Buying new inks to complete set for 9900 - compatibility with old inks

Hi Walker,

I finally got my 9900 running… and rather than using my 9880, I think I will go on using the 9900 for the digital negatives and keep the 9880 for colour work (it does not clog at all). My question is, I have for the 9900 carts with some remains of the Selenium piezography inks that I purchased a year ago, with the Piezo DN kit that I bought. It came with shades Matte Black shade 1, Photo Black shade 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and GO.

Some of these inks had problems of pigment settling, some others are almost empty… I recently purchased from your guys a new batch of Piezo Selenium inks, Piezography2 / PiezoDN, Selenium tone, 220ml, set 8 (matte & glossy with HD options), for the 9880 (as my 9900 was dead). Now that I have decided to go on using the 9900, and as I had not installed those inks yet on the 9880, I would need to complete the missing inks for the 9900.

  • Tell me if I am wrong, but I suppose I would only need to buy some Shade 7 for the 9900, right?

  • Otherwise, Is the GO that I received with the last batch of Piezography 2 DN - HD inks for the 9880, the same I had on the 9900?

  • I would need to replace the old non-HD inks with the new HD inks… is it safe just to clean the carts with distilled water and replenish them with the new inks? Or can contamination still take place and you would recommend buying new carts for new inks?

  • Would it be recommended to throw away old inks if there is not much in the carts and I had big problems of pigment settling in the past? I would not like to refill bad stale inks with the new ones… and ruin them.

Thanks in advance,
Cheers,

Rafael

Shade 7 is not required. It’s an optional ink and PiezoDN does not use Shade 7. The K6 HD curves are also more updated the the current k7 curves.

Yes.

Yes. I think it’s important to use the HD-PK ink for negs at this point. It’s a very new carbon formulation with much less settling. Just empty old cart and put new ink in. They are compatible.

best,
Walker

Thanks Walker for the clarifications. May I make sure of two things?:

  • I knew the shade 7 is not used for digital negs… but for printing on paper, are you saying that I’d better use the K6 HD curves rather than the current k7 curves?

  • Even if I experienced pigment settling in the carts, can I just empty the conventional black and refill with HD black with no risks of cross contamination? Same for the other inks? If I can avoid having to clean every single cart, much better…

Thanks again for the reactivity,
Cheers,
rafael

Yes. For now.

Yeah. no prob.

Hi Walker,

I re-activate this post, since it will only now that I will start loading the Epson 9900. I had to put aside all printing for a whole year, and for 12 months the K6 HD kit of bottles has been waiting in the dark. All bottles have been unopened, and from time to time I have rearranged them and shake them, so that pigments do not settle that much… I have a few questions relating to the original post, since 1 full year has passed by…:

  • Might my inks in the un-opened bottles be stale at this point? Which is the self life of these inks if stored in un-opened bottles?
  • The carts I will have to refill had some inks from the past. These inks experienced some pigment settling, and gave me problems in the past. Some of these inks have a few ml, others some more… I just wonder whether it might be a bad idea and a false economy to keep those remains of inks (I have kept the carts with tape sealing the output hole, for a year at least), and then ADD the new inks inside. Or, whether you would recommend to dispose the ink originally in the carts, and refill them with new fresh ink from the un-opened bottles?
  • Do you think pigment settling due to no use in the carts can dramatically change the density of the inks, therefore “ruining” the calibration of the ink you did? In other words, can a set of inks go totally nuts due to this problem, preventing us from reusing it or mixing it with new fresh inks? I just need to know whether I should get rid of old ink #2 to replenish with new fresh ink #2 for instance… or whether I could just add one to another.
  • Otherwise, I intend to use these K6 Selenium Piezo2 inks with the 9900 and the PiezoDN software…Would that be still the state of the art for better results? .I have not seen any release of the new beta driver to the public during all this time, so I wonder which would be the recommended procedure for users at this point, when creating digital negatives without Piezo Pro inks.

Thanks so much in advance Walker!

Cheers,

rafael

Very very long 4+ yrs.

Shake, fill, shake, sit, install into printer. You’ll be fine.

As long as you agitate your carts once a week you’re ok to mix.

Gold Master Pro curve here is just as good as Selenium K7. Equal quality. We are manufacturing Selenium from our Pro carbon materials now too so the inks are the same age.

best
Walker