Image Specialists ink not drying

[mikling]

I would like to get a sample of the ink you are indicating is problematic as in over 5 years I had never experienced any issues with those two colors. The 6115, 2080 and 6116. Please send the inks back to me and you should have contacted me about it. I had included two phone numbers and an email. I don't make the inks so all I can do is see what the problem is to assist you.
But I used to use those inks personally in my R1800s and never ran into a rub off issue with those colors. I would then forward those back to IS for their comments. I don't have a lab nor am in control of the situation. What is the expiration date stated on the labels of those inks? Best thing is to send me back the bottles for further investigation.

 

[mikling]

To verify if the the batch I have has any issues, I just tested 6115 and 6116 with some Kirkland Professional Glossy after 3 minutes of drying, there was no adherence issue whatsoever. The aspect that 3 colors that had previously never exhibited issues that are now showing issues leads me to wonder if there is some other factor in causing the issue.

 

[mikling]

Just tested the 2080 cyan. Not problem whatsoever as well. Something is missing. I also just realized you recently contacted me about acquiring some replacement chips and mentioned that you were printing tens of A3 per day in your studio but had survived on using only the initial 2ozs on ink with the cartridges acquired since June this year. You also made no mention of the ink problem when you enquired about the chips. If you were having problems, I would have welcomed the enquiry about the ink issue. Normal printing of tens of A3 per day would have exhausted the initial bottles of 2oz inks. So are the inks in question acquired through me?

 

[costadinos]

Thanks mikling,

yes, I bought the refillable cartridges some time ago from your store on ebay, but had already been using Lyson and OCP inks, of which I already had purchased a large amount. I bought the refillable cartridges after the CIS system I had been using with Lyson failed,
and also to give IS inks a try, since these are a lot more economical than those from Lyson, so only recently have I started using them with IS ink (I had the cartridges emptied, cleaned, and then refilled-reprimed with your inks).
I guess contamination could be an issue here, even though I cleaned them thoroughly, but I also tried applying ink on to paper directly from the bottle and the problem persisted, so it's not because of that.
The bottles were stored in a dark place, the expiration date hasn't been reached yet...

Again, thanks for the help, I'm gonna send the three bottles back to you sometime next week. And please don't think I am in any way not satisfied with the products/support I received from you, which have been excellent, I understand this is probably an isolated problem, but I was hoping that somebody having the same issues could explain what's going on.

 

[mikling]

I suspect that when introducing the new ink either the old ink was left in the damper chambers or possibly water was left there. If you did not flush the old ink by actually inserting the tip of the syringe up the outlet and pulling it out, then you should do so. I would also recommend, putting some new ink in and chasing that out by doing the same process as a safeguard.

Despite what many think, pigment ink is actually a very delicate chemistry and should not be treated like dye ink where general interchangeability exists. In my original thread, even when a channel is a pure variety of one ink and another different. You can get odd effects where a lot of ink is laid down and two are combined on the paper.

I would also suggest when testing that a very very small amt be placed on a cotton swab tip and then drawn over paper. When ink is laid down on paper, the drops are 2-3 picoliters. These are drops we practically cannot see individually and dropping a blob or a thick coat on paper will always causing drying issues in testing because the outer surface dries first forming a skin and seals the inner layer from drying. Dye ink seeps into the paper and overloading the paper will also take more time to dry but will eventually dry. The same does not hold for pigment ink. Think paint....

 

[costadinos]

I did flush it like you described.
I laid ink on the paper by dipping the tip of some thick card paper into the ink and then "drawing" a line on the paper.
And the 3 colors in question were all susceptible to being smudged both at the beginning (thick layer of ink) and at the end (thin), while the rest didn't smudge at all (that's with ink directly from the bottle, so no contamination).

Anyway, I could do that again and upload a scan of the paper to show what's happening, but have already posted the three bottles to your address, you can check for yourself when you get them.