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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 fibers and when dry, the print becomes part of the paper.
Colour ink printers generally use three colour inks (cyan, magenta,
yellow) and black. By progressively laying appropriate colour ink drops on
top of each other, they can create just about any shade of colour.
Printers intended for printing photos often use more than four
inks. Light cyan and light magenta can can be added the primary (c/m/y/k)
ink set to extend the colour spectrum. Some high end photo printers use
even more colours (eg red, green, blue orange) for the same
reason.
Ink types & combinations
Two main ink types are used in desktop printers - dye and pigment.
Each is more suited to different print media. Dye ink works best on glossy
& photo paper, most pigment inks performs better on matte paper. Many
of today's printers use pigment black in combination with dye colour
inks.
Note: Some less common ink types include solid, gel, solvent,
sublimation and heat transfer. These are not generally used for every day
printing.
Dye ink is made by dissolving a colorant in liquid, usually
water. Other chemicals are then added to determine the ink's properties
(viscosity, drying rate, acidity 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 ones under light, but
will keep for years, if stored properly. 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 in non soluble powder form. 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.
Not all printers can be filled with pigment ink. Only Epsons,
couple of Canons and some HP's are suitable to run 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 quite dull. 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 set, pigment ink is
not 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 cheaper
than having to replace a clogged print-head.
Some printers use both ink types. All printers with two ink
cartridges 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 really obvious, unless you compare it with a
"photo printer" produced photos.
Some Canon and HP printers (with five ink tanks) come equipped with
two black cartridges - one with pigment ink and one with dye ink. These
printers produce higher quality photographs and can use less ink as
well.
Some pigment printer models also run two (or more) black
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, light-light,
grey etc black cartridges to extend the printer's black & white
printing capability.
Few recent Epson printer models (C110, T30 etc) use two black ink
tanks with the same ink. This is apparently to increase the print
speed.
How to buy ink?
As with most other things, you can
buy ink in many 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 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 $1.99 ink
cartridge. Printrite cartridges are good
value for money. They fit and work well and Print-rite ink quality is
consistently good.
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 that's 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 what you are looking
for? Please contact
us. | 
