Image Specialists ink not drying

[costadinos]

Hi everybody,

I recently purchased a set of refillable cartridges for the Epson R2000 printer and filled them with pigment ink from Image Specialists.
After making a few prints I realized that two of the colors won't dry/settle on most papers, and touching the photo, even after a couple of days, results in smudging it.
Those are the red and cyan inks, the other six dry almost instantly.

I've tried printing on Epson luster paper, Canson photogloss, fujifilm satin and so on, the only paper that actually received all of the inks well was Epson's heavyweight matte.

Has anybody else experienced this? Any ideas why this happens?

 

[jtoolman]

I haven't had a single smudging problem with IS ink set for the R1900 / R2000 from two supplies. One of them in this furum ( Precission Colors ) and Inkjetcarts.us
Would it be OK if you provided the source?

 

[costadinos]

I got them from an ebay seller, here:

stores.ebay.co.uk/precisioncolors

 

[jtoolman]

Then I'm sure mikling himself will jump in and help you with your problem.
Like I said, I've been using his IS inks for several of my Epson Printers and have not expereinced this problems.
In the case of the R1900 and R2000 ink set, there is indeed a RED ink. So considering that you hardly ever are printing with a pure colors but actually almost 100% of the time if from a combination of colors, even when printing a R-255 G-000 B-000 value, how can you be sure it is indeed the RED ink?

I am sure mikling will provide the answer.

I think I will run a test this AM on my IS ink R2000 and see If I missed something.

Joe

 

[costadinos]

I noticed the problem after printing the targets for calibration, only some of the patches got smudged.
So I printed blocks of 255-0-0 color combinations, plus 250-177-0 for magenta, orange etc.
I'm not 100% sure it's actually those two colors (or in that case ONLY these two), but the problem was worst for the pure red, blue, and cyan patches, less severe for the magenta and green, and non-existent for orange, yellow, and black, so I'd have to guess it's these two (at least)

 

[jtoolman]

Well I just printed a collage of many image containg many colors ( losts of reds and oranges and Magentas ) Perfectly dry in two minutes, I ran my fingers over the print with zero smudges.
Printed on the R2000 IS inks, on cheap Kirland Glossy ( COSTCO brand )
Something is not right with yout inks.
All I can suggest is that you send mikling a PM

 

[Hainz]

I asked about this issue here on the forum a few times and got no reply:

http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=4264
http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=58624#p58624

New formula Image Specialists inks M and LM (29.10.2012) you are already OK. To blame are the only colors M (VM) and LM (VLM). Here's a test:

 

[jtoolman]

Are the New VM and VLM for the R3000 Glossy? Or just as matte as previous one?

 

[mikling]

Ruboff or adherence is an issue with pigment inks that varies by paper brands and even batches of inks and paper combinations. Don't ask me for the details as I don't make the stuff or know enough as to how to even do it. It is more a compatibility issue of ink and paper. On some papers it can be experienced and with another it is not an issue. Even with the same brand and model of paper, it varied by batch. On the same formulations, I have found that it can happen with one set of ink and not happen with another and it even varied with the inks it was used in combination with. I had discusses this with IS over a period of years and I am sure that they had been trying to track down what the cause was. It clearly is not a simple case of good or bad as they have had many many years of making inks and are not just starting out and not know about this. The old VM 6156,57 has been in existence for many years just when the R2880 was introduced. They had recently updated it, 6202,6204 to increase compatibility and the color has also been improved as well. The new inks can change your workflow as the correct ICCs will shift a bit.

To the best of my knowledge, the formulations used in the 2000 as per 1900 has not changed. If you feel you have issues and want to try another batch of the affected inks I will happily do that for you at my expense and you are invited to contact me.

jtoolman, check your mailman, he has samples of the new inks on papers. The gloss issue will now puzzle you even more..it can vary by papers. It's not as simple as it looks.

 

[costadinos]

Thanks for the reply mikling,

so you are essentially telling me this problem is some sort of poor/inefficient quality control in the factory between ink batches?
It's definitely not the paper, since I tried lots of paper types (epson glossy, cheap inkjet paper, fuji satin, and even some expensive hahnemuhle), and also because it only affects the same two colors on all papers...
Also, I'm now sure it's the red and cyan inks, and in a lesser degree the magenta, I tried placing a drop on a piece of paper directly from the bottle and let it dry, to check which colors were the problematic ones.

Also, thanks for offering to replace the inks, but if this is indeed a problem that I may encounter frequently in the future when reordering, I'd rather stick to a different inkset with no such issues.