Now how do I get it to print in greyscale? PHOTO: ODT FILES After recent experiences, it’s time for a rant on consumer matters — inkjet printers first. By the way, did you know why printers are like cats? They do exactly what they want, when they want, and only if you don’t look directly at them. The financial model is a shocker. You pay next to nothing for the printer and through the nose and mouth for proprietary cartridges. Civis’ attempt to avoid the worst of this was only partly successful. The family bought a significantly more expensive printer with larger cartridges, hoping to escape the ink trap. Printer companies, of course, always find a way to win. In time, the printer said yellow was running low despite ‘‘monochrome’’ being used predominantly. Never mind, it still worked, and printers are infamous for demanding replacements while plenty of ink remains. Shortly after, however, the printer refused to operate. With frustration, and help from AI, we discovered the low yellow was empty, despite not using ‘‘colour’’ at all. Brother printers stop completely when any colour runs dry, even for black-and-white documents. Those ‘‘monochrome’’ settings tricked us. They don’t mean ‘‘black ink only’’, but rather ‘‘produce a black-looking page’’. The printer may still mix in colour ink to stabilise the print head. What you must find is the ‘‘greyscale’’ setting. That is the only mode that uses just the black cartridge. Sometimes that is easier said than done. One printing panel offers options like double-siding or printing from the back to the front, but you must burrow into ‘‘advanced’’ settings to remove defaults and locate greyscale. Brother printers use a shared print head for all colours. If one runs dry, air can enter and cause damage. So the printer monitors all cartridges, blocks printing when any are empty, uses colour ink during maintenance cycles, and sometimes mixes colour into ‘‘black’’ to keep the head balanced. Consumer New Zealand is scathing about making money primarily through ink. And its introductory paragraph to an inkjet article summed up annoyance with printers generally. ‘‘Paper jams right in the middle of printing a big document. Slow print speeds when you’re racing to grab your printout and go. Error messages that take a chunk of your day to sort out. Printers are meant to make our lives easier, but somehow can press all our buttons while most of theirs remain a mystery to us.’’ It was time to end ignorance about operating inkjets efficiently. The one change that cuts colour use dramatically is ‘‘greyscale’’ instead of monochrome or colour. It can also help to print from a black-and-white PDF. Some apps, especially Word and web browsers, embed tiny colour elements you can’t see. Although Civis isn’t confident about enacting the next piece of advice, here it is: turn off ‘‘colour management’’ features. Disable anything labelled ‘‘enhance’’, ‘‘vivid’’ or ‘‘colour correction’’. These can use colour even in black-looking documents. Ironically, keeping colour cartridges topped up is said to save ink. When they are low, the printer runs extra maintenance cycles. You should also print regularly. If the printer sits idle for weeks, it runs a heavy cleaning cycle using all colours. Draft or fast mode makes sense for printing recipes and emails. Again, though, why something so basic is under ‘‘advanced’’ settings is a mystery. You should also, to Civis’ surprise, leave the printer on at the wall. Brother printers do a mini-cleaning cycle every time they wake from a cold start. The family is now better equipped not to waste so much ink. Nevertheless, it irks that so many cartridges are so expensive and cannot be refilled. Although Civis is now warmed up, planned rants about supermarket shrinkflation and redeeming Air New Zealand Airpoints will have to wait for another column. civis@odt.co.nz
