Digital BW, The Print

Well, I spoke too soon ...

  >If you give the printer a rest for
  >a few hours and then run a nozzle check, they may be better.

Having done some testing and encouraged by a couple of good prints 
yesterday I was all ready to continue this morning.  The first nozzle check 
of the day was good, so I made a quick test print.  No black ink at all.  A 
nozzle check confirmed no black, but colour positions OK.  Head clean - 
black returned, colour positions faulty.  Another clean - black faulty, 
colour better.  Right, let the printer rest a while.  Nozzle check - no 
black, colour faulty.  Try  the other black cart (PK vs EK) - same 
problem.  After the usual attempts to get things running failed, I 
installed a brand new pair of standard dye ink carts.  A perfect nozzle 
check at the first attempt.

The 1160 doesn't have chipped carts of course, so I don't know if the UT-FS 
carts are running low, except that 2 A4 prints and a few 21-step greyscale 
tests *shouldn't* have emptied them surely? (And indeed a syringe pulls ink 
out of them OK.)  Is this typical of 1160s and pigment inks?  I have 
another 1160 which had a CIS installed with the older MIS Variable Mix and 
which ran OK for a while until it too terminally clogged up, and I can't 
get that running properly now even with dye inks and after trying all the 
"tricks" with cleaning solutions, carts, etc.

So I'm somewhat disillusioned by the whole situation.  My fully profiled 
R800 will make quite good b+w prints but there's the metamerism problem, 
and of course it's only A4.  I can't afford an R1800 yet ;-(

I'd really like to get the 1160 running reliably with the UT inks.  Has 
anyone any suggestions please?

Thanks

Richard