The Truth about Canon Pigment vs Dye Black Ink

[leo8088]

one question - I have a lot of black dye - can i refill the black pigment cartridge with it or will it mess up my printer?

No, it will not mess up your printer. It actually works. It will print fine. But the text on the paper you get will be dye black in. It will smear when in contact with water. How I have done it, not just once but many times on many printers. Never had a problem. Canon's very old printers used dye black ink for printing text. HP did that too. You will find hundreds of ebay vendors selling dye black ink for refilling both BCI-3ebk and BCI-6bk cartridges. The correct answer to your uqestion is definitely yes. The question is there are reasons Canon put two black ink cartridges on a printer. If you refill your BCI-3ebk with dye black ink your text print will not be the same. There will be no harm or any problem to your printer.

 

[wilko]

Excellent article on identifying the inks used but what about Canon 4 ink cartridge printers, ie no photo black ink cartridge (Ip3000, 3500 etc). What carts are used when printing photos with these printers?

 

[iP4XXX]

Excellent article on identifying the inks used but what about Canon 4 ink cartridge printers, ie no photo black ink cartridge (Ip3000, 3500 etc). What carts are used when printing photos with these printers?

They use cyan, yellow and magenta dye inks for photos. Black (when needed) is made from a combination of these colors.

 

[ghwellsjr]

It is not possible to use to type ink in one printer. Which type of ink is good for both plain paper and photo paper?

You should never use pigment ink on most photo papers, especially glossy ones, unless they are specifically designed for pigment ink such as Epson's photo papers designed for DURABrite ink which is pigment. So, in general, if you can only use one type of ink in your printer, it should be dye ink and you should never use pigment ink where dye ink is specified because it can easily clog the nozzles.

What printer do you have? Most printers do have both pigment black and color (and maybe black) dye inks, but the printer will never use the pigment black and the dye black ink at the same time.

 

[kimimarshal]

Nice Conversation !

 

[Lestrad]

This thread has been a real lifesaver for me. My Canon iP4600's black pigment nozzles are clogged, and I was ready to buy a new printer. But I found this thread and tried printing text on regular paper by telling the printer I was using matte photo paper... and it worked great. The blacl looks almost as black as with pigment - all but indistinguishable. Much slower, of course. But at least I can get some more use of out of the printer (the colors still print fine).

Now if anybody has a suggestion as to how I can unclog those black pigment nozzles, that would be great. The middle third are clogged. I tried washing out the entire print head with warm water, then soaking it in alcohol for several hours and blowing air through it, but it's still clogged.

Anyway, thanks for helping me bring my printer back from an early grave. Hat's off!

 

[mrelmo]

i have stopped using the pigment ink in my 4200, 560, 640 and 990 printers for over a year now, i have been very happy using the dye black in the pigment cartridges without any issues, i did this only because i didn't want to use 2 different black inks (lazy me)

 

[wilko]

I have a IP400,4200,4500 & MP610 and I only use OCP black dye ink. I can't remember the last time I had a black ink blockage. However, I do a lot of duplex printing so dye ink suits me. Having said all that Pigment Black gives you a lovely clear text print which doesn't run and I must admit I sometimes wish I had a PB cartridge to use for letters and address labels. When I print an address label for posting I cover it with cellotapeto prevent any rain smearing it.

I've thought about using a PB cartridge for use on these occasions but I presume that the printhead would still be filled with dye ink and therefore the print out wouldn't be colour fast. A few cleaning sessions would probably clear out the dye ink but it seems a waste of ink.

Anyone else using both dye and pigment black?

 

[Grandexp]

Now if anybody has a suggestion as to how I can unclog those black pigment nozzles, that would be great. !

Just do what lashdudette did by refilling your PGI-5 with a photo black ink. It is a tip posted on this forum before and it worked for me. After refilling with photo black ink just use it to print some text. Not a whole page but a few lines to begin with. Print larger font. Somehow by printing with photo black ink it will slowly clear the clog. I would continue to use the cartridge for a few days after the clog is cleared. I will then replace it with a black pigment ink.

 

[Lestrad]

Now if anybody has a suggestion as to how I can unclog those black pigment nozzles, that would be great. !

Just do what lashdudette did by refilling your PGI-5 with a photo black ink. It is a tip posted on this forum before and it worked for me. After refilling with photo black ink just use it to print some text. Not a whole page but a few lines to begin with. Print larger font. Somehow by printing with photo black ink it will slowly clear the clog. I would continue to use the cartridge for a few days after the clog is cleared. I will then replace it with a black pigment ink.

Intriguing advice. I had never intended to get set up for refilling, but this gives me a reason to try. Recommendations on where to find an empty cartridge and the necessary ink and equipment would be appreciated.