Which Pigment Ink for Epson 1500W?

[The Hat]

Just print as regularly as you can, daily if possible, that’s it..

 

[pharmacist]

My epson 1500W with pigment ink has been idled for 2 weeks and it's firing immediately without the slightest clogging.

 

[Apostolos]

The printer was delivered a couple of days ago. This is my first heavy duty inkjet printer. Until now i was using smal inkjet printers for everyday jobs and photographs (mostly HP) and for the heavy duty work i had my laser printers. So i 'm kind of new in the "serious" heavy duty inkjet printing.

That said, i 'm enjoying the quality of the photo printing (with the OEM cartridges for now). I' m exploring it's features and toying around with the settings. I've also bought a set of compatible cheap cartridges because i don't want to run out of ink, untill i decide which way to go with the inks.

My dilemma is about which kind of ink is better for the kind of use i want to do. I think pigment is better, only because some posters will be out in the open, and if it rains and i have used dye, the color will start to smear.But is this the case? I read somewhere in here, that some dye inks have good water resistance. So now i'm wondering. Which is the right type of ink for me?

To help you, help me, i will summarize the jobs that this printer will do.
- Posters up to A3
- Advertising Leaflets
- Flyers
- Presentation booklets

also i'm going to print some photographs from time to time. Not every day, but i want good quality there also.

So, what type do you reccomend. And after your recommendation about the type, you think i should go with 3rd party refillable cartridges, or with a CISS system?

 

[cls]

buy a L1800 formatter board and a decent chinese style CISS
inks? ocp or powerchrome from inktec

 

[costadinos]

If you'd prefer to go with dyes then simply get a cheap laminator to pair with it and use it for the posters that are going to spend time outdoors.
Otherwise you could get quality pigment inks for not much more (OCP, Inktec).
Quality of print would be really close between the two, but with pigments you'll also gain much better fade resistance.
As pharmacist stated, these are printers that can sit without printing for a long time with no problems, even with pigments.

 

[Apostolos]

I don't have a preference between the two kinds. I just want to know which one will give me better results overall, both in quality and fade/water resistance.

I don't care particularly about the cost difference between the inks. I do care for the print head longevity though. I have read that working with pigment inks is like sand blasting!

 

[The Hat]

Choose the inks that suites your needs the best, and don’t go worrying about sandblasting anything because you won’t be, it’s only ink you’ll be using.

If you choose pigment inks then you have to get a top load CISS because Marriott CISS (Bottom feed) just won’t work properly with pigment ink, good luck.

Happy Printing..

 

[martin0reg]

..
Octoinkjet.co.uk is now selling the high gloss Inktec Powerchrome K3 ink set, which is a resin coated pigment ink with a relatively high glossy finish.

After I got a small amount of this ink from pharmacist with some really nice test samples (thank you once more for sending the package) I was curious to see how this ink performs compared to the "klaria", which I used at first in my R285.

The printer is a 6 channel model like the 1400/1500 and at first look I paid attantion particularly on the gloss performance.
Pharmacist recommends this ink for his quality regarding gloss..
http://www.printerknowledge.com/thr...-gloss-differential-properly.9164/#post-71957
..but he also pointed out, that LK and LLK is important for the less gloss differential of this ink set..

My first impression printing on glossy paper: the over all gloss is better, more shiny than the Klaria, but at the same time there is "bronzing" or metallic shine of black areas.
Probably this is due to the missing LK and LLK.
So while it is a high quality ink set, in 6 channel printers one should not expect the same gloss performance as in 3K printers (inkluding LK and LLK) I think after this very short test with only one sort of glossy paper (non expensive TPI cast coated)

Further testing with other papers should be done..but IMO the best ink for glossy (!) paper is dye ink. But on the other hand there is longevity ... all types of ink and paper has its pro's and con's...



BTW for profiling both klaria and powerchrome I used a software which I first tested years ago..
http://www.printerknowledge.com/threads/making-a-printer-profile-by-using-your-digital-camera.7426/
..the more I am using it, the more I like it ...

 

[Apostolos]

Choose the inks that suites your needs the best, and don’t go worrying about sandblasting anything because you won’t be, it’s only ink you’ll be using.

If you choose pigment inks then you have to get a top load CISS because Marriott CISS (Bottom feed) just won’t work properly with pigment ink, good luck.

Happy Printing..

Ok, if you say so, i trust your experience.

A question about top load and bottom feed ciss. Until now i just knew about ciss. What is the difference between them. A photograph example perhaps?

 

[The Hat]

The bog standard CISS that everybody knows feeds ink out of the bottom of the Reservoirs and is ONLY used for Dye ink.
Click to enlarge.

The unusual CISS that is less known and feeds the ink from the top of the Reservoirs and is used solely for Pigment ink.
Click to enlarge. (Compliments of Mikling)

If you use the bottom feed (Marriott) system on pigment ink it will clog up in no time at all (Simply put) pigment ink is far denser than dye ink, so please avoid using it..