Mixing Cyan, Magenta, yellow to form Black

[species8350]

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

 

[Al]

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

I like your thinking there S. I have considered doing the same thing.
I could get away with it because I'm using all dye based ink including
my black. The HPs I have use pigmented ink. I have used dye based in
an emergency and it was too thin. I had to add some glycerin to get
the proper flow. As bar as color, I know when I have had a general
leak of an HP color cart, the result was a very dark green. That would
still be acceptable for printing text just to read at home.
So you need to state the printer model and do some research on whether
the black can take the same based ink as your color. Like I always
say, it's my printer and I can experiment in any way I want.

 

[Joel]

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

You can always try, or buy some black cartridges.

 

[Bast]

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

Since a lot of the printers do that anyway, you shouldn't have any problem.
.......Unless you want to try to separate them back to the original colors
later on

 

[Arthur Entlich]

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]

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/







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Thanks for the responses.

Looks promising to me.

Best wishes

S

 

[species8350]

 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

 

[Arthur Entlich]

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]

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/








- 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

 

[Arthur Entlich]

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/

 

[Arthur Entlich]

Carbon black is not a dye; it is a solid pigment which does not dissolve
in water. You are correct that carbon black is cheap and easy to
produce but it is a pigment and cannot typically be used with dyes.
Carbon black is often used in pigment black inks and toners used for
black only printing. For example, Canon's dye ink printers usually have
an extra cartridge which is the 3e series, which is a pigment ink. They
are typically made by taking very finely produced carbon black particles
placed in a medium and adhesive to keep it into suspension. Usually,
these inks sit on surface of the paper (although bond papers are
relatively porous), while dye inks penetrate the paper and with some
papers, enter into a second layer under the surface to protect them. The
pigment inks are often waterproof upon drying and provide high archival
qualities (it doesn't fade since it is primarily carbon).

Anyway, a true neutral black dye ink is usually made from a mixture of
other dye colorants. They often do not fade evenly and may shift color
when exposed to bright light over time.

One way to see the color components of dye black ink is to wet a napkin
or other porous paper and place a drop of ink at one spot. The dyes,
being of different weights, tend to spread at different rates and you
will begin to see a bull's eye of colors surround the original drop.

Some pigment inks will be a mixture of carbon black or other pigments
with dye to make a denser color since carbon black in the density
required to make it opaque may be too thick and clog.

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/