Digital BW, The Print

> The R1800 cartridges bought from IJM are never more than 2 months 
old.
> We do all filling of small format cartridges in-house. SO there is 
no
> way to purchase carts with pigment settling. You just got yours
> recently. However, there is a possibility of contamination of one
> shade of ink with another when refilling.
> 
> You SHOULD use one syringe for one shade and never mix a syringe 
used
> for one shade with another. One drop of a darker shade of ink will
> affect a lighter shade. It is that sensitive and that precise. So 
you
> should have 7 syringes with 7 needles very clearly marked. 
> 
> It is better to put the safety cap back on the syringe and letting 
the
> remaining ink stay in the syringe, than trying to wash out a 
syringe.
> If you do go the washing out method - you really need to dry
> completely and thoroughly before using it again so the drops of 
water
> do not dilute the ink either.
> 
> The obvious of course, is not to put the wrong shade in the 
cartridge.
> Otherwise, you should not be experiencing density changes as you
> describe through normal use.

Jon, I sourced 8 new brand MIS cartridges, needles, etc... everything 
is double labelled (K shade and Oem color name). Mishandling 
probability is nil. Besides, it takes me a full hour to fill up the 8 
cartridges one at a time with all the checking and max care.

At second thought, I have a feeling that the density variation takes 
place because of contamination inside the printer at the heads level 
maybe when the heads go to the pads where there's a *LOT* of wet ink. 
It's the same situation as color contamination when BW inks get 
loaded for the first time. I'll print some more sheets and check 
readings. I see no other explanation right now.

Olivier