle rows. The bigger droplet size allows faster printing - one pass - with enough ink to get good ink coverage. Running a black dye ink in the pigment ink channel works but you may get stray/satellite droplets along the edges of letters and dye inks penetrate normal paper and spread there whereas the pigments remain on top and only the solvent migrates into the paper. Text prints may look a bit fuzzier with dye inks for this reason. It won't harm the nozzles but....

 

[russell]

Please report your results using dye ink in the PGI-250 cartridge.

I'm happy to report success. As of this date I've re-filled the PGI-250 cartridge about 5-6 times with PrecisionColors PC25X-BK photo black dye ink while printing about 100 13x19 b&w sheets of Canon Pro Premium Matte. And countless 4x6 test prints. Almost every print contains large areas of solid black like silhouettes, etc. Absolutely no color casts. And no side to side streaks as with the pigment black ink. I've only had to make contrast and density adjustments in PhotoShop Elements 15 - meaning less on both because with the pigment I had to jack up both. The ink cost savings are more than expected. So far almost 6 oz of PC25X-BK dye ink has been used for all of the 5-6 refills @ $10.50 total - which is less than one OEM cartridge! Of course am still using Canon OEM color carts for the other 5 colors ( C,M,Y,BK,GY). Since I'm only printing in B&W, those colors are used sparingly. As they run out I'll be replacing them (OEM) with the 3rd party dye ink carts I was using previously - LD. Not ready yet to be refilling all cartridges. Thanks all who responded with helpful insights and tips.

 

[PeterBJ]

Thank you very much for the feed-back.