What you are planning is what I finally did in January after watching
five of six C84 printers succomb to clogging. I got in touch with MSI and
asked if anyone else was running a C84 with dye-base ink from them with any
positive results. They wrote back that though they had not tested doing this
themselves several of their clients had expressed they were doing just that
and were happy with the outcomes.
Dye base ink will cause many less clogging headaches than the Dura-brite
(pigment) that was used in many of the C series printers. Last year Epson
introduced Dura-brite Ultra, which I have not heard clogging reports yet
(ie: C88).
I ordered their dye-base ink and filled some spongeless cartridges,
which are usable on the C84, and some other Epsons (though I don't believe
are available for the C82 yet), and since have put three new 84 printers
into operation with positive results. There is no prone to clogging even
close to the Dura-brite ink that had been used in the first C84 units I'd
been running. Understand first I have started out brand new C84 printers out
of the box, that had never had the Dura-brite ink used in them. The real
test will be when I try running them after 10 weeks of non-use when I get
them running again when school opens in September.
The one thing you should concern yourself about is mixing the two inks
together. If you decide to try this route I would do as Art Entlich
suggested ( I haven't done it, only inquired of him) and mix a drop of the
dye-base with the pigment to see if any blotching occurs. If it does then
you would need to evacuate the print head of all Ultrabrite ink first with
cleaning cartridges before trying to run dye-base filled cartridges, as you
would undoubtedly cause a head clog otherwise.
