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Cheap printer ink vs Canon ink, what is the difference?


4 years 6 months ago #661626 by Tim Reeder
Well I thought I would try some of the generic brand ink in my Canon printer.  An attempt to save a few bucks.  Well the ink globed up.  

Lesson learned.  But I'm now curious, how is the cheap ink different?  It's color dyes.  You'd expect if it was some secret formula, that with all the technology out there, these companies creating these generic inks could reverse engineer the basic formula.  Right?
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4 years 6 months ago #661649 by Nikon Shooter
You tried to save a few bucks? Legitimate in my book,
as we all do but, as printers are sold very cheap and to
get back their money through stupidly expensive ink,
the makers found ways to prevent you from baying any
other than their brand stuff.

Some cartridges come with codes on a sticker to make
sure of that.
Light is free… capturing it is not!
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4 years 6 months ago #661650 by icepics
Any company like Canon most likely has protected the formulas and technology and materials that are used to make their ink cartridges. Any other company could try to imitate it but that's about all they can do, manufacture a cheap copy. This is similar to copyright - stealing photos, stealing formulas... that's why we have copyright, patents, and trademarks.
Sharon
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4 years 6 months ago #661812 by garyrhook

Tim Reeder wrote: Well I thought I would try some of the generic brand ink in my Canon printer.  An attempt to save a few bucks.  Well the ink globed up.  

Lesson learned.  But I'm now curious, how is the cheap ink different?  It's color dyes.  You'd expect if it was some secret formula, that with all the technology out there, these companies creating these generic inks could reverse engineer the basic formula.  Right?


You can't just reverse-engineer a formula (unless you're in China, or what-not) and get away with it. That's the same as reverse engineering a drug.

And you know that's problematic, right? We have patents for that.

Despite the alleged "expensiveness" (is that a word?) of ink, if it's worth printing, it's worth printing well. Or use a lab, perhaps? But don't use cheap products.

As for your printer, with proper cartridges and enough cleaning cycles, hopefully you'll get it sorted out.
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4 years 6 months ago #661942 by Shadowfixer1
I think the better inks have much smaller solids in them for color. Cheap ink has larger solids that tend to clot these tiny nozzles in printers. That's my theory anyway. Smaller the solid, the more refining it takes, thusly it's more expensive.
www.betterphoto.com/?ramshots
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