Digital BW, The Print

There have been a number of recent posts asking about the frequency/severity 
of clogging when using pigment inks with different Epson printers (e.g. the '1280 
vs 2200' thread). In my own use of pigment inks over the last 3+ years, I've observed  
some seeming strong associations between different printer/ink combinations, and 
I thought I'd mention them to the list.

I've been using 5 different Epson printer models (with cartridges). Here are my 
findings for my 2200, C80, 740s (2ea), 1160s (2ea), and 1200, with the least 
troublesome combinations listed first:

Epson Pigment Printers With OEM Pigment Inks: 

Epson 2200 with Ultrachromes --
During 9 months of mostly regular use (3 - 4 days per week, about 500 prints total) I've 
had only 4 or 5 non-perfect nozzle checks (including checks done after cartridge changes).
They've all cleared fully after one cleaning. Twice this printer went unused for almost a 
month; the nozzle check on startup was perfect both times. It's strikes me as a terrific 
machine; (mostly I run it under OPM using the profiles for Eclipse Satine developed by 
Antonis Ricos and Carl Schofield -- I am very happy with the prints produced).

Epson C80 with DuraBrites  --
Nearly 2 years of use, printing K-only (over 400 prints) and color images (maybe 100), 
plus many pages of thumbnails, and letters/text items. Total of occurrences of non-perfect 
nozzle checks is probably about 60, and at least half of these immediately followed cartridge 
changes. No treatment stronger than cleaning cycles has ever been required; 90% of the 
time, less than 3 cycles were needed, and only once was there a pretty stubborn clog (took 
about 12 cleaning cycles to get perfect nozzle checks).
While not supremely reliable like my 2200, this C80 cannot be said to have a clogging 
problem -- and the C80's black (matte) ink is much more neutral (just a touch warm, like 
IIford MG IV) , and in K-only prints it did not fade or change color in south-window torture 
tests that destroyed comparison prints done with MIS pre-Eboni / pre-UT  pigment blacks 
(i.e the blacks used in the 'Original Quad', and the 'FS' and 'FSN' inksets). 

Epson "Dye" Printers (740s, 1160s, 1200) With MIS Pigment Inks: 
   
Epson 740 (#1) with MIS Original Quads --    
Over 2.5 years, never more than 2 cleaning cycles to clear, even after 1 - 2 months of inactivity.
No definite difference among ink positions with regard to this minimal clogging. 

Epson 740 (#1) with MIS Full Spectrum (FS) and Full Spectrum Neutral (FSN) --
After 2.5 years, started using the FS and then the FSN inksets. Again, never more than
 2 cleaning cycles to clear, even after 1 - 2 months of inactivity. Light grey position showed 
least tendency to clog; among the other positions, the black has clogged a little more. 
Overall, 740 (#1) has been remarkably reliable with MIS's pre-Eboni/Ultratone quad inks.
It just keeps going.  

Epson 740 (#2) with MIS Archival Color --
A second 740, (#2), which has used only MIS Archival Color carts, has 
been less remarkable:  it's had more frequent clogs, and more cleaning cycles have been 
needed to get perfect nozzle checks (once it took over 20 cycles to clear, but it did clear).
Overall, excepting the 20-cycle case, clearing has taken about 2+ cycles on average.  
No treatment stronger than cleaning cycles has ever been required for (#2).  In sum, 
clogging has never been frequent enough or stubborn enough for me to say it's a problem.    

Epson 1200 with MIS Archival Color --
This printer's clog history is like that of 740 (#2), i.e. there's been no real problem. Once 
I had a clog that showed no signs of disappearing after about 6 cycles; I got impatient and 
installed Epson OEM carts, and it cleared immediately. I'll add that this printer once went 
unused for 3 months (in Massachusetts, not Arizona), and it's been idle for a month a 
number of times, but it's always cleared with just a few cleaning cycles.       

Epson 1160 (#1) with MIS Original Quads,  FS, and FSN inksets --    
Clogging frequency greater than with my 1200 and my 740s. Further, on average, more 
cleaning cycles were needed to clear it when cleaning cycles were sufficient to clear it. 
When cleaning cycles were not enough (which has never been the case with the 
740s), treatment escalated: to Windex in one, initial case (it didn't work), or to EPS 
OEM dye carts (employed 4 times, successful 3 times). On the 2 occasions when I couldn't 
clear the nozzles, I had the head replaced.  
   
Epson 1160 (#2) with MIS Full Spectrum (FS), and Full Spectrum Neutral (FSN) inksets --  
Clog frequency and persistence has been even more of an issue than with 1160 (#1). It reached 
the point where every time I had to change a cartridge I'd hold my breath. For all my printers, 
most of their clogs come immediately after I change a cartridge. For this printer/inkset 
combo, that association is greatly magnified:  more than half the time, a cartridge change 
was followed by a very persistent clog. (One thing I came to notice was if the cartridge's shrink-
-wrap was loose before I cut it open, 4 out of 5 times the nozzles connected with that cartridge 
would become clogged immediately and the clog would be very persistent -- so I learned to 
return to MIS any carts that didn't have tight wrap). As with 1160(#1), I've encountered clogs 
I couldn't clear with #2. Twice in one year I had an Epson-authorized shop near Boston change 
the head, and both times the printer came back and worked well apart from its clogging habit.
About 3 months after the 2nd head replacement, I got another killer clog and this time mailed 
it to Ron Ardito's shop on Long Island (good pricing, and excellent and very timely service). 
When it came back (this July), I put Epson OEM (dye) carts in it, and just crank it up every 
couple of weeks and do a couple of (dye) prints. 

The Epson 2200 and C80 are handling all my serious B&W printing now -- compared to the 
my 1160s, they run like Toyota Camrys. Unclogged, my 1160s produced good prints, but against 
today's other options, their propensity to clog with pigment inks is too large a negative. One of 
my 740s, (#1), has been remarkably reliable with quadtone inks, but the tonal transitions are 
a little too rough. (Because it's been so robust, I'm tempted to clean up the pads and try it 
with the MIS UT inkset -- it's said that a 740's head pressure is too low for the more viscous 
UT inks, but I'm wondering if that would be the case with this 740). In sum:  these days, because 
my C80 and 2200 have been so clog-resistant, I want to work with with printers that were made 
for pigment inks. The still-outstanding question I have is whether using non-graytone inks 
(e.g. the Epson Ultrachromes) for B&W prints seriously compromises their archivalness 
(on his site, Stephen Livick presents some fade and color-change data on Ultrachromes which 
suggest this may be the case). An embedded question here is whether the designed-for-pigment 
printers will prove more clog-resistant with non-OEM pigment inks than the designed-for-dye 
printers have been.    

John          


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