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Can I Put Black Ink in Color Cartridge Canon

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Can I refill my color ink cartridge with black??

  • Thread starter DellAxim
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  • #1
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Feb 14, 2003
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I have a cheap Lexmark printer that I print alot of black text on. (mailing labels) It does a pretty good job, and I refill the black cartridge all the time. Lately the black cartridge that I keep refilling has been clogging alot, and another cartridge is about what the printer cost.

Anyway...what if I filled the empty color cartridge I have with black ink? Would that work?

  • #2
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Jun 9, 2003
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  • #3
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Sep 27, 2003
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Originally posted by DellAxim
Anyway...what if I filled the empty color cartridge I have with black ink? Would that work?

There's probably something embedded in the colour ink cartridge to indicate to the printer that it is, a colour ink cartridge. The printer has to have some way of distinguishing between colour cartriges and B&W cartridges.

That being said, assuming that spare ink is cheap enough, it's worth a shot. You'd have to indicate that you want to print the labels in colour, but your printer should take over from that point.

  • #4

jpmkm

That Ain't Mayo On My Lip...
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Oct 30, 2001
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Originally posted by smokinAMD
No!
Agreed. There will be some color ink left in the color cartridge. If you put black in then it will mix and probably look like shit. Also, there really isn't any way to tell your printer to use the color cartridge as black.

edit: I take that back. If you just write up your labels in one of the colors(cyan, blue, magenta) then it should print out of the color cartidge okay.

  • #5
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Nov 12, 2000
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yes it will work. Just fill up either the Cyan,magenta, or yellow with black. print a few pages of soild color to get the colored ink flushed out. Then black should start flowing.

Note: I have 2 canon printers. The normal one uses pigment based permanent ink for black. If you put that in the color it might clog up the jets because usually all the colored inks are dye(water) based. In my photo printer is 6color and all inks are dye(water) based so if i interchanged colors the printer would be ok.

You can try putting black ink into the colors. If you kill a color, hey you got 2 left to try :D

Btw: usually if you buy the cheap crap off ebay it will be dye based ink. Its cheaper to make. Many recent 4color printers now have pigment ink as black. If you do put black into the colors then make sure its dye based black and not pigment.

I found out the hard way when the black color in the printhead went bad after a few months because i used dye based ink when i was supposed to use pigmented.

Ahh well, printers are cheap now anyways. Its the ink and cartridges that kill us....Refills all the way!!! :D

  • #6
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Feb 14, 2003
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Originally posted by jpmkm
Agreed. There will be some color ink left in the color cartridge. If you put black in then it will mix and probably look like shit. Also, there really isn't any way to tell your printer to use the color cartridge as black.

edit: I take that back. If you just write up your labels in one of the colors(cyan, blue, magenta) then it should print out of the color cartidge okay.


If there is only a color cartridge installed, the printer mixes all the colors to make black. If black ink mixed up with the colors that mix to make black, why would it look bad?

I would just try it out, but if somebody gives me a good reason why this wouldn't work I don't want to ruin my color cartridge, I might refill it with color. (although I rarely print anything in color and anything printed in color from this printer looks like crap)

  • #7

jpmkm

That Ain't Mayo On My Lip...
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Well I really can't think of any reason it wouldn't work. But if you have it print using the color cartidge as a black cartridge then you will use three times as much ink, unless you only fill up one of the colors, but then you would be refilling pretty often.
  • #8
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Originally posted by Jeff
Btw: usually if you buy the cheap crap off ebay it will be dye based ink. Its cheaper to make. Many recent 4color printers now have pigment ink as black. If you do put black into the colors then make sure its dye based black and not pigment.

By "4 color printers" do you mean those that have 4 seperate color tanks? I have no idea if the ink I have is dye or pigment, although it was the cheapest one they had at Fry's. What's this about making your own? :)

  • #9
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Sep 5, 2001
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1,163
Have fun buying a new printer. This looks like an idiot's venture doomed to failure.

Although it's possible to refil cartridges of any sort, it's also likely that the cheap-o ink this is done with will either ruin the cartridge, or possibly the printer itself. With any luck you should eventually end up with a uselessly gummed up piece of garbage that once was a printer. The idea of filling up the wrong (color) cartridge with black sounds like a real stroke of genuis:rolleyes: .

Go for it. We'll check back when you need recommendations for a new, cheap printer.

  • #10
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  • #11
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Nov 15, 2003
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Then I suggest you do it while I laugh.

Some printers will try to print black with the color carts if that's all it has. You can try that. However, some printers do use different formulations for black that won't work in the color cartridges, so you might want to check that. Additionally, if the printer doesn't try to combine the color cartridges (which would give you a lot of extra black on the paper and pretty blotchy text), you'd have to change the printer drivers to trick it in to just using one color for example. I dunno what kinda programming that might involve.

I'd just buy another printer like you've got if you're not going to replace the cartridge. You can try it, but i bet it'll ruin the printer.

  • #12
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Apr 12, 2001
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Originally posted by emorphien
Then I suggest you do it while I laugh.

Some printers will try to print black with the color carts if that's all it has. You can try that. However, some printers do use different formulations for black that won't work in the color cartridges, so you might want to check that. Additionally, if the printer doesn't try to combine the color cartridges (which would give you a lot of extra black on the paper and pretty blotchy text), you'd have to change the printer drivers to trick it in to just using one color for example. I dunno what kinda programming that might involve.

I'd just buy another printer like you've got if you're not going to replace the cartridge. You can try it, but i bet it'll ruin the printer.


As was pointed out upthread:
1) Color the text with (whatever color he replaces). No magic, disassembling or firmware hacks needed.
2) We agree that he might destroy an ink cartridge. Now tell me how this would destroy the printer.

I'm not all that optimistic, though, but hey, you never learn if you don't try.

And I'd suggest getting a slightly more expensive printer next time, a reasonable laser will have lower per-page costs after not too long.

  • #13
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Feb 14, 2003
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Originally posted by HHunt
2) We agree that he might destroy an ink cartridge. Now tell me how this would destroy the printer.

Exactly. It will have absolutely nothing to do with the printer itself. And like I already said, most people throw away the cartridges after 1 use without even attempting to refill. If I ruin the cartridge, so what? It's worth a try isn't it? I suppose you're against overclocking too, because there's a chance it might break something? :rolleyes:
  • #14
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May 31, 2003
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IIRC, inkjets that use a >2 catridge system traditionally also have the print heads inside the printer, not on the catridge ala HP. So, the ink *does* go through parts in the printer that can be potentially borked by the wrong ink.
  • #15
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Sep 5, 2001
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Originally posted by HHunt

2) We agree that he might destroy an ink cartridge. Now tell me how this would destroy the printer.

There is a possibility that YES you can indeed damage the printer itself with the wrong type ink. It's not a certainty, but it has been known to happen. The wrong type ink, if used, can cake up in parts of the printer rendering the print quality ruined or the printer itself unable to print. IT CAN HAPPEN. Will it happen to you? Well with a $50 printer, who cares. Would it be wise to do it with a $500 printer, no that would be pretty stupid.
  • #16
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Apr 12, 2001
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Originally posted by Ravenrex
There is a possibility that YES you can indeed damage the printer itself with the wrong type ink. It's not a certainty, but it has been known to happen. The wrong type ink, if used, can cake up in parts of the printer rendering the print quality ruined or the printer itself unable to print. IT CAN HAPPEN. Will it happen to you? Well with a $50 printer, who cares. Would it be wise to do it with a $500 printer, no that would be pretty stupid.

Well, true enough. It should almost always be possible to clean this out, although I've seen it becoming rather permanent (using only original cartridges, even) on a Deskjet, once.

I also forgot the possibility of the nozzle being integrated into the printer, so you only exchange the ink tanks, but then the new ink would most likely be [/i]much[/i] cheaper.

Still, as all the printers using the gilette model of profits uses expensive, all-included cartridges, and very simple, dumb, printer-housings, it's unlikely to be an issue here.

So in short, yes, you are right, and no, it's not likely to be an issue here.

(Besides, a good, but expensive, printer probably has cheaper ink to begin with :D )

  • #17
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Oct 11, 2014
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Beyond presuming: I actually tried putting black ink in all three colors of the color cartridge. It works perfectly!
  • #18
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Dec 2, 2010
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Happy result.
Was going to suggest going to mono color Laser printer. More prints for less cost than cartridges.
But, doubtful less cost than refilling cartridges.
Depends on number of pages.
  • #19
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Apr 22, 2011
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Beyond presuming: I actually tried putting black ink in all three colors of the color cartridge. It works perfectly!

Seriously? This is a TEN FREAKING YEAR OLD post that you just necrobumped. Read the dates before posting people.
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Can I Put Black Ink in Color Cartridge Canon

Source: https://hardforum.com/threads/can-i-refill-my-color-ink-cartridge-with-black.732390/