Question about Epson's black ink printing

[Fenrir Enterprises]

I'm part of a discussion group for printed circuit boards that have
suddenly become very involved in modifying Epson printers for
direct-printing on the boards in order to avoid the hassle of
toner-transfer of photochemical development. One person reccomended a
specific MIS ink that did not bead up when used on bare copper, but
other people were unable to duplicate his results and he's had trouble
with it as well. One of the 'problems' people keep discussing is that
their Epson printers (a wide range have been tested, from the C80 to
the C88, and the R200/300 series) supposedly use the black tank /and/
the color tanks, even though the image is a solid black and white
image, no greyscaling involved at all. Does anyone know if this is
true? I thought companies did away with 'mix CMY to get black' a long
time ago. While I know printers will mix if the black concentration is
under a certain percentage, and use colors to get grey tones, this is
a solid black board schematic. My thought is that they're mistaking
the fact that the color tanks are going down (due to head cleaning on
power on) to mean that the printer is using those colors on the paper
during printing.

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http://www.FenrirOnline.com

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[Bob Headrick]

One of the 'problems' people keep discussing is that
their Epson printers (a wide range have been tested, from the C80 to
the C88, and the R200/300 series) supposedly use the black tank /and/
the color tanks, even though the image is a solid black and white
image, no greyscaling involved at all. Does anyone know if this is
true? I thought companies did away with 'mix CMY to get black' a long
time ago. While I know printers will mix if the black concentration is
under a certain percentage, and use colors to get grey tones, this is
a solid black board schematic. My thought is that they're mistaking
the fact that the color tanks are going down (due to head cleaning on
power on) to mean that the printer is using those colors on the paper
during printing.

I do not know what Epson does, but printers I am familiar with would use
color in some cases:

1. When selecting photo media the pigmented black cartridge is not
used.
2. Some media will "underprint" in color to make darker blacks,
especially in "Best" mode.

An easy way to tell if the printer is using color is to start a print,
then during a print swath pull the paper a bit (maybe an inch). You can
then inspect the print swath and tell what colors are being printed.

As for making PC boards, I still keep an old Laserjet 4 around.
Printing on the iron on material seems to me to give the best results.

Regards,
Bob Headrick, MS MVP Printing/Imaging

 

[CWatters]

I'm part of a discussion group for printed circuit boards that have
suddenly become very involved in modifying Epson printers for
direct-printing on the boards in order to avoid the hassle of
toner-transfer of photochemical development. One person reccomended a
specific MIS ink that did not bead up when used on bare copper, but
other people were unable to duplicate his results and he's had trouble
with it as well. One of the 'problems' people keep discussing is that
their Epson printers (a wide range have been tested, from the C80 to
the C88, and the R200/300 series) supposedly use the black tank /and/
the color tanks, even though the image is a solid black and white
image, no greyscaling involved at all. Does anyone know if this is
true?

Yes. Called under printing. Colour ink printed under the black to make the
black blacker.

You can try changing the printer setting to Black but it's hard to know
exactly what that setting does. For example it could either convert the
image to greyscale and print it using all the carts, or it could just use
the black cart and an alternative stratergy for making grey.

 

[Davy]

Modifying a printer for PCB.... sounds interesting, I often thought i
trying it with an El' Cheapo Canon, at the moment I use Tone
Transfer, do have the uV facility but too fiddly for one, two o
three off's.....

at least I can iron shirt's now

Dav

 

[Arthur Entlich]

I haven't looked at the drivers for the C8X series printers, but most of
Epson's drivers allow, in the advanced or custom menu to force the
driver to use black ink only.

The problem you are speaking of may actually occur if the image is not
in proper greyscale or black and white (bitmap) and is still in RGB or
CMYK. Slight color calibration issues could make black into a brown of
one type or another, and that would require some colored ink to be added.

Art