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Printer ink is a coloured liquid, used in inkjet printers
to transfer images from your computer screen onto paper or other printable
media. When you click print, hundreds of tiny ink nozzles go to
work, spraying thousands of precisely positioned, miniature ink droplets,
as the ink carriage (print head) moves across the page. The ink penetrates
the paper fibres and when it dries, the print becomes permanent part of the paper.
Colour printers generally use three colour inks (cyan,
magenta, yellow) and one black. By progressively laying appropriate colour ink
drops on top of each other, they can create just about any shade of
colour imaginable.
Photo printers typically use more than three
ink colours to extend the printable colour range. Light cyan, light magenta
and light black are the most common "extra" inks. Less common colours are
red, blue, green, orange, grey, very light black etc. Some high end photo printers use
all of above colours, but more commonly only one or two is added to the
ink set.
Ink types & combinations
Two main ink types are used in desktop printers - dye and
pigment. Each is optimised for different print media. Dye ink works best
on gloss paper, most pigment inks perform better on matte
or plain paper. Many of today's printers use pigment black ink in
combination with dye colour ink set.
Dye ink is made by dissolving a colorant in liquid,
usually demineralised water. Other chemicals are then mixed in to determine the ink's
properties (viscosity, drying rate etc). Dye ink is relatively
cheap and produces good results on variety of media. It's great for
printing photographs. Dye prints fade faster than pigment prints under
light, but will keep for years, if stored in a photo album etc. Because dyes remain
water soluble, the prints can smudge on plain (copy) paper. Good quality
dye ink shouldn't smudge, or run on coated photo paper, providing the
paper is also reasonable quality.
Pigment ink is made in a similar way to dye, except the
colorant is a non soluble powder (similar as in paint). This makes resulting prints more
water and fade resistant. If you plan to display whatever you print,
expect extended print life or water fastness, you should use quality
pigment inks - if your printer can handle pigment.
Most printers can be filled with either pigment
or dye ink, providing the correct ink is available. All Epson,
some Canon and some HP printers are suitable to using pigment colour inks.
All Epson dye printers can be converted to pigment, but don't
expect the change over to be straight forward. Pigment inks aren't as
vibrant as dyes and photographs can look dull when printed with "dye print
settings". This can be corrected
by making adjustments to colour settings (in printer properties), or using
a new profile. Unless you are prepared to do this (and print photos),
don't change over to pigment ink.
Important note: Once dry, pigment
ink is not easily soluble, so it is important to prevent the ink from drying in
the print-head. Don't leave the printer with no cartridges fitted for any
longer than necessary, use high quality ink if refilling and always print
a nozzle check before turning your printer off. If any ink nozzles appear
clogged (not printing), use the print head cleaning utility until you get
a good nozzle check. Don't be afraid to waste a bit of ink!!! It is far cheaper
than having to replace a clogged print-head.
Most current printers use both ink types. All printers with two
ink cartridges or four individual ink tanks (except Epson), use combination of pigment black and dye colour inks. It is
a compromise, but works quite well. The black (pigment) ink only gets used
for plain paper printing. When printing on gloss paper, the black
cartridge is disabled and the printer makes black ink by mixing the c,m,y
colours. Black areas of photographs printed with these printers may not be
true black, but it is not that obvious, unless compared with a
"photo printer" produced photo.
Some Canon and HP printers come equipped
with two black cartridges - one filled with pigment ink, the other with dye ink.
These printers produce higher quality photographs and can use less colour ink as
well.
Some pigment printer models also run two (or more) black
ink
cartridges. Pigment photo printers usually have "photo black" and "matte
black" ink tanks. Both are pigment, but each is formulated for different
paper type. Few high end photo printers also come with light black, light-light
black,
grey etc cartridges to extend the printer's black & white
printing capability.
Few recent Epson printer models (C110, T30, TX1100 etc) use two black
ink tanks filled with same ink. This is apparently to increase the print
speed.
How to buy
ink?
As with most other things, you
can buy ink in different forms...
Original ink cartridges (made by the printer
makers) are easy to find and top quality, but you can pay dearly for the
privilege. The amount of ink they hold can be valued at anywhere up to
$3000 per litre. If you don't print a lot, this may not be a problem, but
if you do, buying original ink can get expensive.
Compatible ink cartridges are
another way of buying ink. These are similar to ink cartridges sold by the
printer makers, but are made by independent companies. There
are many different brands and grades of compatible cartridges on the market,
some almost as good as original, some not so good, some really bad. You
usually get what you pay for. Don't expect too much from a $0.99 ink
cartridge. Print-rite cartridges are good
value for money. They fit and work well and Print-rite ink quality is
consistently good. Not quite as good as OEM ink, but considerably cheaper.
Refilling your
ink cartridges or fitting a CIS (continuous ink system) is the most economical
way to print. That way, you aren't replacing the ink cartridges, just the
ink that is used up. Not only does it work out much cheaper, refilling is
kinder to the environment and very convenient.
Another advantage of refilling is that you are not limited to
the ink offered by the printer / cartridge makers. Most Epson
printers for example can be set up with different ink types, depending on
what you want to print. Anything from dye (general printing, photos,
CD's), pigment (longer lasting prints), B&W (better black & white
photos) to dye sublimation (for "non printable" materials), heat transfer
ink (iron-on transfers)...endless possibilities.
Find refill kits, bulk
ink or ink cartridges for your printer,
by clicking on the respective link. Can't find the printer ink you are looking
for? Please contact
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