‘wrong’ inks supplied. BIO v’s ELITE / Activisol

[David Rogers]

Well, just spoke to Stewart one of the nice chaps down there.

Although up ’til now I’ve avoided all ‘light’ solvent inks as I’ve always preferred the slight performance edge activisol / elite gave when doing some of the polyester blinds fabrics I’ve been assured that these are the very latest Colorific inks, are slightly improved in terms of pigment size and the solvent carrier still bites into the media as well…and if I’m not happy during the next month – he’ll drive up and swap them over for elite himself.

Well – that’s what you call belief in your product.

I may yet be a convert to going eco-friendly.

Maybe get around to trying it out next week.

Dave

[Phill Fenton]

At least you got your ink. When I tried ordering 220mml cartidges for the first time I was sent litre bottles of bulk ink instead. Unfortunately this caused me to miss a deadline with an important customer due to the delay in getting the right inks sent. When it did eventually arrive I was only sent three cartidges instead of a full set of 4. One colour was out of stock but they didn’t bother to warn me that was the case.

[George Zerbino]

David,

Go ahead and use it, you will not find any difference in the way it bites into the media or difference in the colour, the only thing you’ll notice is that the smell is not the same.

It took an awful lot to convince me to use the bio ink, and I had the same assurances as you. Well, a good few weeks have gone by now and I wouldn’t know the difference other than the label and the smell.

Regards,
George

[M Brown]

Hi,

I’ve gone to bio inks too. Haven’t had chance to use them yet as I’m waiting for the Elite to run out.

I think solvent ink will be stopped one day as its bad for the environment, even eco solvent.

Mark.

PS: Let me know how you get on with them.

[David Rogers]

quote Phill:

At least you got your ink. When I tried ordering 220mml cartidges for the first time I was sent litre bottles of bulk ink instead. Unfortunately this caused me to miss a deadline with an important customer due to the delay in getting the right inks sent. When it did eventually arrive I was only sent three cartidges instead of a full set of 4. One colour was out of stock but they didn’t bother to warn me that was the case.

Time to switch to bulk? You probably do as much print as I do – ie. enough – but it’s not exactly on 8 hours a day.
Honestly – the best £100 odd I spent was getting the bulk carts. Can tell at a glance what’s in them (clear)…what’s in the stock bottles and there’s less chance of being caught short.

Dave

[Adrian Yeo]

david

is this the colourific alternative to ecosol max? Going to need a set shortly so may give them a whirl if they are any good!

[Adrian Yeo]

quote David Rogers:

quote Phill:

At least you got your ink. When I tried ordering 220mml cartidges for the first time I was sent litre bottles of bulk ink instead. Unfortunately this caused me to miss a deadline with an important customer due to the delay in getting the right inks sent. When it did eventually arrive I was only sent three cartidges instead of a full set of 4. One colour was out of stock but they didn’t bother to warn me that was the case.

Time to switch to bulk? You probably do as much print as I do – ie. enough – but it’s not exactly on 8 hours a day.
Honestly – the best £100 odd I spent was getting the bulk carts. Can tell at a glance what’s in them (440ml clear)…what’s in the stock bottles and there’s less chance of being caught short.

Dave

Been looking at these carts myself. On the site I have been looking at they recommend changing the refill carts every 12 to 18 months as the seals can go. From someone who is using them, is this a valid point or just a bit of a marketing ploy?

Cheers

Adrian

[David Rogers]

quote Adrian Yeo:

david

is this the colourific alternative to ecosol max? Going to need a set shortly so may give them a whirl if they are any good!

Not sure – probably better to give them a ring to confirm.

I’ve been using colorific elite for a while now and it’s been excellent – assured this bio ink is as good or marginally better (as latest generation ink).

Never used EcoSOL as I’d always had ActiviSOL until i switched.

Dave

[M Brown]

Hi Adrian,

I’d check with Roland first before you buy Colorific Bio ink. I know for the guys using Elite or Activasol inks can put them straight in with out any worries.

Also, I’ve had my bulk carts since I’ve had my machine, and still no problems with seals. Its been nearly 2 years now that I’ve had them. But that just me, maybe someone else has a different story.

From Mark

[Adrian Yeo]

Mark

No worries there, my cadet was using Activisol up until the B&P saga, then switched to the Elite. Where did your carts come from? I have been looking at the ones from VTS.

Cheers

Adrian

[David Rogers]

Three years on and using Activisol / elite every day of that…seals still fine.
Carts have been in since then too – don’t remove to refill as they’ve bungs on the top & come with funnels so don’t disturb the cartridge seals anyway.

[Adrian Yeo]

Excellent. Thanks David 😀

[David Rogers]

ps. Got my carts from Signmaster.

Good lads – very helpful.

Dave

Just looked back on my old posts – got our machine 21st July 2007…and switched to bulk a couple of months after that…as it was going through 440 carts at a silly rate…and you have to remove them to find out how much is left (guess) and it’s just too hit & miss without holding spares always on the shelf.

[Phill Fenton]

I’m thinking of replacing my activasol inks (in catridges) with refillable biosol inks. My understanding is that I can run the activasol along with the biosol inks so I only need to replace each ink colour as the old ink cartridges run out. Just need reassurances from others that have done the same that this doesn’t cause any unforeseen problems.

Any advice please ?

[Steve McAdie]

I bought my cadet plus with the bulk ink already fitted. Have not had any problems with it at all in 3 years.

Steve

[David Rogers]

quote Phill:

I’m thinking of replacing my activasol inks (in catridges) with refillable biosol inks. My understanding is that I can run the activasol along with the biosol inks so I only need to replace each ink colour as the old ink cartridges run out. Just need reassurances from others that have done the same that this doesn’t cause any unforeseen problems.

Any advice please ?

Or you could just dump the ink that’s left in the carts into the refillable carts and save having to ‘stage’ your swap over.

Apparently you can mix them together with no ill effects.

[George Zerbino]

Go ahead Phill, when the Activasol cartridge is finished, just plug in the Bio one.

With the refillable ones, just pour the Bio ink into the Activasol. No reactions, no difference, no problems….

Believe me it took a lot to convince me to do so, but so far I haven’t noticed any difference whatsoever (apart from the smell, that the only thing).

Cheers,
George Z.

[Robert Lambie]

who’s Bio ink we talking about guys?
Phill i run Bio Inks in my Grenadier…

[Adrian Neill]

We’ve been using the Colorific Bio Inks for sometime now and like has already been said, we’ve not noticed any difference other than a different smell which you get used to quite quickly.

It’s also a good thing to ‘plug’ with your customers that you use environmentally friendly inks.

[Phill Fenton]

quote Robert Lambie:

who’s Bio ink we talking about guys?
Phill i run Bio Inks in my Grenadier…

Selectech Rob

[David Rogers]

quote Phill:

quote Robert Lambie:

who’s Bio ink we talking about guys?
Phill i run Bio Inks in my Grenadier…

Selectech Rob

Likely to be Colorific Bio then…as that’s who supplied mine last time I ordered some.

[Stephen Morriss]

Go to the tech 8 spares site and get your bulk cartridges there as I noticed the price was very competitive.

http://www.tech8.eu/spares/menu_filter.php?id=670&

I bought my new cadet pump there and it was cheaper than any I’d seen on eBay or other places.

Steve

[George Zerbino]

quote Robert Lambie:

who’s Bio ink we talking about guys?
Phill i run Bio Inks in my Grenadier…

Sorry Rob, I wasn’t very clear with it: Colorific Bio from Selectech, direct replacement for the Colorific Elite from same.

[Robert Lambie]

Sorry for my slow reply guys…

Yeh the stuff i have run in our grenadier for the past two years is…

Colorifc
Bio-Solvent Ink
Selectech

Now so i am clear here, i am not agreeing with mix-n-match on this particular Ink… NOT because it cant be, just because I never installed them like that on my machine.

I already ran a bulk ink system at the time and I also run the genuine Activasol Inks. NOT B&P’s later version of so called "Activasol" but the genuine Acivasol under the Colorific branding.

My switch was to test the BIO ink in MY OWN machine for around 6 months to Year prior to passing on any recommendations to the UKSG.
Here i am 2 years down the line…

My Grenadier has had 2 services in that time (2 years) for nothing more than a general service/clean as is required by any machine. Ken McNight of KenTech who is a Roland, Unifrom etc Technician could confirm this.

Installing the Inks…
So as to do this test correct, the proper procedure for a change over inks
is for a qualified technician to do print tests, make sure everything is running correct and so on.
We took a colourful Image from our library and printed it the full width of the machine. along with a test sheet and so on…
the machine was then flushed of Activasol and The new Bio-Ink installed.
took about 20-30 minutes from memory.
Once the ink was installed… Some print tests were run and the machine was ready to run its new BIO-Ink.

Using the exact same profile RIP’d colourful image. No tweaking, alterations, nothing… we run the same print/picture.
Sat on the table SIDE-BY-SIDE myself, andrew and the technician compared.
the ONLY difference we could see between the 3 of us was that the Bio-ink prints looked slightly more vibrant!

Both prints could infact been the exact same, difference being the new Bio ink prints were run just after a flush and clean so output was slightly more vibrant. but i think the outcome was to find out if the Bio-Ink was as good as the activasol using exactly the same settings/profile/media/machine. and as i said if anything, it was slightly better.

two years down the line, my 6 year+ old machine is still running perfectly well and earning as much money as the day we bought it.

as i said, im not saying it cant be mix-n-matched, just NOT the route i took to installing my ink. However… if you look at the following link on the colorific site it states its a plu-n-play http://www.colorificink.com/colorific_n … m_printers

hope i havent waffled on too much there!

[David Rogers]

Well, I can confirm the bio-ink is identical in performance to the elite/activisol.

The smell…yup – got used to it. If anything it’s less pungent than the old elite one.

Still running on a mix of bio & elite (as I had stocks of C Y K when I ordered) without any issues.

All in all – perfect.

Dave

[Adrian Yeo]

Hi Dave

How did you get on with the mixing of the bio? Looking at doing the same now switching to bulk in the process.

Did you find any issues later on switching to the bio rather than the elite? And, are there any benefits over the elite?

Sorry to drag up an old one! 😀

[David Rogers]

Sorry for late reply – never saw the post.

There were absolutely NO issues mixing the inks, either in the bulk carts or in whatever proportion they were being printed at.

At one point – only ONE colour was a bio mix..then gradually switched over.

Zero issues…and you do get used to the smell eventually!

Dave

[Adrian Yeo]

Cheers Dave

Will do it on my next buy. Went for the elite this time in bulk and a refill cartridge doofer 😮
Still running standard carts in the other colours at the mo, but black will be next on the list so will go for it then.

Must say, very impressed with the service from selectech. Never used them before but very friendly and helpful.

Also, cant believe how good a price the bulk ink is in comparison to the carts. Expected a bit of difference but its a no-brainer really!

Thanks again

Adrian 😀

[Robert Lambie]

good to hear both you are happy with the inks… as said, im running the BIO ink… me personally. ide have said switch to the BIO. been using it well over 2 years now.
Using the bio ink, you can push your company as being greener by using/seeking greener products. its less aggressive on your machine parts and is more in tune with the likes of the roland inks when your machine is idle. by that i mean, it doesnt solidify in pipes, clog heads etc as quick as the activisol inks… etc

anyway, good to get more feedback on the inks and Tech8 from other UKSG members rather than just me harping on. 😀

[Gordon Forbes]

Versacam 300V running Ecosol max inks
Am I right in saying that I can put in the Bio inks without changing pipes etc like you had to for the cadet.

[James Preston]

I’ve been running my grenadier on colorific bio inks for about a year now. Initially I noticed no difference and was chuffed with them, given all the benefits. But a local, regular customer brought a banner back to the office after just 3 months complaining about fading. I suggested it was because of the location…direct sunlight and right next to the sea. But he had also brought with him a previous banner I’d printed over a year ago using the elite ink and that was a lot more vibrant. The ink is the only thing I can think of that’s different between the 2 banners so I’ve gone back to the elites

[Colin Hibbitt]

with all this bio ink business – ive nothing but trouble trying to sort out proper profiles – after months of complaining to selecttech they sent a profiler down to sort it – at cost of course – after a few days noticed that these were not correctlly profiled and causing all sort of issues – so hence did not pay – they then sent down an independant profiler to sort the issue at a cost of £350 (upfront this tme) – again after leaving i have had half a dozen people complain about colouring . Now i on the verge of completely scrappping colorfic altogether if i cant can results

Would anyone out there with the grenidier 2 using wasatch and bio ink have any profiles they would kindly sent me to see if this problem can be sorted out

i feel we are to far away in plymouth for anyone to come down and spend the time to help us out on this matter even though we have a contract with them and buy there ink

[Chris Wool]

soory wrong bit