Digital BW, The Print

This is a good question, that I wish I had asked when I first 
archived some partially used ink cartridges.

Basically there are two issues you need to deal with

1) Evaporation (which is obvious) and,
2) Bacteria growth (which, at least for me, wasnt initially obvious)

You can slow evaporation by sealing a cartridge in a well evacuated 
plastic bag, but, this will not prevent bateria from  growing within 
the ink itself. If bacteria forms, you'll be able to tell because 
the ink will become *stringy* (which is actually the bacteria!). You 
can slow the growth in several ways: placing it in a well evacuated 
plastic bag, seal all the ports on the cartridges and put in a cool 
place (think of it as a piece of meat - but DONT freeze it!). This 
could keep a cartridge for up to a year (I've done it with ok 
success), but its not guaranteed, and different inks are prone to 
bacteria growth at different rates.  You can also try to *seal* the 
cartridge in a food storage vacuum sealer (for instance something 
like http://www.cooking.com/products/shprodde.asp?SKU=302042) , 
which, in theory, will slow evaporation and bacteria better than 
just a platic bag. Of course, if its just a cartridge or two, it 
just easier and cheaper to not risk gumming up your print head and 
buy fresh cartridges... or print more often :->

Hope this helps.

Howard



--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "Aaron Good" 
<agood214@c...> wrote:
> Anyone have any tips on how t best store a partially used cart ?
> 
> Thanks
> 
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]