Creating a dedicated mono printer from R2880

[bluphoto]

<p>Hi there,<br /> I have an R2880 which I use completely and solely for fine art mono printing. I have a continuous ink system which is completely EMPTY in all but the three grey/black tanks. The empty cartridges and ink galleries normally used for color are flushed with isopropyl alcohol and allowed to dry.<br /> Of course the major PITA with the 2880 is the lack of support for both MATT and PHOTO blacks at the same time. What kills me is that to switch between blacks on a printer fitted with a CIS is like performing major heart surgery!</p>

<p>So I go thinking, why can't I use one of the other "unused slots" in the printer to house the photo black, as well has keeping the matt black where it is supposed to be. Lets say I fill the "light cyan" cartridge with photo black, for example.<br /> Now isn't the point of printer profiling to customise the ink delivery depending on the type of paper / ink combination used? Is there any way I could build my own profile which would take photo black from the light cyan cartridge instead of matt black from the "normal" location?</p>

<p>I get the feeling this COULD be done and boy would it be a huge boost to my productivity and a whole lot less stress while printing, but where to start?</p>

<p>any suggestions? (PS - please no suggestions of a printer upgrade... I'm not a professional, but an amateur looking for an easier life!)</p>

<p>Guy</p>

[JDMvW]

<blockquote>

<p>looking for an easier life</p>

</blockquote>

<p>The "easier life" path does not lie down the direction of hacking an existing printer to some new way of operating, I think.<br /> The <em>concept</em> may seem easy, but in this case neither the theory nor practice is likely to be.</p>

<p>Perhaps the answer would lie in the image, rather than the printer.</p>

<p>Substitute one color ink (say magenta) into whatever black and then make the parts of the image you want to print in that "black" into magenta?</p>

<p><br /> Just musing... Have no idea how this could be done efficiently in practice....</p>

[michael_elenko]

<p>QuadToneRip should be your solution. <br>

http://www.quadtonerip.com/html/QTRrequire.html</p>

<p>ME</p>

[digitaldog]

<blockquote>

<p>The "easier life" path does not lie down the direction of hacking an existing printer to some new way of operating, I think.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>I so agree! </p>

[lolver]

<p>If you check out the Quadtone link above you'll see mention of Piezography K7, a set of all-monochrome inks. QTR controls the printer and you get a 'total ink solution' for monochrome. In theory anyway.</p>

[steve_mareno1]

<p>I'm sure that you could do it. I'm not so sure that you'd want to do it. Might be a ton of trial proofing. I once had Quadtone RIP on an Epson printer and iIt was very easy to use. Just get things started right and let it take care of everything. I was using it w/ the standard Epson inks and the image quality was great, but I preferred my BO prints w/ MIS Eboni black ink.</p>