Pigment Ink for Epson XP-950

[kcgoatboy]

Hello, I have an Epson XP-950 printer and currently use fade resistant dye ink from InkOwl. I have profiled my printer and everything looks great and works great but I still notice fading after a few months of display (not behind glass). I wanted to try pigment ink. I know a lot of people have converted the Epson 1400 series to pigment but I haven't seen anything that looks legit about converting the xp-950/960 to pigment.

Has anyone converted their Epson Xp-950/960 to pigment and how did it go?

Does anyone know of a source for good quality pigment ink that will work well with this printer?

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

refill cartridges for this printer contain a sponge in one compartment, I don't know how that works with pigment inks after several refills, it could be that pigments are held back and slowly clog the ink flow - I just don't know. It would be quite an expensive test to find out.
I have my reservations about the fade resistance claims by InkOwl, there was amongst others a pretty long thread running about the fading of dye inks
https://www.printerknowledge.com/threads/which-pigment-ink-for-epson-1500w.9323/page-21#post-93382
The essence is that only genuine manufacturer's inks are the best performing inks, Epson , Fujifilm (and Canon), the Claria Epson inks are not available other than in small and very expensive cartridges, Epson and Fujifilm/Frontier are selling professional photo printers for photo labs, Drylab by Fujifilm and Surelab by Epson, running with dye inks. And inks for these printers are available in 200, 300, 500, 700ml cartridges and can be easily drained for refill.
There are a very few other inks I tested and which perform not as good as these but are pretty close - Fotonic XG by Lyson and SolutionCL by InkjetMall.

 

[te36]

Multiple printers with the same print head as the XP-960 have pigment ink in two of the six cartridge slots - XP-900 (europe), XP-830 (USA/Europe) for example. And there are third party inks for that black.

 

[The Hat]

Multiple printers with the same print head as the XP-960 have pigment ink in two of the six cartridge slots - XP-900 (europe), XP-830 (USA/Europe) for example. And there are third party inks for that black.

But what about the cartridges, that’s were the problems may start...

 

[te36]

There is no difference in the aftermarket fill-in cartridges for the black pigment or the dye colors. All have a sponge like in the aftermarket CLI-8/41 canon cartridges.

 

[The Hat]

There is no difference in the aftermarket fill-in cartridges for the black pigment or the dye colors. All have a sponge like in the aftermarket CLI-8/41 canon cartridges.

The CLI-8/42’s are all dye ink cartridges and so are unaffected by settlement...

refill cartridges for this printer contain a sponge in one compartment, I don't know how that works with pigment inks after several refills, it could be that pigments are held back and slowly clog the ink flow

The sponge maybe the biggest problem, as pointed out by @Ink stained Fingers.

 

[mikling]

Gosh, matte black ink is a totally different animal than colored pigment ink. Pigment ink is not pigment ink there are differences. Look at the design of the printer carefully before proceeding. Many think these machines are traditional Epson machines and they are NOT. From many standpoints especially in the ink delivery system.

 

[te36]

But as i said, those sponges are also in fill-in cartriges for XP-800...XP-820 where black uses pigment, so there should already be good experience whether that black clogs or not.

Mikling did a nice summary re. XP series when you want to refill here:

https://www.printerknowledge.com/threads/epson-xp-series.11757/#post-99777

but he did not mention clogging.

 

[te36]

Haha, didn't see your last post when i wrote mine, mikling.

So, if the matte black pigment ink in the XP series does not clog... Why would the color pigments potentially clog more easily ? I thought that those are even less likely to clog because they are 'encapsulated' ? if that is the right word - to avoid clogging.

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

I wouldn't like to discourage you to make a test , with these cartridges in this printer with pigment inks and let us know. I try this and that as well, and not everything works out fine.
My concern with these foamfilled cartridges is with the foam stuff, it might filter pigments over time, it may work shortterm, but pigments collect slowly and reduce the flow at the end. I have seen quite some variance with the fibrous foam stuff at the time using Canon printers, different 3rd party inks were absorbing a different amount of ink - measured with a scale.