black and white printing without using color inks?

[jbclem]

Are there any Canon (or other brand) ink jet models that allow you to print in black and white without any use of the color inks. And also will allow the black and white printing when a color cartridge is out of ink.

 

[kdsdata]

I have had 2 Canon inkjet printers, 1 HP, and 1 Epson, they all could be told to print in Black (Gray shades) only. However, I have never seen a printer that allows you to carry on printing if 1 or more cartridges are out of ink. That's an alarm condition. I have often thought that would be a handy feature.

 

[The Hat]

I have often thought that would be a handy feature.

There is a printer that will allow you to print just B&W it’s called a Mono laser, that’s what their for.. Saves loads of inkjet inks..

 

[jbclem]

I have had 2 Canon inkjet printers, 1 HP, and 1 Epson, they all could be told to print in Black (Gray shades) only. However, I have never seen a printer that allows you to carry on printing if 1 or more cartridges are out of ink. That's an alarm condition. I have often thought that would be a handy feature.

Could you name the printer models you referred to? And as far as my second condition goes, if I could print in Black only without using any of the color inks, I probably wouldn't have to worry about a color cartridge running out of ink. And I'd still have color printing capability when I needed it.

 

[jbclem]

There is a printer that will allow you to print just B&W it’s called a Mono laser, that’s what their for.. Saves loads of inkjet inks..

I've been thinking of buying a used mono laser printer, but in past years laser printer fumes were supposed to be an issue. Is that still the case?

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

There are some Canon, HP and Epson printers which let you continue printing when a cartridge goes empty , that varies by model, they offer you to print black/grayscale when a color drops out, or to mix black with the CMY colors when black drops out. It's a feature on some models oriented to (home) office use.
But cleaning cycles may still clean all color channels even if you only print black, some drivers let you select black/color purging via the driver for a manual clean but not for the automatic cleaning cycles. All ink levels may drop to zero eventually, the firmware tries to keep the printer ready for all types of print jobs regardless of your printing behaviour. Or you switch to an Epson monochrome inkjet printer if you are afraid of a laser printer.

 

[kdsdata]

Could you name the printer models you referred to? And as far as my second condition goes, if I could print in Black only without using any of the color inks, I probably wouldn't have to worry about a color cartridge running out of ink. And I'd still have color printing capability when I needed it.

Sorry, but my memory doesn't go back that far. It's been a while. If I quoted models I would probably get it wrong, and just confuse the issue.

However, I may not be totally correct about not being able to continue printing in black if a color goes empty. My Pro-100 lets me print when a warning comes up that a cart is getting low. That I have recognized means the cart is essentially out of ink. If it's a color, I can ignore the warning, and set the printer to just black & white. I suppose it would work for a while. BUT, I do not do that for long, because of the incessant cleaning cycles likely drying up the last little bit in the cart. My rule is "if it's low, fill it". Otherwise there it too much risk of burning the head if a cart goes dry. With full colors I can still set the printer to use only black & white. I supposed on the Pro-100 that means using the 3 gray shades. If the image to print is all gray shades, it might even be better to set the printer to B&W only. Could prevent the greenish tint. Ha, now that I have written this, I will pay attention to do that on my Pro-100 when I need it. Thanks for triggering that thought ^_^.

 

[Artur5]

Most Canon printers, including, the Pro-100, use all the color carts even with you print in greyscale mode. Possibly 100% black uses only black ink,, but for anything from very dark grey to almost white, the driver combines CMY ink dots in different proportions so that it will look neutral when we look at the image from a distance. The results often aren't strictly neutral grey but greenish or purplish, if the color profile isn't accurate or we use third party inks without a proper profile.

 

[PeterBJ]

I remember some very old Canon 2 cartridge printers that allowed you to print using either the black, the tri-colour or both cartridges by changing a setting in the driver. But that might be 20 years ago. I think no inkjet printers have this functionality today.

 

[Artur5]

My first inket printer was the HP deskjet (around 1988-1989 ? ). Just one black cart, No trouble printing strictly black and white..
Afterwards I upgraded to the HP deskjet color, with an additional tricolor cart. which you have to swap for the black cart when you wanted to print in color. No problem printing strictly black and white either..