Ink is sold by weight?

[whitewater]

Pretty sure it is.

How accurate should it be?

Im asking because we opened a gallon of Union 1030 white, it looked like 3/4 full...i know it settle some but it just looked light. So we put the top back on and weighed it.

216.5 oz. / 6.15 KG

We had another gallon come in, so we weighed that..

224 oz. / 6.35 kg

Now thats the bucket and everything.

Is that close enough or way off?

[mimosatexas]

So, 3% variance.  Assuming 224oz is the correct amount, you were shorted a few bucks worth of ink, but not 1/4 of the gallon.  That assumes of course that the 224oz isn't an overage, in which case over time your variance probably gets close to averaging out.  I wouldn't expect much variance at all though honestly...

edit: Find a quart container (one you know is exactly a quart), and weigh the container, then fill it completely with ink (and make sure you shake it etc to get out any air) and weigh it.  Multiply to find out how much a gallon should weigh, then empty one of the gallon containers completely (use ink degradent etc) and weigh it.  Now you should know how much it is supposed to weigh in total, and how much you were actually shorted and/or the overage on the other gallon.  Would take a little time, but at least you would be able to figure out if they have an issue with how they are packaging their ink.

[jvanick]

Wilflex has a weight per container listed right on the side of the container.

It's actually interesting to see how much the different PCs weigh vs their volume.

I seem to remember that the 'extra white' pigment is the heaviest, but I'm not in the ink area to check.

[Frog]

 I bet that the short answer is sold by volume, packed by weight.

[Colin]

Frog is correct.

Manufacturers decide the volume they want in the bucket, then figure what that will weigh.

Actual weights from batch to batch will vary for the same volume, but not by very much.

Low bleed inks will have more room at the top of the bucket because of the off-gassing that occurs during storage.

[ScreenFoo]

Wilflex has a weight per container listed right on the side of the container.

It's actually interesting to see how much the different PCs weigh vs their volume.

I seem to remember that the 'extra white' pigment is the heaviest, but I'm not in the ink area to check.

Makes sense, titanium dioxide is very heavy, and there should be extra in there. 

[Screened Gear]

My answer to this is take the ink back. We buy ink for printing shirts. Weight of the ink means nothing to us. We need volume so that we can print the same amount of shirts per gallon so we can make the same amount of money per gallon. If they messed up and the weight was off they should fix it. I have never got more then a gallon of ink when the ink was too light.