PGI-1200/1500 refill with GI-490 or dye inks

[Ionlab]

Hi, new to this subsection (I usually own EPSON printers), I have recently purchased an MB-2150 Maxify printer.
According to popular knowledge this printer uses pigmented inks (all of them). I was wondering whether I could use the Canon GI-490 inks to refill the PGI-1500XL cartridges.
I know that only the black 490 ink is pigmented and that the rest are probably dye inks.
I also know that you cannot substitute dye inks with pigmented ones since you might end up clogging the head.
But I have not found much info regarding the opposite (ie. substituting pigment inks with dye). Do I risk anything in the thermal head (ie. Bad cooling etc)?

What say you?

I also have ordered refillable cartridges with ARC chips. They look like these (just ordinary plastic containers).

From what I read consensus is that I am better off refilling the original cartridge due to it containing some sort of spring inside, So I am also contemplating whether to try the refillable one out or not. Is there anything that can be damaged if I use the refillable ones?

Profiling is not a problem. I can use the Colormunki if the colors are way off, but since this printer is mainly going to be used mostly as an office printer/copier I will probably not even bother.

If I have to use pigmented inks does Canon/HP/EPSON sell them in bottles? The EPSON 664 or the EPSON 673 ones that I use are dye.

 

[Artur5]

Be aware that Maxify printers are quite fussy about the ink. For instance, I found out that the pigmented black ink that I used succesfully for years on my Pixmas was terrible in my Maxify.

At first thought it shouldn't be so. After all, Maxifys have larger nozzles than the Pixmas but, on second thought, the printhead of the Maxifys is quite different, as it has an internal compartment used for inkflow control.
The ink at the bottom of this small reservoir, in order to reach the nozzles, has to permeate through a porous hard plastic piece ( same material that they use for resting pads.)

My guess is that Canon OEM inks for these printers have been accurately tuned for viscosity, so they pass through the porous plastic at the optimal rate to ensure good inkflow. Other inks not designed for this printhead, be it Canon GI-490 or whatever brand, may give unpredictable results.

Third party cartridges are not my cup of tea. I'd rather refill Canon OEMs.

 

[Ionlab]

So if I understand correctly even a dye ink if very viscous ("thicker") can lead to ink starvation and subsequently head damage.

Greater flow can lead to? Ink stains maybe but no head damage?

But is it possible for a dye ink to be more viscous than a pigment ink? I would expect the opposite to be true (dye more watery than pigment) given their nature.

According to my search, I see that there are inks from two brands available Inktec and Octopus Fluids (and in very different price points).
Any experience with any of these OR with others that are available in Europe (Precision Inks only available in US/Canada).

 

[Artur5]

I’ve been using Inktec in my Maxify MB5150 for nearly two years with overall good results. No complains and it’s very affordable too. Nevertheless I notice a difference with OEM ink.
With Inktec, when printing on plain paper and standard quality setting, if there’re wide areas of solid colors in the image, specially black, you see a noticeable gradual banding from side to side at each pass, What starts deep black at the right end of the paper ends up middle grey at the left side. On cyan, magenta or yellow colors the effect is less noticeable but still there. That’s clearly ink starvation.
Printing in high quality setting eliminates totally the banding, as the carrier travels at a lower speed and it does several passes for each row.
Using OEM ink I can print in standard quality with no banding at all.

My conclusion is that, although Inktec is good enough for printing text in standard quality, for photos and graphics with huge areas of solid colors, I need to use high quality mode. Not a big deal in practical terms, but it shows the difference between Canon and good, but not perfect, third party inks.

I don’t know if other non OEM inks will do better than Inktec, but I suspect than most of them will behave likewise or worse.

 

[palombian]

I must say I never had banding with the octopus-office.de inks for the Maxify.
For some (unproven and unrecognized) reasons I stopped with C and Y, but M and BK are still OK.
The Maxify is indeed picky.

I observed the Qimage unclog pattern keeps the nozzle prints flawless.

 

[Ionlab]

Octopus-office.de has both the inktec and the Octopus-fluids inks (probably their inhouse in nks). Which ones were you using? As for C and Y which ones are you using now? Thanks

 

[palombian]

Octopus-office.de has both the inktec and the Octopus-fluids inks (probably their inhouse in nks). Which ones were you using? As for C and Y which ones are you using now? Thanks

The octopus fluids.

I had clogs with C and later with Y but only after 15-20k pages.
For a long time there was no difference in output with OEM and the gains on ink paid for a new printer several times.
I admit I didn't take care as much as for my photo printers, maybe with more attention you will avoid the issues I had.

I now scan the nozzle checks with 600dpi and inspect with 200%. You see starting irregularities in the dot patterns much sooner.

 

[Ionlab]

After reading all of the 40 pages about the Maxify 5350 I noticed the following post

Hi stratman,,

Inktec has (had?) no Canon pigmented inks for the Maxify. They were cheaper too.

Which made me suspicious of the ink type used in the Inktec inks. Only the black ink is pigmented. All other colors are dye (just as the Canon GI-490 inks).

@TheHat claimed that he used some HP (pigmented?) inks but their origin or number is unknown.
So by now it is clear that only the octopus fluids inks are all pigment inks (hence their price difference).

 

[The Hat]

TheHat claimed that he used some HP (pigmented?) inks but their origin or number is unknown.

The Hat didn’t claim to be using HP inks at all, but what he is actually using is Chinese Compatible HP inks, there’s a big difference, I’d sooner use Canon ink rather than HP inks but both of these inks are to expensive to be using for my situation.. Hope this clears the air..

 

[stratman]

The Hat didn’t claim

I didn't know you were an illeist.

New hat?