Yes, it is difficult and costly to make a pure black dye ink. They are
usually made from a mixture of red and green (which would translate to
cyan, magenta and yellow) or some other combination. They use dyes
which are 1) cheap and 2) have some fade resistance. But your
observation is correct, most dye black inks are mixture of other colors
of dyes. I'm sure if you have access to a good CSI style lab with a
paper chromatographer you could determine exactly which dyes were used.
Art
If you are interested in issues surrounding e-waste,
I invite you to enter the discussion at my blog:
http://e-trashtalk.spaces.live.com/
species8350 wrote:
> On Sep 17, 7:53 am, Arthur Entlich <e-printerh...@mvps.org> wrote:
>> As a quick comment, which you may have realized... if using the CMY
>> heads to create black, you will be using approximately 3 times as much
>> ink as you would by using just a black ink. Unless you wish to"use up"
>> the color inks, the actual costs are higher in using all three colors to
>> make a black ink output.
>>
>> Art
>>
>> If you are interested in issues surrounding e-waste,
>> I invite you to enter the discussion at my blog:
>>
>> http://e-trashtalk.spaces.live.com/
>>
>>
>>
>> species8350 wrote:
>>> On Sep 16, 12:20 am, DJT <dt...@hotmail.com.au> wrote:
>>>> On Tue, 15 Sep 2009 04:34:56 -0700 (PDT), species8350
>>>> <not_here.5.species8...@xoxy.net> wrote:
>>>>> On Sep 15, 10:50 am, Arthur Entlich <e-printerh...@mvps.org> wrote:
>>>>>> Mixing the three colors makes a color called process black which is not
>>>>>> very dark black.
>>>>>> How well it will work depends upon the inks used to cerate it. The ink
>>>>>> should be very clean and no have contamination which may clog the head
>>>>>> nozzles. Some inks may not like being mixed on a long term, and may
>>>>>> clot or otherwise change consistency over time, so I would only mix
>>>>>> enough for one cartridge at a time.
>>>>>> Art
>>>>>> If you are interested in issues surrounding e-waste,
>>>>>> I invite you to enter the discussion at my blog:
>>>>>> http://e-trashtalk.spaces.live.com/
>>>>>> species8350 wrote:
>>>>>>> Hi,
>>>>>>> I have lots of couloured inks but no black.
>>>>>>> I was thinking of mixing equal portions of CMY to form a black ink.
>>>>>>> Am I likely to have any problems in using this ink in inkjet
>>>>>>> cartridges
>>>>>>> Thanks
>>>>>>> S
>>>>>>> PS. Lexmark Printer- Hide quoted text -
>>>>>> - Show quoted text -
>>>>> Thanks for the responses.
>>>>> Looks promising to me.
>>>>> Best wishes
>>>>> S
>>>> Have you tried leaving the Black cartridge out and telling the the
>>>> printer to use the color cartridge only. It will then produce the
>>>> black from a mix of colors.
>>>> The ablity to do this is buried in the drver config usually
>>>> DJT- Hide quoted text -
>>>> - Show quoted text -
>>> Yes, and got a dark black that was indistinguishable for natural
>>> black.
>>> I need to use all the coloured inks that I've got, and am optimistic
>>> on getting a dark black.
>>> Best wishes.
>>> S- Hide quoted text -
>> - Show quoted text -
>
> Thank you.
>
> Just on the chromatography.
>
> I remember once dabbing the head of the black cartridge to clear to
> jets. On seeing the paper later, I noticed colours. So it seems that
> 'pure black' can also separate.
>
> Best wishes to all.
>
> S
>
> Ps. I believe that all my inks are dye based
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