Switching Epson XP-950 to use epson 512(106) ink

[kcgoatboy]

So after using inkowl fade resistant inks for about a year and being unhappy with the fade performance I saw ISF posts about the great performance of the Epson OEM 106 inks (512 in NA). Here's my story about switching.

I'm in North America and have been using refillable carts in my factory refurbished Epson XP-950 without problems from the beginning. After the first set of Epson OEM carts were used up I switched to using carts from InkOwl for the NA model of this printer.

Time Tested Working Carts - https://www.inkowl.com/inkjet/refil...pson-277-277xl-north-america-australia/P7160/

Since the Epson 512 inks only come in CMYK, I needed to make my own LC and LM. With help from ISF I made a 1:2 dilution using the C, M and Clear ink base linked below. Since I was buying the clear base I decided I might as well get new carts from inksupply.com because I was lazy and didn't want to have to place a separate order with InkOwl. (FYI don't be lazy this was a mistake)

Clear Dye Ink Base - https://www.inksupply.com/product-details.cfm?pn=PR-CLEARBASE-PT

New Carts Giving a Try - https://www.inksupply.com/product-details.cfm?pn=ARC-T277XL-SET

So I placed my order for everything and USPS lost my shipment for 2 weeks. During this time I contacted inksupply.com to see if they could get more information from USPS and I never heard back from them. My items finally arrived and I already had the Epson 512 inks on hand so it was time to get going.

For both the LC and LM I carefully measured out 1 part ink and combined it with 2 parts clear base.

I filled the new inksupply.com carts and installed them in the printer.... Only the yellow cartridge was recognized. I reseated the carts and no go. I removed the carts and reinstalled the inkowl carts I've been using and they still worked. I reinstalled the inksupply carts and still no go. I installed an old set of Epson OEM carts to reset everything and they worked. I unistalled the Epson carts and reinstalled the inksupply.com carts and still the same thing, only yellow was recognized. I did NOT want to mix inks in carts and since there's a foam pad inside them I couldn't clean them out. Since I needed my printer I decided to remove the ARC from my working old InkOwl carts and install them in the new inksupply.com carts. after doing that the carts worked. I did a printhead cleaning and a couple of test prints to remove traces of the old InkOwl ink from the printhead. I ran a nozzle check and it looks like I might have an air bubble in the LM blocking one nozzle but I'll deal with that tomorrow.

I reached out to inksupply.com but am waiting for a response.

In my next post I'll upload some test printed I made.

 

[kcgoatboy]

The are not going to be scientific tests.

I profile my monitor and ink/paper combos with an xrite colormunki design.

The top of the attached image is printed with InkOwl fade resistant ink and was profiled with the paper. The bottom half of the print is still the same paper/ink profile applied but printed with the Epson 512 inks and my diluted LC/LM inks.

I printed my first set of test patches to profile the new inks but the profile won't be done for a few days so I can let the prints completely dry.

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

that's quite interesting, I some time ago made a test to find out how long the drying time should be before scanning a target sheet to generate a profile. I did not see a relevant difference with dye inks whether you scan after 1 hour or after one day, repeat reading errors on the same sheet are wider than differences from now to a day later.

 

[kcgoatboy]

that's quite interesting, I some time ago made a test to find out how long the drying time should be before scanning a target sheet to generate a profile. I did not see a relevant difference with dye inks whether you scan after 1 hour or after one day, repeat reading errors on the same sheet are wider than differences from now to a day later.

I'm just letting the sheet rest overnight. I have no proof backing why I do what I do, just figure I wait overnight before I put prints in albums to allow most of the solvent to dry so that's what I do for my profile prints.

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

microporous coatings of glossy photo papers feel dry to the touch almost instantly, but you are right, it takes quite some time , overnight, a day until the solvents are really gone. This would be relevant if you would laminate your prints, this should only be done after a longer drying time, or it could go that far that the coating looses its bonds with the base paper carrier caused by the remaining trapped solvents.

 

[kcgoatboy]

In this attached image, the top is InkOwl Fade Resistant ink profiled with the paper. The bottom half is the Epson 512 inks after I profiled the paper with the new inks.

Full disclosure I'm red/green color blind so the statements below are purely opinion.

IRL the LM/LC look almost spot on. The black on the Epson 512 maybe a slight less deep. I cut out the center section which might look worse than it is because of some issue with the print starting mid page, I don't really know, but when comparing the two black patches towards the middle of each respective print the 512 looks slightly muted. The Cyan channel is where I notice the most difference. The 512 ink looks way less saturated. I don't have left over OEM 277 that have ink left in them so I don't know which ink is closer to what it is supposed to be (I would venture to guess Epson ) It also could be an issue with the printer profile. The M/Y look slightly more saturated with the 512 inks.

 

[kcgoatboy]

This is a test print with Epson 512 inks after profiling. I like the reds more in this compared to the next image I'm going to post.

 

[kcgoatboy]

And here is a test print I made with the Inkowl inks and profiled with the paper. I did not profile my scanner.

IRL, if you look at the gradient chart under the faces the Epson inks performed better. The middle green and LC abruptly cut off at the end while the Epson ink don't.

What I don't know about is too me what appears to be a yellow cast in the greys on the Epson print, or this might just be a blue cast on the inkowl print. I'm not smart enough to know which one is closer to being correct or if it was an issue with the profile I created with the Epson inks.

I'm either going to reprofile or do a separate grey scale profile with the Epson inks. I don't print in black and white. I'll figure out my next step after I print some of my pictures that I have more of a what "looks" right to me instead of a test chart. I'm not one of those guys who is too worried about the numbers being correct, more about what I like.

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

You are using Color Munki to create profiles as I understand your inputs, I assume that you have profiled the same paper both with the InkOwl inkset and the Epson inkset via the same process. Could you upload these 2 profiles in a .zip file so that I could compare the gamuts they represent for the resp inks. The profiles would show several details - whether the black levels are the same for thse 2 inks and at which color(s) one inkset provides more saturation than the other. Inspecting profiles does not tell the complete story of an inkset but can highlight some areas of a better or not so good performance in comparison. Testprints with real life images are another good method as you are already doing.

 

[kcgoatboy]

The 2 profiles weren't created exactly the same so I don't know if it will give you the information you are looking for. I used the same meter but upgraded the version of the software used. I also included the Epson OEM profile.