Inks, print heads, third party and expiry dates
This will be my first post and I figured I'd use it to give some advice to the masses, information on the various queries about inks, print heads, third party products and expiry dates. Please do not use this as must do instructions but rather use it to help you make your own mind up on the way to go with replacing consumables and make you feel a bit easier about being more adventurous. I'm not a commercial printer by trade but a scientist, a marine biologist who happens to like art, technology and all the science behind it. Expiry dates First I would like to address the expiry dates of inks and print heads. The reason these exist is that the carrier solution of the inks is made up of normally of several organic compound and water to which, if dye based, the colorant is dissolved into or if pigment based, suspended into. When exposed to air, the carrier solutions evaporate laving the dye in the paper or the pigments on top. All the ink cartridges and print heads you buy are packed in special conditions (clean rooms with nitrogen atmosphere) to improve life by preventing oxidation of any metals used as well as evaporation causing drying. This is why HP place dates on their ink cartages and print heads as this how reliable they feel the packing is in keeping the cartridge from drying and/or oxidising the chemicals. I have bought many cartridges from shops and various online auction sites and have had no problems with them. As long as they remain sealed state and have not been subjected to high or low temperatures then everything should be fine. Occasionally you may get a dead cartage or print head, but for the prices you pay then it's not really a biggie. One thing to note with this is that Hp introduced the smart chip which although can benefit you in many ways, E.g. Calculating how much ink is left and telling you to change, which if you follow, you will not get air into your system, but also may prevent you from using expired cartages, but I believe that on new firmwares they do not prevent you from using them, just warn you in the diagnostics page. I change print heads when I notice a degrade in quality and cartridges when the printer is telling me that they are empty as they normally have 110% ink in them, so the printer doesn't start sucking in air and mess up the delivery system. Dyes and pigment inks Pigment inks are colour molecules that have been suspended in a solution, as mentioned before. When used they sit on the surface of the paper. They are very resist to fading as they are very stable to ultraviolet light and do not brake down. Most blacks used in new printers use pigments as they don't blend with other pigments or dyes, allowing you to have a better range of colours as adding black to another colour just gives you black. The downside to pigments is they don't mix and don't give you a good colour garment as they don't blend and rely heavily on your eyes doing the mixing. Dye inks have colorants dissolved into a solution, when used they sink into the paper where they remain, which is why you get poor colours when printing photos on thin papers. They are very unstable in ultraviolet light and fade rather fast, less then 6 months as I have found out. When used in think paper, they blend very well, giving you a very good garment which doesn't rely on the eye blending and is very smooth. Solvent based ink, these can be either pigment or dye, but I would think pigments would be more favourable. These contain chemicals such as ketones which etch the colour into the top layers of the media. The media can be anything non porous such as vinyl. The strength of etching process will relate into drying times, "soft solvents" will take longer to dry, but can be speedup using heaters, where as "hard solvents" are quick to dry and usually result in a better output. They may require to be fixed using intense ultraviolet light. Third party inks and paper. I have a Designjet 50ps and a Designjet 120nr, they both use dye based inks which although produce good colours, but fade within two moths in direct light, but this is where third party ink manufactures come in. There are so many ink manufactures that cover every angle of the market. I have found a meny that will solve my problem, they provide replacement inks that have a much longer life on paper and equally there is just as many paper manufactures out there for all my needs. There is the right inkset and paper out there for you, you just have to be willing to look for it, if you don't find what you are looking for, then you can always create your own perfect media using a range of coatings to prep the surfaces of the materials you want to use. Don't be afraid to ask about the inks, papers or coatings you are buying, resellers online who specialise in this are willing to help you as much as they can, as a happy costumer is a returning customer. A lot of websites also include features that allow you to review the products that you've used, share your experiences, even if it is a bad, what may not work for you, may work for someone else. Ink cartridge types Inks can then come in a range of packages with different smart chips attached. Smart chips can come in three types: You can have chips that once it shows empty are not reusable, much like the chips found in original cartridges. You can have chips that when empty can be reset using a chip resetter, you just press the two together, wait and then the chip will say it's full again. The other type auto-reset themselves, this can be when the chip shows empty or when the printer is turned off These can be then paired with cartridges that you replace when empty (for thoughts who don't want mess). Other cartridges can be refilled yourself typically using a blunt syringe and happily sit in the printer as though you are using genuine hp cartridges. These can intern be hooked up to larger ink tanks which sit externally next to the printer and can be filled from a larger bottle. Depending which solution you feel is good for you depending how often you have to check, if you use cartridges that auto reset and are concealed in the printer you may want to check in levels more quickly then if you use an external ink tank. All manufactures and sellers of third party inks and papers will have a warranty and if they fail or don't perform as they should, speak to the seller who should be able to give advice. HP like all other manufactures does not recommend the use of third party inks, papers or out of date consumables as this their primary sauce of income and say it may damage the system and as a result may not help, but in reality inks and papers are given the same attention as HP give as waste costs money, if you find that you need help from HP, its most likely not because the none use of their consumables, but a manufacturing fault, just switch out to originals and don't tell them. and what they don't know, doesn't hurt them I hope this answers a lot of questions! All comments/questions are welcome and remember: There is just as much beauty in the science as there is in the art, so live it and love it!
