Purge unit clogs with Hobbicolors pigment black ink

[panos]

been refilling using hobbicolor inks for nearly 5 years, never purged, never clogged

Same experience here;

Here is another successful case from using the Hobbicolors

I must apologize, my quotation was meant to be about jimbo's experience with his refilling method. I have never used hobbicolors.

 

[Tin Ho]

Apparently you did not read the thread. It was not a clogged purge unit but rather a disconnected tube. Here's post #19 from the thread you linked to:

You are right I did not read the whole thread. I misinterpreted the post. I am sorry.

The only issue for me is whether I should have preliminarily reported the bad performance of the Hobbicolors ink prior to the completion of the test. I was going to report my final results at the end of the test no matter what they were but after learning that someone actually had a problem with the Hobbicolors ink, I felt it prudent to report it early. Are you suggesting that I should not have reported the findings of my test?

George, I still remember you reported having multiple purge unit clogs from using Inktec's black pigment ink. You had a whole liter of it. But you never used Hobbicolors black pigment ink and naturally you never had any purge unit clog from using Hobbicolors black pigment ink. I understand you made that conclusion of "bad performance of the Hobbicolors ink" by doing a test that did not involve actual use of the ink. And you made the conclusion because you heard a few complaints by a few novices using Hobbicolors black pigment ink.

Your are a respected contributor to this forum and I do appreciate your intention of helping others. However, I just want to give you my personal feedback about your repeated bashing of Hobbicolors. I feel it is fair to say you repeatedly bashed the company. But this is just my opinion. Whether it is true or not (I do hope it is not true) this whole issue involving many threads in the past has made me want to use a magnifier in reading your posts. I never felt that way from reading Pharmacist's posts. I never felt that way from reading Grandad's posts.

I recognize that since Hobbicolors is secretive about their suppliers, it is possible that I just happened to have gotten some that was from a bad supplier and others that have never had a problem have only gotten good ink but that just means that there is a risk. I wish Inktec had come out and said why they pulled their ink off the market. Actually, I was told that there was no more market for it, but I'm sure they just didn't want to incur any liability for damaging a lot of printers.

Most ink sellers do not disclose their suppliers. Let's look at it from this angle. Does Image Specialists disclose their source of color dyes and color pigments? We have no way to find out if they source from China, Canada, Japan, Germany or India. To me it really does not matter. I would only be concerned if a seller sells Chinese ink. By the way, the bottles of Hobbicolors ink all have the "Made in USA" words on them.

If I were a beef merchant and I had access to a source of a great tasting beef I would not want people to know from which farm I got the beef. Why would I want to give out the name of the farm from where I sourced the beef so that others could get it to compete with me? But I will say my beef is from happy cows in California.

 

[The Hat]

I was also one who said I was unhappy with ghwellsjr findings with his pigment inks test.

Just because ghwellsjr didnt actually use some of these inks in his own printers doesnt change a thing, he only wanted to show the different characteristics in each ink and how they performed in his tests that all.

I use two types of KMP pigment inks myself which have never yet failed me, so was unhappy (jealous) with the findings he had made but gladly consumed the customary humble pie later.

His tests still stands true today because nobody else have done anything remotely close to them, it may not have being as high tech as some would have liked but results are results.

Purge units can fail for any numbers of reasons which are not all too clear to us, do regular nozzle checks by all means but the over use of cleaning cycles should be avoided at all costs; the end result can lead to more in less out over a given time.

The best way to achieve this is to only use good quality inks from a reputable supplier and if the inks dont suit your printer or taste then chance to another brand, loyalty shouldnt mean the death of your printer.

When printing lots of text documents its not necessary to use the highest print settings as it tends to wastes ink and that waste ink usually builds up on the underside of the print head resulting in even more cleaning cycles.

Check your inks regularly for any signs of usual build-up, waste, splashing, unsatisfactory output, more cleaning, poor ink flow and anything else that prevents you using you printer when you turn it on right away.

So away you go and Happy Printing.

 

[Grandad35]

Most ink sellers do not disclose their suppliers. Let's look at it from this angle. Does Image Specialists disclose their source of color dyes and color pigments? We have no way to find out if they source from China, Canada, Japan, Germany or India. To me it really does not matter. I would only be concerned if a seller sells Chinese ink. By the way, the bottles of Hobbicolors ink all have the "Made in USA" words on them.

The main reason that I have never tested Hobbicolors' products is solely and specifically because they will not disclose their source(s). I seem to recall that it has been inferred that they may buy from Sensient (Formulabs). I note that they offer an 8 color set for the Pro9000/i9900/i9950, and I know from conversations with Sensient that they no longer make the Red or Green inks for my printer, so one must conclude:
1. They aren't using Sensient inks (or)
2. They are supplying mix/match ink sets.

AFAIK, the Pro9000 uses CLI-8 carts and the i9900/i9950 use BCI-6 carts. We know from previous work that the colors of the inks in these two sets of carts are different. You are free to draw your own conclusions about a supplier who sells the same ink for both of these carts.

There is a BIG difference in buying ink traceable to a known reputable ink formulator like Sensient or Image Specialists. It's true that they do not state where they purchase their supplies or give out their formulations, but they are reputable companies who understand the need to supply a consistent product. If they switch suppliers for their dyes, I am confident that they will have done the appropriate research to make sure that their inks will have the same color and characteristics in my printer and that I can mix the new inks with my existing inks and use the same printer profiles without worry. If the color in even one ink changes, I have to discard all of my old ink, purge my carts and generate new printer profiles.

When I run out of my old supply of Kirkland paper and switch to the new "Tulip" paper, I will have to generate new profiles, but that will be a clean changeover with no waste of paper (other than the two sheets required to print the color patches to generate the new profile). Replacing all of my inks when changing suppliers (like I had to do when switching from Formulabs to IS inks) is a far more difficult and expensive proposition.

 

[ghwellsjr]

Your are a respected contributor to this forum and I do appreciate your intention of helping others. However, I just want to give you my personal feedback about your repeated bashing of Hobbicolors. I feel it is fair to say you repeatedly bashed the company. But this is just my opinion. Whether it is true or not (I do hope it is not true) this whole issue involving many threads in the past has made me want to use a magnifier in reading your posts. I never felt that way from reading Pharmacist's posts. I never felt that way from reading Grandad's posts.

You will note in this thread, it wasn't I that "bashed" Hobbicolors. It was turbguy in post #1 and then you responded by bringing me into the discussion.

I recognize that since Hobbicolors is secretive about their suppliers, it is possible that I just happened to have gotten some that was from a bad supplier and others that have never had a problem have only gotten good ink but that just means that there is a risk. I wish Inktec had come out and said why they pulled their ink off the market. Actually, I was told that there was no more market for it, but I'm sure they just didn't want to incur any liability for damaging a lot of printers.

Most ink sellers do not disclose their suppliers. Let's look at it from this angle. Does Image Specialists disclose their source of color dyes and color pigments? We have no way to find out if they source from China, Canada, Japan, Germany or India. To me it really does not matter. I would only be concerned if a seller sells Chinese ink. By the way, the bottles of Hobbicolors ink all have the "Made in USA" words on them.

You said in post #2 that Dave from Hobbicolors told you "that their latest black pigment ink is made in Mexico".

If I were a beef merchant and I had access to a source of a great tasting beef I would not want people to know from which farm I got the beef. Why would I want to give out the name of the farm from where I sourced the beef so that others could get it to compete with me? But I will say my beef is from happy cows in California.

But if a batch of the beef is from "mad cows", someone is going to care where it came from.

Tin Ho, there is nothing wrong with you reporting that you and others have had great success with Hobbicolors or Inktec pigment black ink but there is also nothing wrong with other people reporting that they have had problems that killed their printers requiring major repairs. I surplussed five of my MP780 printers and decided to switch to the MX700 before I learned how to take them apart and replace the absorbent pads. Now I wish I had those five printers back.

Again, I want to ask you if I should not have reported the results of my test when I finished? I do a lot of different kinds of tests to resolve controversial issues. Should I keep the results secret?

 

[The Hat]

Grandad35

Just to be the Devils advocate I use the very same I.S. inks in all my dye printers using BCI-6, CLI-8 and CLI-521 carts
and mix my own Red and Green for my CLI-8s too.

Im more than happy with the results..

 

[panos]

Can this thread be frozen for a couple of days to help participants cool down ? It's like every summer there is a testosterone spike in this forum which results in angry postings.

 

[Grandad35]

Just to be the Devils advocate I use the very same I.S. inks in all my dye printers using BCI-6, CLI-8 and CLI-521 carts
and mix my own Red and Green for my CLI-8s too.

Im more than happy with the results.

You forgot to mention that you have developed your own custom "The Hat's color management system" that allows you to get good colors with your unconventional setup. The problem is that there are very few people who have the skill and experience to make such a system work - that's why a standardized color management system was developed for those of us without the skill and experience to develop our own system. Anyone who wants to use the CIE standard system (used by Adobe, Canon, Epson, ink formulators, etc.) will find it best to follow the rules laid down for that system.

 

[The Hat]

You forgot to mention that you have developed your own custom "The Hat's color management system" that allows you to get good colors with your unconventional setup. The problem is that there are very few people who have the skill and experience to make such a system work - that's why a standardized color management system was developed for those of us without the skill and experience to develop our own system. Anyone who wants to use the CIE standard system (used by Adobe, Canon, Epson, ink formulators, etc.) will find it best to follow the rules laid down for that system.

I couldnt agree with you more about sticking to the rules where colour management is concerned
and yes I was being a bit of a devil bring it up again, but just wanted to say it can be done..

 

[Grandexp]

Better watch out for Hobbicolors Pigment Black. After 6 months of service on my MP730, I experienced SOLID clogs in the purge unit (the type you have to clean out with hard instruments, not flushing) and gelling of the pigment ink on the waste pads.....so much so that they would not absorb waste ink....

Also, ever notice the Hobbicolor plugs are hard to get out/get re-inserted?? I guess that's the price of a good seal. If someone would make a removal/insertion tool for them, that would really help.

Wayne

Did you just get this problem recently? There were some discussions about this dated several years back. I believe it was something in the past if it ever existed. I have been using Hobbicolors ink for at least 2 years and I use a lot in a dozen or so of new/old Canon printers. I don't believe ever got a problem with any purge unit. The printers are used by many employees and I did have a number of issues and had to replace a few print heads. I do not blame the ink though. Some of the printers have printed boxes and boxes of pages and keep going strong.

The plugs from Hobbicolors are just fine. If you have problems you may need to review how you drill the cartridge. If the hole drilled is too small you will have some struggle with them.