Why does my imageCLASS MF654Cdw use color cartridges when printing in grayscale?

[ddinville16]

I have a Canon ImageClass MF654Cdw color laser printer. I am happy with the quality and no complaints other than the amount of toner it's using up. I don't feel as though I'm getting the yield as advertised. I print planners to sell and use this printer for the interior pages. The planner is designed using Black as the only color throughout all of the pages, however, I just recently replaced all of my cartridges, including the color cartridges. After printing only 10 planners it is telling me that the Magenta, Cyan, and Yellow cartridges are at the end of their life.

Why would the printer be using these colors if the file is black only and I'm also selecting print in grayscale? This is impacting my operating expenses as it costs me over $300 to replace cartridges. If there is something in the settings I am doing wrong, please help! Otherwise, I am going to have to replace this nice printer for something more economic. 

[shadowsports]

Greetings,

Simply put.  White is the absence of color.  Black is the presence of all colors.  Grey is mixture of other colors, if black isn't used.  Google Primary and Tertiary colors.

[ddinville16]

Sorry, I don't find this response helpful. I'm not using Grey in the file, so why would it need to use a mixture of all colors? I am using Black. 

[rs-eos]

What software are you using to print?

Typical print workflows use CMYK colors (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black).  This is a subtractive model.

Also, even though your artwork may appear to only have black content, any antialiasing would involve various shades of gray. To get those shades, the printer would use certain equal amounts of C, M and Y inks.

If your software you’re printing from supports it, you could look at using halftone. Which if using only black ink, could lead to the appearance of grays.

[ddinville16]

I sometimes print directly from Adobe InDesign or from a PDF exported from InDesign. Ok, I guess I didn't understand that is how colored printers work. Do you know of a way to force the printer to print in monochrome? I bought a color laser printer so I can print some other marketing flyers, but 90% of the time I am trying to print Black only (monochrome).

[normadel]

Don't quite know what you are saying, but here is how color printing works, from my education at the Rochester Institute of Technology School of Printing 50 years ago. Nothing has changed since then:

Printing full color, whether on a printing press, a laser printer or an inkjet printer, involves superimposing the three additive primary colors: Cyan, Magenta and Yellow. Light theory says If they are solids, the result should be black. If they vary in brightness the result is an infinite number of colors, or neutral gray if they are of equal intensity. The problem is that the pigments usable for printing inks (and toner) are not pure absorbers of what they should be absorbing. So you can't get neutral black or grays with C-M-Y alone. Black has to be added to the mix to make up for what the colors don't absorb. 

In photography,  color film and photographic paper dyes ARE perfect absorbers, so these materials don't need a black layer. A color transparency or print only has Cyan, Magenta and Yellow layers. 

[shadowsports · Accepted solution]

Check here and see if this helps at all.

<Printer> - Canon - imageCLASS MF656Cdw / MF654Cdw / MF653Cdw / MF652Cw - User's Guide (Product Manu... <Gray Compensation>

[ddinville16]

Thank you! I was able to find this setting and adjust. I will give this a whirl. 

[charlie-plesums]

The way Canon estimates the amount of Toner left in each cartridge is by doing a theoretical average.  My Brother In Law found that he could say "keep printing even though quality not guaranteed" and the printer continued for more than a year before the toner started to actually fade. 

I have replaced my heavily used black cartridge, but have been hit with warnings to replace my color cartridges.  I chose to ignore the warnings and have been going fine.