How Print Neutral Black & White With Cmyk-based Epson Printer

[pharmacist]

Because I am still waiting for my extra length waste ink modification of the Epson 1500W from Martin, I was had some time to experiment with an extra set of T029X refillable cartridges for my Epson WF-7525 printer and I did some contemplation about the right amout of LLB, LB and PB to be put in the respective CMYK cartridges and this is the amount I put in the cartridges:

K: 100 % Photo Black (PB) or 100 % Matte Black (MB) depending on the paper used (I did use PB)
M: 100 % Light Black (LB)
C: 70 % Light Black (LB) + 30 % Light Light Black (LLB)
Y: 100 % Light Light Black (LLB)

Now these are the results of of the experiment:



On picture 6 you can see on the right the same print after an additional cleaning cycle of the print head to remove the yellow ink, which seems to teint the LLB position yellowish (lighter tones), but after the cleaning the left print is perfectly neutral. Picture 1 shows the nozzle check of the printer on top: the Original CMYK inks, beneath the substituted inks.

For CMYK-printing on photo paper: please change paper setting into "Epson Matte" and quality setting: High Quality, otherwise the printer will fall back on the standard CMY-printing mode omitting the black ink.

The prints are absolutely neutral and details in the shadows is fantastic, albeit a bit with a warm tinge, because of the very nature of the gray/black pigment inks used in this test (OCP K3).

According to my calculations the following mix should be used for a six color CcMmYK printer (for example my Epson 1500W printer):

Black: 100 % Photo or Matte Black
Magenta: 100 % Light Black (LB)
Cyan: 70 % Light Black (LB) + 30 % Light Light Black (LLB)
Light Magenta: 50 % Light Black (LB) + 50 % Light Light Black (LLB)
Light Cyan: 40 % Light Black (LB) + 60 % Light Light Black (LLB)
Yellow: 100 % Light Light Black (LLB)

I will try this too later on, when I have some extra cartridges to experiment on.

 

[stratman]

I don't have an Epson but I am enjoying your work!

 

[Lucas28]

Those prints look nice!
Actually I did a similar experiment with the OCP K3 ink, but less refined: I filled both the magenta and cyan tanks with Light black. It took a while before I found out that it's absolutely necessary to set the printer to 'matte', but then the prints were great.
I think these inks are carbon based, reason why the prints turn out warm. So I mixed the LB ink in the cyan tank with some cyan OEM ink. Then it would be possible to make the print cooler or warmer by moving the cyan slider in the driver.
But then the printer broke: the black stopped printing. End of experiment!

 

[cls]

Hi folks!
is there a way to create a specific black and white ICC Profile whenn using a "custom" black ink set for an 6 color epson?
How do I setup argyllcms patches?

 

[Tudor]

In targen try using -d0 instead of -d2 or -d4 (whichever you use for color).

 

[RogerB]

Hi folks!
is there a way to create a specific black and white ICC Profile whenn using a "custom" black ink set for an 6 color epson?
How do I setup argyllcms patches?

Have you looked at QuadToneRip? Assuming your printer is supported it's by far the best way to control an all-black ink set.

 

[SNCF]

Helo everyone.
I did like pharmacist said. I liked it

I have Epson L800 printer and B&W prints on original inks even on Epson archival matte paper were green or magenta saturated.

So i bought and filled:

Black: 100 % Photo or Matte Black
Magenta: 100 % Light Black (LB)
Cyan: 70 % Light Black (LB) + 30 % Light Light Black (LLB)
Light Magenta: 50 % Light Black (LB) + 50 % Light Light Black (LLB)
Light Cyan: 40 % Light Black (LB) + 60 % Light Light Black (LLB)
Yellow: 100 % Light Light Black (LLB)

OCP inks:
Epson Stylus Photo R 2400 / 3000 Matt Black Pigment - IJ BKP 203
Epson Stylus Photo R 2400 / 3000 Light Black Pigment - IJ BKP 201
Epson Stylus Photo R 2400 / 3000 Black Light Light Pigment - IJ BKP 200
Epson Stylus Photo R 2400 / 3000 Photo Black Pigment - IJ BKP 202

I flushed old original ink and cleaned printhead

And photos now horrible stinks, whole room stinks and are like sepia - colored, black is not deep, halftones do not passes smoothly. Printouts look like 100 years old.

I was trying also to change Matt to Photo Black in BK tank and add little cyan OEM to tanks, does not help. I was trying also different proportions of inks mixing in color tanks, in total I washed over 0,5litre of inks and waste pad now is 90% full All nozzles are working ok.

Please help. Thank You

 

[pharmacist]

You will have to experiment with darkening the image before printing or use QTR to improve darkness.

 

[SNCF]

but darkness is brown. Maybe my OCP ink is old? or from wrong model? In bottles looks black..

 

[pharmacist]

this is totally normal: the black is slightly brown and you will get a sepia teinted print. The most important thing is the better gradation of tones without any color casts (besides the sepia tone). In K3 printers, the printer adds light cyan to the print to neutralize the brown tinge.

What do you expect from this printer: it is NOT a K3 printer .

you might experiment with mixing the ink with light cyan to counter down the brownish teint of the K3 inks.