Digital BW, The Print

I used a 7500 for some early B&W inksets. You'll probably be able to find some materials by googling my name with Epson 7500. Some examples are at http://www.paulroark.com/BW-Info/7500-FS-Readme.htm, and http://www.paulroark.com/BW-Info/4K+.pdf .

I also had Eboni or Carbon-6 in it for a while.

While one problem with the 7500 was the large drop size, others included that the carts had a method of attachment to the printer that did not allow the carts to be removed for agitation very often before leaking, and a number of the inksets needed to be agitated for reliability. (The HP Z3200 Vivera PK and grays are the only neutralized carbon inks I'd trust to not need agitation.) I tried to agitate the entire machine with less than perfect success. I had better luck with the Eboni-6 than with the neutralized carbon inksets.

It does appear that there are funnel fill carts for the 7000. Some have, apparently, had success using a syringe with tube on it, inserted through the fill hole, to agitate the inks in place without removing the carts. I have never tested this method.

(The suggestion I liked the best for agitation was to use a vibrator. I have not tested this either.)

With Eboni-6 in my 7800, I remove the OEM-style carts and agitate them weekly. Most often I agitate the night before I'll be using the printer so that any bubbles/foam can dissipate before use.

So, you have your K, and you can easily dilute the Eboni with the generic base. See http://www.paulroark.com/BW-Info/Ink-mixing.pdf . Note that if you are using funnel fill carts, I'd keep them covered with black plastic to keep light out of the inks.

I would not mix the Eboni with the color inks. I have no idea what the results would be, but Eboni and Epson K3 colors are very different inks. The K3 colors and grays are more likely to be compatible if you're determined to mix the colors with grays.

If you are just targeting matte paper, a single dilute toner, with hue reduced with some gray ink, might be able to get you to a reasonable range of print tones. You can look at some of the Eboni-6 PDF's to see how warm Eboni-6 can go. If that is enough, a one-toner plus carbon setup might work. The original VM1 toner was a 1:1:1 mix of LC, LM, and MIS "25" gray ink. That last one is a bit of an unknown in terms of today's ink densities.

I hope this is helpful.

Paul

www.PaulRoark.com