How is ink used for various purposes other than printing?

Ink may be used for purposes other than printing. Ink is not only used for printing, but also for cleaning the print head to maintain the optimal printing quality.

The printer has the function to automatically clean the ink jet nozzles to prevent clogging. In the cleaning procedure, ink is pumped out from the nozzles. Used ink for nozzle cleaning is limited to a small amount.
 

Does black-and-white printing use color ink?

Black-and-white printing may use ink other than black ink depending on the type of printing paper or the settings of the printer driver. So, color ink is consumed even when printing in black-and-white.
 

Why does the printer have two black ink tanks?

There are two kinds of black ink in the printer: dye ink (BK) and pigment ink (PGBK).

The dye ink is used mainly for printing photos, illustration, etc., and the pigment ink is used for text-based documents. Each has different purposes so that even if one runs out, another will not be used instead. If either of them runs out, the ink tank replacement is required.

These two inks are automatically used depending on the type of printing paper or the settings of the printer driver. You cannot change the usage of these inks yourself.
 

The ink lamp indicates when ink is running low

The inside of the ink tank consists of (A) the part where ink is preserved and (B) the sponge with absorbed ink.

When the ink (A) runs out, the ink lamp flashes slowly to indicate that the ink is running low.

Then, when the ink (B) runs out, the ink lamp flashes fast to indicate that the ink tank needs to be replaced with a new one.