Digital BW, The Print

On 17/09/2011 tom.maugham wrote:
> Hmmm, and for years I've been told that the holes in the printhead of 
> dye printers are too small for pigment inks and will clog more.
> 

After the first few months I had interminable clog problems with 1160 & 
1290, using Piezo BW and Generations G4 respectively. This was due to 
clogging of the microfilters which are internal to the heads (just below 
the spigots that penetrate the cartridges) and not designed to cope with 
pigment. Their job is to prevent any particulates reaching the nozzles 
that might cause blockages. Of course dyes shouldn't have any, but 
pigments /are/ fine particulates and much more likely to block the filters 
over time and restrict ink supply. I suspect I made matter worse by 
intermittent use, which probably allowed the pigments to settle.

The 1290 (with G4) was worst, it killed 2 heads in 18m. It was not the 
nozzles that blocked, but ink starvation during printing would mean that 
the first half of the first print would be fine, and then degrade rapidly 
with no consistency to which nozzles appeared "blocked". Attempting to 
clean them only resulted in more nozzles becoming starved of ink. If I 
left it alone for a day or two, enough ink would pass the filters to print 
another half page...

I tried backflushing the filters several times, but that never really 
worked. I scrapped both printers, plus CIS, plus inks, after they became 
unusable. The alternative, 90GBP a time for a DIY-fitted new head every 
few months, was not something I could put up with; it was just a very 
expensive mistake.

I'd be quite wary now of using pigments in printers designed for dyes.

-- 
Regards

Tony Sleep
http://tonysleep.co.uk