I noticed the price increase on Eboni. I don't know if the K4 MK is still the same MK or not. The increase in Eboni price reflects MIS9;s opinion of its value, as well as the extent to which the generic base has cut into their revenues. The truth is, it's still a very economical inkset; still the "best for the least." I have for years referred to dilute inks as "very expensive water."
Meanwhile, I continue to explore the different carbon inks. Last night a centrifuge test of four alternative "LK" density inks included an 18% Eboni. The most remarkable result was that the 18% Eboni v.1.1 (82% generic base c6b) showed no settlement at all. That doesn't mean Eboni no longer settles. Rather, it means the settlement rate (including from sedimentation/failure of the dispersant -- a major factor in this testing) of the Eboni v. 1.1 is low enough that it's within the "noise" level of my testing. I have rarely seen this type of result.
One of the correlations in my testing is that older inks do worse. That is, the shelf life of these pigment inks is, indeed, limited. Carbon may be (almost) "forever," but the dispersants used are definitely not. Moreover, as I was warned long ago, we should agitate the bottles and our wide format carts the night before the next time we want to use them so the the ever present "clunkers" (Bob Zeiss's term) have time to settle to the bottom.
Dispersant technology has improved and will probably continue to.
Paul
On Sat, Apr 2, 2016 at 7:27 AM, goch@... [DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint] <DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com> wrote:
As of today (2016-04-02), MIS lists the following on its website:
K4-PT-K - $58 K4 MATTE BLACK ARCHIVAL EPSON K3 COMPATIBLE INK
EB6-PT-K - $100 EB6 V1.1 CARBON MONOTONE MATTE BLK (EBONI)
The first of these used to be the designation for “Matte Eboni Black”, a pure-carbon black ink that was the primary black ink for Paul Roark’s formulations. The second is now identified as Eboni, albeit V1.1.The difference in price might be startling, but there is no uncertainty that this is supposed to replace Eboni. Time will tell whether we agree with that, and we cannot expect the world to stand still while we tweak our printing systems.My confusion is about K4-PT-K. That used to be the product number for Eboni (V1.0). What is it now? The website says nothing at all, although by implication it must still be a pigment ink. My understanding is that one of MIS's suppliers changed something and so Eboni V1.1 became necessary. If that is correct, then Eboni V1.0 simply cannot be made any longer, so K4-(size)-K either is or will soon become something else (or dropped from the catalogue).Does anyone know what K4-PT-K actually is???Myron