Inks for the Epsons ET models and ET-7700 Series Maintenance Box.

[CapoKees]

As I wrote this morning I printed an A4 with good result using the matte paper trick, and according to the supplier of the Inktec ink all 4 inks are dye inks.
And I cleaned one of the two yellow rifill carts with demiwater to be ready for the 106 ink.
Cleaning the refill cart was very difficult because inside the cart there are some chambers and chanels which connect each other.
And it was impossible to put a needle of the syringe through the outlet because I felt there a springloaded valve, than I put the syringe without a needle at the outlet and pushed air into the cart with the two caps closed, that way the ink which was still in one of the chambers removed to the part of the cart where it was possible to pull it out more easely and also by shaking the cart upside down with the caps removed.
At the end the result is that there are some tiny stains of yellow ink visible but not drops.
With the R3000 I print almost only at glossy paper and no switch the black inks, I once printed at matte paper without switching from Photoblack to Matteblack, the result was ok for me.
And by the way this is my second R3000, the first one I sold to a guy who should use it for black and white only, I could not fix the blocked Magenta chanel and after a great number of trying to deblock it I decided to sell that one.
Maybe the blocking of the head was introduced by using third party ink, now I use Epson inks which were included with the second (secondhand) printer.

I have to thank you again, this forum is realy great especially by the nice people like you, Inkstained Fingers.

Kees


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[Ink stained Fingers]

Yellow cartridge - that looks just fine.

Tapping the cartridge via the outlet - yes - without a needle, yes - there is a spring loaded valve which you easily can push open with the tip of the syringe and you just can pull the ink out the same way it would normally flow - and with the vent hole open. And you can prime a cartridge this way - getting air out of the ink path until the ink flows.
R3000 - some clogs can be nasty and resist any cleaning attempts.

Lots of people are happy with their R3000 as it is printing and don't see or don't consider bronzing and gloss differences that critical, but the effects are there - less or more with 3rd party inks in combination with particular papers. There are several different ways to overcome these effects if they bother you - it's all about the use of the gloss optimizer (GO) - or Chroma optimizer as Canon calls it.
You could get a printer with a GO cartridge - like the Epson R2000 or P400 - or a Canon Pro 10s - or you use some
work arounds - using dye inks in the R3000 - some ink suppliers even offer a dye ink set for the R3000/P600 - or you use the same Epson 106 inks - this would mean switching pigment inks against dye inks in your refill cartridges
or you just use a GO fill into the ink cartridge for the matte black ink and add a GO layer in a second print step.
You just print a 'black' full page with the matte paper setting in the driver, the printer switches over to the GO cartridge , and you would need to print a dummy page or 2 to purge the ink path, that would require a test how much printing you would need for a purge upfront. So there are several more or less convenient options available.
I have done lots of test prints to assess the effect of a GO overprint, yes - if fixes the bronzing and the gloss differentials - the differences between prints with and without GO are directly visible. And there are some measurable effects - the black point gets darker and you get some more color saturation - your gamut increases this way - this is visible when comparing gamuts of icc profiles made this or that way.
But I would advise you not do do several things at the same time, do it step by step so that you can control the outcome.

 

[CapoKees]

You are right not to change more than one parameter at the same time, I now am retired as a mechanical engineer and during my job I never changed more than one thing at the same time.
The gloss of the dye inks indeed is better than the gloss of the pigment inks, but as I only print A4`s or A3`s with the R3000 and put those prints in a frame behind glass for me there is no need for a gloss optimizer.
I once sprayed a print of the R3000 with Clear varnish shining made by Rayher Hobby GmbH Germany, but it is very difficult to do this without drops, this a job for a professional car painter!
Today I printed two different photos at three printers respectively the R3000 with Epson K3 inks, the XP-422 with Inktec inks and the XP-345 with Epson Claria Home inks.
The XP-345 was a gift of me to my twin granddoughters, they use the printer for their schoolwork and printing photos from their I phones.
Tomorrow I put the photos but partly covered with thin black cartone in a window at the southeastside of my house and from time to time I will inspect them, I am sure the Inktec will fade rapidly, and I am curious to the outcome of the Claria ink compared to the K3 ink.

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

that's just fine, my guess is similar to yours - InkTec fades visibly in a few days, the Claria inks will need 5x to 10x time to reach the same level of change - and the pigment inks 3x to 5x of the Claria inks . You may notice that the weakest pigment ink is most likely not black but yellow - please let us know the outcome of your tests.
I like glossy prints very much - in a smaller format - up to A4 - good blacks, good colors and good contrast, but there are too many reflections on larger size prints making parts of an image unviewable, and even worse is a glossy print behind glass - a second surface causing more reflections so I'm using matte paper for A3 and up , that's what I like and don't like as a personal opinion, I appreciate that other people may have different preferences about this, and I do prints for them in any size on any paper as it fits into the printer up to 24" and as they like it

 

[CapoKees]

Here are already the first resuls of my primitive but practical fade test.Now at fridaymorning after 4 days in the southeast window of which 3 days were very Sunny with high temperatures, and yesterday cloudy with low temps and a lot of rain I saw the following results:

Epson K3 ink : No fading
Epson Claria ink: No fading
Inktec dye ink: Slight fading at the Black and the Magenta but good visible, also good visible at the combination of CMYK, the Cyan and Yellow were still ok.

Indeed Ink Stained Fingers the Inktec fades already in a few days.
I will repeat this again after some days and inform you.