How to determine if you use pigment or dye ink in your printer
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- On Jan 27, 2023
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Should I use pigment ink or dye ink in my printer? I am afraid that I make the wrong choice.
The chances are: you can't make a wrong choice because most printers can use either dye or pigment ink. However, the printer's programmed cleaning frequency differs between a dye ink printer and a pigment printer. Pigment printers clean themselves more often than dye printers. Therefore, you can always use dye ink in a pigment printer. In this way, the printer over-clean itself and is less likely to clog. If you use pigment ink in a dye printer, I suggest adding some manual cleanings in between the automatic cleaning. For example, Artisan 1430 is a dye printer, but many people use pigment ink, DTF ink, DTG ink, or even sublimation ink in it.
What's the difference between pigment and dye ink?
Therefore, I suggest using dye ink because 1) dye inks are cheaper 2) we can unclog dye ink quickly. If a pigment clogs, it is almost always permanent. Dye ink was (emphasis on WAS) a terrible choice to print double-sided documents, but recent improvements fixed the problem. Also, you can ignore the argument that dye ink is less UV-resistant nor waterproof. How often do you put a print under direct sunlight or soak in water? Dye ink can handle day-to-day printing very well. What if you spill coffee on the dye ink prints? The dye ink won't run unless you keep it wet for hours and hours. Unless you print a lot of outdoor stuff and have to hang it in the rain, dye ink is king. I suggest these inks:
- Epson https://bchtechnologies.com/standard-600-ml-4-color-refill-ink-for-epson-kd600x-ce/
- HP: https://bchtechnologies.com/standard-600-ml-4-color-refill-ink-for-hp-kd600x-ch/
- Canon: https://bchtechnologies.com/standard-600-ml-4-color-refill-ink-for-all-printers-kd600x-cu/
- Compare: https://support.bchtechnologies.com/hc/en-us/articles/200555919
- Why dye ink's printouts look better: https://support.bchtechnologies.com/hc/en-us/articles/200677489
Is it safe to switch ink types? Can I mix pigment ink and dye ink?
Switching from dye ink to dye ink is not an issue. So we will focus on pigment-pigment, pigment-dye, dye-pigment. You may hear that you shouldn't mix dye ink and pigment ink. It is true. It would be best if you didn't use the combination for an extended period. The reason is dye ink and pigment ink has different base solutions. Pigments need a chemical matrix to suspend in the liquid. Once you break the matrix, the pigment particles will slowly conjugate and form clogs. Therefore, you should use up the old ink as much as possible before switching. After the switching, you want to print enough pages to flush out the old ink. The mixture is not always lethal. For example, Epson's OEM "DuraBrite pigment ink" is a mixture of dye and pigment, so does many Versatile brand HP inks. It's all about the ratio and base solution.
You are less likely to encounter clogging at the initial switch. This is because the OEM inks are a very tolerant base usually. So you are less likely to have a clog if you put a 3rd party ink to replace OEM ink. But, then, every third-party manufacturer will have their base. If you have a manufacturer whose base is not as tolerant as OEM or BCH's base, you may have a problem, and no matter if you switch from pigment to pigment, pigment to dye, or dye to pigment. Therefore, switching between third-party inks is always a gamble. Once you find an ink you like, stay with it.
Since you know the mechanisms for the clogging, you can prevent it by adding a similar base to the printer, diluting the colorant, then flushing them out before the switching. So we have two products: clear dye base and clear pigment base.