Digital BW, The Print

Bob,

I'm in the middle of a OEM/UT conversion myself. I working with
a 2200, using QTR/Linux. The results are great, and I prefer 
them to the OEM inks, though the OEM results with QTR 
are surprisingly good. I love the range of tones possible 
with the UT inks and the curve blending feature of QTR.

I have switched carts between OEM Epson and UT with zero clogging
problems because of the ink switch. I haven't ever done a full 
7-cart OEM/MIS switch, just switching individual carts to verify
nozzle check results. I don't know what to tell you about 
full-set swapping. I know others do it, but I haven't any 
experience with that yet.

I have had some problems with getting perfect nozzle checks
with the UT's in place, not from clogging but from bubbles or 
foam in the UT carts. I'm waiting to write up a final report on my 
conversion experience until I get going with refilling; the 
refillable carts from MIS just arrived this afternoon.

Here's some quick & dirty notes, based on my experience with 
one printer. 

(1) DON'T shake the MIS carts before you install them. Epson says
to do this, but MIS recommends against it for the thinner UT's inks.
I had a bad out of the box experience with the UT's (I think) 
because I did a shakedown on them, as was my habit. No more.

(2) Make sure you store the UT carts outlet-port down. Open the 
box and check to make sure they are oriented correctly. 

(3) Expect to have to wait several hours or overnight after
installing the carts before you'll get a clean nozzle check; this 
allows bubbles & foam to clear. Run cleaning/nozzle checks if you
want, but be prepared for this. But waiting for things to settle has 
always got me a clean nozzle check, at the expense of my patience.

(4) Understand what repeated cleanings do; doing > 3 cleanings
without printing an "purge" image (not just a nozzle check) puts the
firmware back into "short clean" mode. It was my experience, and MIS
confirmed this, that the short cleanings often make a nearly-good
nozzle check very bad again.

(5) If you just can't get a clean nozzle check, you can reassure
yourself that everything is okay by putting an Epson cart back in
place. Every time I've done this, the nozzle check for that position
is instantly perfect. This is why I'm convinced my nozzle checks
we're "clogs" but foam in the carts.

Hope this is some help. As I say, I think the results are 
fantastic. The conversion does take some patience, though. Don't 
do it now if you need prints tomorrow :-) 

-David





--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, Robert Young 
<rcyoung@a...> wrote:
> Before I stick the UT quadtone B&W MIS inks in my 2200, I just 
want to 
> verify among the current users, that they have not encountered any 
> clogging/etc problems when changing back and forth between the 
Epson 
> pigmented color inks and the MIS  inks that are specifically for 
use 
> with the Quadtone RIP software ( see 
> http://www.inksupply.com/index.cfm?source=html/ultratone.html) ?
> 
> Although I would prefer to dedicate a printer to purely B&W, I 
need to 
> show it really makes that much of an improvement before I can fork 
out 
> the extra $$$ on another printer. Hence the ink switching with the 
> current printer while I test things out for a few months.
> 
> Are there any precautions/extra maintenance steps I should take in 
> using the  two inks in the same printer?
> 
> bob young