Digital BW, The Print

Most manufacturers of inks put a "use by" date on their cartridges. 
There has been no discussion of what happens to inks when they get 
old in the cartridge. Manufacturers don't talk about it either. Is 
there a common phenomenom that happens to inks when they get old? In 
other words, say I have an unused and unmarked cartridge laying 
around in a drawer. How could I tell by printing if the inks in this 
cartridge were old and no good? Anybody run into this? I have a 
cartridge that's pretty old (8 months) and it seems to be changing 
the way it prints, and I'm wondering if its shot due to old age. I 
don't know how unused ink typically changes as it ages.

Sandy-

The general estimate is 2 years for pigment inks...really really 
conservative folks would say 12-18 months. So your 8 month old ink 
should be good if it was fresh when you bought it.

Dye inks should last a LOT longer since the particles are so much 
smaller and theoretically never "settle out."

cheers,

Tom O'Connell

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "sanfo2003" 
<SandyCornelius@c...> wrote:
> Most manufacturers of inks put a "use by" date on their cartridges. 
> There has been no discussion of what happens to inks when they get 
> old in the cartridge. Manufacturers don't talk about it either. Is 
> there a common phenomenom that happens to inks when they get old? 
In 
> other words, say I have an unused and unmarked cartridge laying 
> around in a drawer. How could I tell by printing if the inks in 
this 

> cartridge were old and no good? Anybody run into this? I have a 
> cartridge that's pretty old (8 months) and it seems to be changing 
> the way it prints, and I'm wondering if its shot due to old age. I 
> don't know how unused ink typically changes as it ages.

On 9/5/04 6:00 pm, "Tom OConnell" <tomoc@...> wrote:

> Sandy-
> 
> The general estimate is 2 years for pigment inks...really really
> conservative folks would say 12-18 months. So your 8 month old ink
> should be good if it was fresh when you bought it.
> 
> Dye inks should last a LOT longer since the particles are so much
> smaller and theoretically never "settle out."
> 
> cheers,
> 
> Tom O'Connell

I've just used some Epson dye cartridges for a 1200 thrown out at work as
they 'expired' in 2002, they print perfectly.

Steve Bell

OTOH, I've has two separate instances of Inkjet Goodies Photo Cyan bulk dye 
ink for Canon printers going bad in less than a year.  It starts to grow 
some sort of sludge that will plug up a syringe (if you happen to get a 
glob of it on the end of the needle as you're trying to suck some up for a 
refill) and will plug up a head if it gets into the ink path of the 
printer.  IJG suggested to me that I pitch bulk PC inks after 6 months, and 
their other 5 colors for Canon after 12 months.  This might only be a 
problem with bulk inks, not pre-filled and sealed cartridges, and it may 
not be a problem for Epson inks, which I think are made a bit thicker and 
may have a different chemical composition.  But at least if you use bulk 
inks for Canon printers you might want to be careful after 6 months to a year.

Cheers,
Kip

At 5/9/2004 06:26 PM +0100, Steve wrote:

>On 9/5/04 6:00 pm, "Tom OConnell" <tomoc@...> wrote:
>
> > Sandy-
> >
> > The general estimate is 2 years for pigment inks...really really
> > conservative folks would say 12-18 months. So your 8 month old ink
> > should be good if it was fresh when you bought it.
> >
> > Dye inks should last a LOT longer since the particles are so much
> > smaller and theoretically never "settle out."
> >
> > cheers,
> >
> > Tom O'Connell
>
>I've just used some Epson dye cartridges for a 1200 thrown out at work as
>they 'expired' in 2002, they print perfectly.