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How do 3rd party inks ruin your printer?

You hear about it all the time people swear by whichever side they are on.

My thought is the filter on the dampers would prevent any crap from your cheap inks from going into the heads in the first place.

You may have to replace them sooner but how does 3rd party ink ruin your heads?
:iamwithstupid
 

Bill Modzel

New Member
I learned that ink viscosity is very important. If it is a bit thicker than OEM, the ink "squirts" a microsecond later and all of a second your bi-directional printing is shadowing and your crisp edges are no more. . . .
 
I learned that ink viscosity is very important. If it is a bit thicker than OEM, the ink "squirts" a microsecond later and all of a second your bi-directional printing is shadowing and your crisp edges are no more. . . .

But wouldn't any reputable dealer be able to match viscosity with the printer they are selling it for. I'm no scientist but I'd think it would be an easy thing to copy
 

Flame

New Member
Can't tell you the scientific term for it and how the whole chemical process worked, but 3rd party inks ruined my head, made all my ink lines gummy and ruined my capping station. Like the ink was too "hot".
 

AUTO-FX

New Member
Can't tell you the scientific term for it and how the whole chemical process worked, but 3rd party inks ruined my head, made all my ink lines gummy and ruined my capping station. Like the ink was too "hot".

Yeah, my guess would be a solvent content issue, not a particulate or viscosity issue.
 

d fleming

Premium Subscriber
Using Lyson inkset fro Nazdar for about 3 years. No problems whatsoever. OEM ink actually gummed up one of my heads, Seiko had a bad batch and would not admit it. Switching inks cured the problem without replacing head. I have recently replaced o-rings and dampers but they were very old and just part of maintenance. Machine prints better today then when it was purchased. ( was purchased as demo unit)
 

Jack Knight1979

New Member
The things that can go wrong.

1. Incompatible chemicals to your printers plumbing system
2. Debris
3. Too High Solvent Content
4. Viscosity
5. Poor quality cartridge housing

the list goes on. feel free to add to it.

Once you find a good aftermarket ink, it's smooth sailing. Regretfully there are more bad than good inks out there for eco and solvent machines.

I had to go through two BAD ink companies that put a HUGE hurting on my machine before I finally found an actual OEM replacement ink.
 

TheSnowman

New Member
I paid out the nose for Mimaki Inks until my manufacturer's warranty was well over. As soon as that was over, I made the switch, and haven't had any ink related problems. I'm probably four years or so into Bordeaux inks, and my machine is 6+ years old and still going strong.

My fellers rep came in and saw it and commented on how clean the machine was compared to most he sees when he's in other shops. I don't know...it must be doing something right.
 

Colin

New Member
Given the small amount of money saved, and the potential for harm to my printer, I'll never use anything other than the Roland inks.
 

artbot

New Member
...well third party ink ruin your printer just the same way OEM inks do. they dry out because of bad maintanence or coagulate from temperature shock. companies like triangle and nazdar don't build printers they are an ink manufacturer. that makes them "ink experts". the whole idea that third party inks ruin printers is a meme.

maybe cheap low ball inks ruin printers. but not high quality non-OEM inks. my printer runs better with triangle then SS2.
 

Circleville Signs

New Member
Given the small amount of money saved, and the potential for harm to my printer, I'll never use anything other than the Roland inks.

Would have to disagree with this even though I use OEM inks currently (only because I've yet to find a 3rd party Mutoh ink where they get the chips right).

From my research, on average, i would save around $800/mo in busy months, and $250-300/month during the slow months if I was able to find a 3rd party ink that can reliably get the chips right for Mutoh.
 

Colin

New Member
Ya, I guess a high volume shop might benefit. There's so much ink being put through the machine on a regular basis that the deleterious issues normally associated with 3rd party inks might not occur.
 

artbot

New Member
i moved to triangle because i don't print often. the mimaki OEM dries out a bit quicker around the caps and such causing a lot more headaches.

@circleville signs

so there's not permanent chips out there for mutoh? i don't think i've ever seen them but i figured they'd have to exist.
 

Flame

New Member
...well third party ink ruin your printer just the same way OEM inks do. they dry out because of bad maintanence or coagulate from temperature shock. companies like triangle and nazdar don't build printers they are an ink manufacturer. that makes them "ink experts". the whole idea that third party inks ruin printers is a meme.

maybe cheap low ball inks ruin printers. but not high quality non-OEM inks. my printer runs better with triangle then SS2.

It's the game of russian roullete, of trying to find the QUALITY non-oem inks that's simply not worth the risks. I tried Lava inks, read great reviews on them, almost lost my business as my printer broke, thousands of dollars in orders were returned, and while I tried to repair that printer, I ended up buying a new printer. The amount of $$$ I lost that month took me a long, long time to recoup.
 

Circleville Signs

New Member
i moved to triangle because i don't print often. the mimaki OEM dries out a bit quicker around the caps and such causing a lot more headaches.

@circleville signs

so there's not permanent chips out there for mutoh? i don't think i've ever seen them but i figured they'd have to exist.

Not that i've been able to find. The 1304 (which i have) doesn't have the capacity to add a bulk ink system that I am aware of. That means that even with 3rd party stuff, i have to keep buying cartridges. Tried it once, and while the ink was great stuff, only about 1 out of 3 cartridges were recognized by the printer.
 
no one has ever had a printer or head fail using factory inks I guess.
When a thousand dollar part fails we naturally look for something that caused it other than our poor maintenance habits
Yeah there are some extremes I guess and fly by night companies but the big names are big names for a reason

my official $.02 but many of you guys have been at it longer than I (3 years)
 

Large Format

New Member
I think this is more about greedy dealers trying to make higher profits then providing a better product for the customers. As a 12 year dealer I know this for a fact.I understand the need to increase profits in-order to maintain a high quality service staff, but most of the TPI (third part inks) sales organizations do not service equipment. They take your money and ship you ink. Roland OEM ink is the cleanest inks available and it works. Some print shops are qualified to use bulk ink systems and do it well. They understand the risk and how to maintain the equipment.

We are a servicing dealer with over 400 Roland printers installed. We proudly employ qualified service technicians and service the printers we sale.

Would you put Third party gas and oil in your Porsche? Not me

My opinion

Thank You
Peter
LFP
 

Billct2

Active Member
I tried several varieties of inks in my aqeous HPs. I would only try them if they guaranteed the heads. I got a few sets of new heads thanks to ink. How can I say it was the ink? Because the failures happened almost immediately. I now use Lexjet aftermarket refills and have been very happy. Does it save money? Absolutely.
As for my Porsche, well I don't have one, but it wouldn't know what brand of gas or oil I used as long as they were of equal quality.
 
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