Digital BW, The Print

Tom,

> 
> ... These were new carts so maybe I have a couple faulty ones? 
> I put the Epson yellow and cyan carts
> back in and now the nozzle check is fine.

I suspect the carts are the problem.  Are they from MIS?  If so, pre-filled or empty?  One of the functions the MIS level suppliers perform for us is selecting carts that work, so the sellers need to hear about these problems.  (Of course, the frustration Zeiss expressed to me is that the samples from China will work fine, but the huge volume they'd need to buy to get a good price would be full of defects.)

If you filled the carts, did you use ink (a specific bottle) that you've previously used with success?  I've never had an ink batch from MIS that was defective in the sense that it clogged. Of course, some ink types clog more than others, but Eboni-6 does not clog normally (virtually no binder and good electrostatic dispersion). The only problems I used to see from MIS with respect to inks was that sometimes an employee would mess up the mixing ratios.  I might add that the Eboni-6 batches I've checked recently (last couple of years actually) from MIS have been right on the mark.

The only clogging I've seen in my 1400 that is close to what you reported was caused by incompatible inks -- the HP dyes hitting the pre-existing MIS inks.  That was a near disaster, but eventually cleared.  

I've seen Eboni-6 incompatibilities with, for example, the old MIS 1800 carts.  The Eboni-6 dilution base (not Eboni itself and not my generic Carbon-6 dilution base) appeared to be attacking the sponge that was in the air inlet of the old 1800 carts that MIS sold. MIS also warns that Eboni-6 and UltraChrome inks may be incompatible.  

The MIS 1400 carts have been very good with Eboni-6 as well as other inks.  Eboni-6 appears to be fully compatible with other MIS inks, HP Z3100 pigments, and the Noritsu dyes that I've used in the 1400 with Eboni-4 for extended periods.  (My 1400 is now back to the full Eboni-6 inkset.  The 1100 now has the modified Noritsu dyes in it for cards, brochures, and larger glossy B&W prints.) 

Paul