How to print in black and white with a canon pixma ip5200?

exet0626

Hi,

My Canon Pixma IP5200 just drinks ink, which proves very expensive. I have to print out a 200 page thesis, but in the past such black and white printing has seemed to use ink from the colour cartridges, too. Does anyone know how to stop this? I'd be grateful for any help.

Thanks in advance,

Rods

f1charlie

When you select print, if you go into 'Properties' is there not an option to print in black or grayscale?

John_Gray

Does it work if you take the colour cartridge out?!

John

f1charlie

Not a solution, but it seems you are not alone:

http://www.atomicmpc.com.au/forums.asp?s=2&c=19&t=660

exet0626

I just found this on the Canon website.... D'oh!


"Even when printing in black and white, colour ink is used for the following reasons:

Automatic cleaning of the print head
To prevent the print head nozzles from clogging, the print head is automatically cleaned periodically. At that time, a small amount of each colour ink is consumed.
Therefore, although printing in black and white is performed, colour ink is also consumed.
Colour inks may be used to create black.
When printing in grayscale or on special paper, although printing appears in black and white, the colour black may be created using the three (cyan, magenta, and yellow) colour inks.
Therefore, although printing in black and white is performed, colour ink may be consumed".

John_Gray

It sounds to me like they know perfectly well that you don't need colour inks to print black, since you have a perfectly good black cartridge, but it's a pretty neat way to make you buy another set of colour ink cartridges rather sooner than you would want.

Still, if the current business model for inkjet printer manufacturers is to provide a 'nearly free' printer as a loss leader, they have to get the money back somehow, and using up breathtakingly expensive ink needlessly is as good a way as any...

John