Digital BW, The Print

Sorry if this has been discussed before, but I have read through to 
May and still can't find the answer to my concerns)

I am new to the digital darkroom. I want to print B&W on matte on my 
new Epson 1400 that will be arriving any day.

I have read Clayton Jone's articles discussing replacing the black 
ink with MIS's Eboni for BO which produce good results and still 
leaves color as an option. He, in another article, discusses 
replacing 2 carts for even better results, but it sounds like it then 
became a dedicated B&W printer. 

I have read Roark's articles where he replaces 3 out of 8 carts in 
the 1800, but this machine is no longer available. He writes 

"The 100% Eboni "3-MK" workflow for the Epson R1800 (written up in the
February 2008 issue of Shutterbug magazine) was the first neutral-
printing inkset that was able to also achieve what most would 
consider photo quality 2 smoothness due to that printer's very small 
1.5 picoliter droplet size. (See http://www.paulroark.com/BW-
Info/R1800.htm for more information on the R1800 3-MK printing 
approach.) An Eboni "black only" approach also works well on the 1.5 
picoliter Epson 1400. However, even on these 1.5 picoliter printers, 
some graininess is still visible upon very close inspection when only 
100% Eboni MK is used. The dilute inks in Eboni-6, however, make 
extremely smooth prints on the 1400."

Problem is the 1400 has less carts (only 6) than the 1800. Should 1 
or 3 carts being replaced?? In the E-6 route, inksupply.com says e-6 
does not work well with the epson carts, so this sounds like it would 
need to become a dedicated B&W printer. Also, the MIS Eboni ink 
referred to by Jones and Roark seem to be different from the UT or E6 
ink that I now find on inksuppy.com.

I really do not want to get into the expense of replacing all my 
carts and also want to leave color as a possibly, so....for the 1400, 
which cart(s) do I replace with which MIS ink(s) to get good BO 
printing out of my new 1400?

Thanks!
~Mary

Hello Mary,

Printing BO with the Epson 1400 involves using QTR (Quadtone RIP) by
Roy Harrington, as BO printing cannot be done satisfactory with the
Epson driver.

For BO printing using QTR, you can use either:
- Epson Claria inks 
- MIS UT14 or the MIS EB6 inkset
- Jone Cone's Piezography inkset available at inkjetmall.com

Why would you need a whole inkset for BO printing? Simply, because as
I understand it, you cannot mix third party cartridges with Epson
carts on the Epson 1400 printer.

Therefore, you lose the ability to print BO and color on the same printer.

http://www.quadtonerip.com/html/QTRoverview.html

http://www.inksupply.com/qn.cfm

http://www.inksupply.com/ut14_black_and_white.cfm

Hi, 

> Why would you need a whole inkset for BO printing? Simply, because as
> I understand it, you cannot mix third party cartridges with Epson
> carts on the Epson 1400 printer.
> 
> Therefore, you lose the ability to print BO and color on the same
printer.
> 

I have successfully swapped MIS Eboni into the black slot of the Epson
1400 while retaining the OEM Claria inks in the other colored spots.
So it is not entirely true that you cannot mix thrid party inks with
Epson carts on the 1400. QTR was used to perform BO printing with the
above configuration.

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "Tingxi Tan"
<ttxtan@...> wrote:
>
> Hi, 
> 

> I have successfully swapped MIS Eboni into the black slot of the Epson
> 1400 while retaining the OEM Claria inks in the other colored spots.

Good news and thanks for the heads up. I was relying on my experience
with the R260.

Cheers,
Andre

> Why would you need a whole inkset for BO printing? Simply, because as
> I understand it, you cannot mix third party cartridges with Epson
> carts on the Epson 1400 printer.
> 
> Therefore, you lose the ability to print BO and color on the same 
printer.
> 
> http://www.quadtonerip.com/html/QTRoverview.html
> 
> http://www.inksupply.com/qn.cfm
> 
> http://www.inksupply.com/ut14_black_and_white.cfm
>

Andre,

  You cannot mix the OEM Epson carts with the ARC (auto re-set chip) 
carts.

Scott

> 
>   You cannot mix the OEM Epson carts with the ARC (auto re-set chip) 
> carts.
> 
> Scott
>

I bought the Eboni filled cart with the auto reset chip
(UT14-T0791-K), and it works fine with OEM Epson carts.

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com,
"scott_now_coming" <scott_now_coming@...> wrote:
> 
> Andre,
> 
>   You cannot mix the OEM Epson carts with the ARC (auto re-set chip) 
> carts.
> 
Hello Scott,

That was my understanding also, as I know by experience that I
couldn't do it on the R260. But, now Tingxi Tan says he can, having
tried it.

So, later on today, I'll put back most of the Epson Claria carts on
the Epson 1400 and see what happens. 

Cheers,
André