Epson T50 Photo Fades

[turbguy]

More that likely it is the ink. You will have to make tests with different papers, BUT, just because the paper is UV resistant, doesn't mean the combination of ink and paper is resistant. After all, the paper may not fall apart from UV exposure.

In general, dye inks are not as resistant to fading as pigment inks, but I wouldn't recommend using pigment inks in a CISS system, and only if your printer was designed for pigment inks. I don't know of it is.

Is the problem new/occurred recently? Did you change something if it is??

Are your inks from a known supplier? If, so, who?

Wayne

 

[turbguy]

I see yout T50 uses Claria inks, which I beleive are dye inks. Don't use pigment inks in your printer!

See here:

http://www.castleink.com/_a-printer-inks.html

Wayne

 

[ink-solutions]

Thanks. the CISS is a new setup an i dont the the ink that i am using is UV dye ink. I have order some other ink to try an see what happen. i also find that i have to clean the printer head everyday, sometimes twice a day..

 

[RogerB]

You probably don't want to hear this, but if you are printing for customers using cheap dye ink and cheap paper you are storing up lots of trouble for yourself. If you find that prints are fading after a month then so will your customers. At best you will gain a lousy reputation and at worst you will have lots of people demanding refunds.

I think the very least you should do is to change to a reputable (dye) ink and paper - you will find plenty of recommendations for inks on this forum. But, ideally, if you are selling prints you should be using a decent pigment ink printer. Even the worst pigment ink is likely to be better than the average dye when it comes to fading under exposure to light and ozone.

 

[turbguy]

Have fun "changing" the ink in a CISS. It's going to be a mess!

Anyone here have a recommended procedure/alternative?

Wayne

 

[ink-solutions]

Can the epson T50 use pigment ink ?

 

[Fenrir Enterprises]

You would need custom ink and ICC profiles for it to work, but most Epsons can use either kind.

I use pigment in my 1400 with no problems. I think the reason most companies simply say "don't do it" is because there are no aftermarket pigment inks that match Claria inks so they don't want to bother having to deal with those issues. Older non-Claria printers worked fine (in my opinion) with pigments, so I didn't even bother with profiles in my R220 with pigments. Precision Colors has custom inks that match it better and the results are excellent but I still need the profiles to get it to look good. The driver for the 1400 allows you to use profiles even without having Photoshop or other programs that can use ICC profiling so I can set it to always use a profile and print quick proofs straight out of Windows, but I think the cheaper A4/letter sized printer drivers don't have this option so you have to profile manually every time.

Dye inks shouldn't be fading that quickly, so it sounds more like you got water with food coloring in it than actual ink. However, even the best dye ink is not going to stand up to having a photograph taped to the window!

 

[The Hat]

You probably don't want to hear this, but if you are printing for customers using cheap dye ink and cheap paper you are storing up lots of trouble for yourself. If you find that prints are fading after a month then so will your customers. At best you will gain a lousy reputation and at worst you will have lots of people demanding refunds.

I think the very least you should do is to change to a reputable (dye) ink and paper - you will find plenty of recommendations for inks on this forum. But, ideally, if you are selling prints you should be using a decent pigment ink printer. Even the worst pigment ink is likely to be better than the average dye when it comes to fading under exposure to light and ozone.

Have fun "changing" the ink in a CISS. It's going to be a mess!

Anyone here have a recommended procedure/alternative?

Wayne

I think RogerB and turbguy said it all and I tend to agree with them both.

You now have a mess on your hands in more ways than one trying to clean up first your reputation and then CISS unit.

You should reconsider your options as to the best way to proceed by getting yourself a proper printer setup
that will do the job properly for you, then get good quality inks and paper.

Invest in a new setup, ditch the CISS and refill your cartridges instead with the best ink that you can buy
and then tackle the fallout from your paying customers, it will be expensive
but worth it in the long run otherwise your custom will go elsewhere ..

 

[turbguy]

Use pigment inks at your own risk. The print head may be ruined, or it may not be harmed. The suspended pigment particles in pigment ink in a CISS tend to settle, rather than being agitated by the motion of the print head if it were only in the carts. This can cause clogging.

Wayne

 

[rodbam]

If you print for customers you should have a Pigment ink printer.