Did you notice how many different black inks there are available? At last count we have forty different black inks listed on our web site. You may be wondering how many shades of black can there be? Well there are actually different shades of black which I will explain in a bit.
The biggest difference is not in the shade of black but the chemistry of the ink itself. I won't bore you with PH levels, polymers, stabilizers, yada, yada, yada. With the fantastic resolution of inkjet printers these days the nozzle holes in the print heads are getting smaller and smaller. If the ink can't get through the tiny nozzle hole the result is, yep, you guessed it... a clogged print head.
Black inks are specialized because you want the largest particle size for the blackest black, however, you don't want it to be too big as to risk clogging the print head. Most printers have different diameter nozzle holes which is why there are so many specific kinds of black ink.
Some black inks can be used in different printers that use the same basic technology like HP and Lexmark. Many of our black inks for these printers are actually the same exact thing poured from the same bottles.
Still particle size is not the only issue. Thermal viscosity also plays a role. This is the amount of heat the ink can withstand before breaking down. Call it the boiling point if you will.
Epson and Canon have the lowest operating temperatures whereas HP and Lexmark have the highest. These print head fire at many thousands of degrees Fahrenheit. If you are using an ink that is not designed to withstand temperatures of this magnitude then you are likely to run into problems.
Then you have the standard grade vs. the hi grade black ink. The standard grade may print a lot grayer than the hi grade which we call "Ultra Black". This is mostly prominent in pigmented black inks. If your black print looks a little on the gray side you might want to upgrade to the Ultra Black ink.
Also there is photo black. Photo black inks are always dye based since pigmented inks do not mix well with the dye based colors. These inks are formulated to "get along" with their color counterparts for the best results in photos.
So now you are all black ink experts. After reading this is anybody motivated to buy one of those universal kits? I shutter to think what their budget for lawsuits is. :-)
Having Fun With The Printer Support Techs
Many years ago when I was a copier technician my boss would always tell us to push our companies supplies, paper, toner etc.. Of course they wanted to sell more supplies and make more money but their techniques were very questionable. Just like printers you could go out and purchase generic supplies and some worked better than others naturally. Well the supplies that we sold were also mostly generic, however, they were branded with our companies name and logos. Here's where the sneakiness comes in. When a customer complained about a repair cost estimate we were told to blame it on their inferior generic supplies and to further that the repair would have been much cheaper if they were using our over-priced supplies.
Can My Cartridge Be Refilled?
New styles of inkjet cartridges are entering the market all the time, faster than anybody can keep up with. It takes time for the remanufacturers to collect empties and tool up to refill them. Sometimes it could take many months for remanufactured or generic cartridges to hit the market. Bulk inks need to be developed or reverse engineered. For this reason we don't always have refill kits or bulk ink or cartridges right away for new printers.
My Printer Died - An Epitaph
My printer just died. My Epson C60 that I've had for almost 2 years was my buddy. I loved that printer. It was there for me through thick and thin. Sure it had it's quirks and idiosyncrasies like not printing when my office temperature dropped to 17 degrees because I forgot to turn the thermostat up one bitterly cold morning. I had to open the lid and point a ceramic space heater inside to thaw it out.
