Epson R2000 aftermarket pigment ink alternative

[pharmacist]

I have been using Inkmate R2000 compatible pigment ink, which was so so in gloss performance. Actually my prints made with the Epson Pro 3880 with Inktec Powerchrome K3 were much more glossy compared to the gloss optimizer coated prints on my Epson R2000.

Now the biggest problem with this ink is the tenacious clogs with the red ink. After only one week the red ink tends to clog up the whole nozzle bank and I have to use my famous conditioning solution with ammonia to rinse out the pigment particles, using a special cleaning cartridge from Inkrepublic.com (with a syringe attached to it) to flush out the red ink nozzle bank.

For the moment I am using my home mixed red and orange inks made from mixing the magenta/yellow Inktec Powerchrome K3 inks, but it does not reach the vividness and brigthness obtained with real orange/red inks.

So any advice would be appreciated (including (fade resistent ?) dye inks).

Actually I might think to change to dye ink to obtain good vividness and superior gloss.

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

I can understand your frustration in this respect, let me highlight some of your points. I'm not using an R2000, but was testing pigment inks with an R265 instead. Epson must have a reason to have a specific ink formula for their R1800/1900/2000/p400 printers - Ultrachrome Higloss (2) which indicates to me that good gloss is not just a matter of a gloss optimizer but a matter of the inks itself. I was testing various offers for compatible Higloss inks, from Lyson/Marrutt, OCP and others, some just appear to use the standard pigment inks and add the red etc additional colors, the gloss and bronzing varies a lot between different suppliers, on the same paper. I was not happy with the Inktec K3 , too glossy, specifically the black turning into a aluminum like metallic sheen.
Anyway - Fotorite inks by cityinkexpress.co.uk looked quite well.
Mixing the non-standard inks is an option but just won't increase the gamut as intended by Epson with the genuine reds etc.
Complicating all this is the experience that the surface effects are not just a property of the inks but vary very much with the glossy papers used for testing. It is not possible to find the 'best' ink without naming as well the paper used in this context. So all this makes testing more difficult.

Switching to dye inks is an option, dye ink will give you a more homogeneous gloss on all glossy papers regardless, that makes the choice of ink easier.
Fade resistance of various dye inks have been tested in this thread in detail
http://www.printerknowledge.com/threads/which-pigment-ink-for-epson-1500w.9323/page-15#post-90673
There are wide differences in fade resistance between dye inks - from just poor to quite good - with a price range from cheap to pretty expensive - with pricing higher than average pigment inks.
But those dye inks are not available with the additional red etc colors so mixing would be required again.
Testing would be necessary to check whether gloss and gamut are meeting the expecations. And you need to assess whether the dye ink longevity meets your requirements as well.

 

[martin0reg]

For my R800 (with a similar type of OEM ink) there was a very good ink set "photochrome" which I ordered at farbenwerk. Not cheap.. and now it seems to be out of production.. the seller is searching for alternatives.
My other source is precision colors / IS for this ink set. Seems to have a slightly smaller gamut than the more expensive photochrome, but over all I'm quite happy with color and gloss.. also regarding the price.

 

[The Hat]

@pharmacist, just a taught and yes I know its obvious to you, but when you mixed the red/yellow together did you do a check to see if the ink stayed suspended and not partially separate, most pigment inks use different emulsifiers that can react when mixed.

To keep the sheen up in your new mix you could try a bit of Glop in the ink to boost up the gloss a bit, plus it would also aid in preventing clogging, OCP make a good Glop that might work better..