How to make printer output a single ink colour?

jodyflorian

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Hi,

I'm just experimenting with my inkjet printer.

Main question:

Is there any way I can make it output a solid shade of a single ink colour, i.e. not mix the inks? And for example, just output the light cyan ink, or the yellow ink, etc? For example, outputting a solid block of light magenta.

I have access to paint shop pro, photoshop and GIMP. The printer is an Epson Stylus Photo R285 with 6 inks.

Probably not important, but there are quite a few reasons I'd like to do this -
1) Use up remaining ink of a certain colour
2) Hopefully achieve brighter colours when I'm looking for a colour close to one of that of the inks
3) Unclog the heads for a certain colour without making the printer clean all inks, wasting inks of all colours.
4) Just for curiosity knowing what each ink colour looks like on paper
5) And just for the sake of knowing if it's possible! :)

Thanks!

Jody
 

fotofreek

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The only way I know of outputting a single color cart ink is with the nozzle test. Six color printers typically use the light cyan and light magenta around two to one over cyan and magenta. Yellow comes next in use faster than cyan and magenta, and if you are printing color photos the black usually is used least. To see what the individual colors look like on any specific paper you can take a cotton swab and do a smear of the ink. Not truly accurate, but you will get an idea of the color.

If you have access to a device that measures reflective color wave length I believe that you can then apply that information in photoshop and come close to using a single ink color, but the printer profiles still take over and do some mixing of colors. If you are doing monochromatic graphics and want to use one specific ink color you could fill all the carts with that color ink and make your printer into a one color printer. You could then purge the printhead afterward with several printhead cleanings before replacing correct color carts.

I don't know of any printer that will selectively run a cleaning cycle on one color cart. The Canon five cart printers (four dye based color carts plus a pigment black for text) can selectively clean either the four dye based carts or the pigmented ink cart. Generally, printing with a clogged head does not clear the clog. The cleaning cycles apply a suction beneath the printhead to pull ink through it. If this doesn't clear a clog you then need to use other techniques. Inkjet printers do run cleaning cycles automatically to prevent clogs in addition to operator initiated cleaning cycles.
 

lolopr1

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I think the only way to print solid color you need a RIP software (raster image processing).

Think of the RIP as a translator between you and your printer. You give it instructions in the language of your desktop publishing application and the RIP translates your instructions into the language of the printer. If your language is too complicated for the translator or it misunderstands your instructions the file doesn't rip.

The RIP comes in firmware, hardware, or software versions. Firmware RIP is built-in to the device, such as the PostScript RIP built-in to many desktop printers. The hardware RIP is a dedicated piece of hardware configured to process digital files. It often comes with specific types of devices, such as an imagesetter. The software RIP is an independent program that can work with many types of devices.

For basic desktop printing, your main concern is in having a PostScript capable printer if printing EPS graphics and the complex documents common in desktop publishing. Many laser printers come with PostScript Level 3 RIP. With inkjet printers, you purchase a separate software RIP solution to get PostScript unless you're using the more expensive high-end inkjet or dye-sub proofers that come with PostScript RIP software or hardware.

Large design offices and print service providers use a fancy RIP. In some cases these RIP solutions perform additional functions alone or in conjunction with dedicated software including queuing print jobs, batch processing, imposition, trapping, color separations, and halftone screening. The RIP software may include additional preflight functions such as checking for missing fonts or graphics prior to RIPping.
 

jodyflorian

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Thanks everyone - a wealth of information there - all very interesting as well!
 

tmierzwa

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get into windows, accessories, paint. go to page attributes and choose a size that more/less covers one sheet. then make a large rectangle on the sheet and fill the page with whatever color you want to print. go to page setup and pick print. then un click ALL and choose the next option Page 1 of 1, then page setup and center vertically and horizontally - otherwise part will print on one sheet and the balance on another - you want it all on one sheet.
 

ghwellsjr

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I created a print test page which should give you an idea of how each color looks when printed:

http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/uploads/1315_color_test.png

Keep in mind that your printer will mix the colors differently for plain and photo papers and it mixes the inks differently for different types of photo papers and different quality settings. The only way to know for sure is to run tests like I have done in the past where I made "cleaning" cartridges full of cleaning solution which does not show up in a printout. Then I put all these cleaning cartridges in the printer except one color at a time and print something that I am interested in. Then I switch the cartridges so that another color is in the printer and print the same thing again. It is a lot of work but eventually, you can see how your printer is mixing colors.

Here is my results for a Canon four color dye ink printer like the iP4000 or MP780:

http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=8390#p8390

Here is my conclusion about the i9900n which uses eight dye inks:

http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=11541#p11541
 

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