Refilling Ink Cartridges

[kazzer]

Has anyone ever had any success refilling their printer ink cartridges?
I've tried twice, once with a Hewlett Packard and also with a Lexmark. On both occassions, the cartridge seemed to refill ok, but when I tried to print nothing came out! And I followed the instructions perfectly.

Has anyone got any tips?

[Tommyknocker]

I wish I could help you with your brands, but I own a Canon. I refill my cartridges all the time.

[kazzer]

Do you ever have any problems?...maybe I'm doing something wrong

[Tommyknocker]

No, it was a little messy when I first started doing it. But the cartridges themselves are on their third or fourth refill (I forget which), and they still work.

[redwudz]

Make sure the ink nozzels aren't dried out and clogged. Usually after a refill they may leak a little, so don't put them in a printer right away. There are quite a few methods of refill, but if you get the ink in and it doesn't work, there is either air bubbles or clogged nozzels most of the time. You can sometimes unclog nozzels by sitting the empty cartridge in a bowl of warm water for a while. Some kits give you a little squeeze bulb to help the priming. Wear rubber gloves and stay close to a sink because it can sometimes be messy. I wouldn't refill cartridges on a $500 printer, but for the cheaper ones, it's OK.

[The village idiot]

WARNING! Not all ink is compatible with all other ink! Sometimes the slightly different formula turns the mix into a sludge! And don't just take the replacement suppliers word for it. Try mixing some new ink and stock ink together and see if they mix well or if they form a sludge. If they mix properly, then you should be OK, if not I think you can figure out for yourselves. That's all I can add for all printers.

If you are using an Epson printer, I can say that the Generations pigment inks from http://www.mediastreet.com work just fine if you follow their instructions. The dye inks should be fine too based on their reputation and concern for compatibility. They are the manufacturer of my choice for Epson printers! And they are the only inks that I use in my Epson printers. Since I don't own anyone else's printer (except that POS Lexmark), I can't speak for those models.

[rallynavvie]

I wish I could refill the ink in my HP 5000PS, twould save me loads of cash

I don't really believe in refilling ink cartridges. With seperate cartridges for colors these days it isn't worth ruining the printheads to save $5. Of course you can just buy an inkjet printer for $50 now. Laser printers are where it's at

[kazzer]

Yeah but colour laser printers are SO EXPENSIVE!

Anyway, in my opinion its well worth refilling cartridges if you can get it to work. Here in Ireland a black cartridge (20ml) might cost between €30 - €40, whereas you can buy 60ml of black ink for under €20!

[adam]

You can save a hell of alot more than $5 refilling your ink. I have a Compaq printer. I bought it because it fit my needs and the ink cartridges were relatively inexpensive. Well later that year Compaq sold its printer line to Lexmark, and now I have to buy their ink, which as far as I can tell is just about the most expensive ink there is. I pay about close to $60 for one color cartridge and I can get two blacks for $50.

I paid $30 online for a set of color ink which gives me about 40 refills. I'm literally saving thousands of dollars here. I've gone through about 5 refills and its hardly made a dent in my ink bottles. The quality is at least as good as the store bought cartridges and I haven't had any problems so far.

I will never go back to buying cartridges again.

[tenders]

my ex had a lexmark and i refilled it a few times with no problem,but then i guess the print head wore out,cause it would not work anymore.
i currently have a cannon,but the actual cartriges are just about the same price as the refill kit......so currently i just don't bother

[Tommyknocker]

It is true that a refill kit sometimes cost as much as a cartridge, but you use the refill kit lots of times, and the cartridge only once. I am with Adam on this one: I don't think I will ever go back to buying cartridges again.

[RabidDog]

What I hate is they "renew" the printer ranges about every twelve months and then stop producing carts.. so there is no alternative to refilling sometimes.. except getting a new printer... which again can be cheaper than buying a black and colour cartridge! its all madness bring back dot matrix

[tenders]

adam must have some awefully big ink bottles the ones around here,that i have seen,will give you 1 refill,then the next will only be about 3/4. plus...they sell black and color seperatly instead of an all in one sort of thing...which sucks

[Roundabout]

I've been refilling my Canon S520 for about a year now with the Stratitec refill kit from Sam's Club. It comes with (3) 60 ml bottles of black, one each of the three colors (60 ml each) and the new kits come with the photo colors included for no extra charge. I paid about $18.00 for the kit, which includes the syringe, gloves and plugs for the holes you make in the carts. I have no complaints about this kit, I think it's a terrific deal for the price. The Canon makes it easy, having the colors in separate cartridges, too - when the cart goes low, and the warning pops up on the screen, I refill in a couple of minutes and I'm back to printing. I would not even consider paying for new carts every time. The carts may have a limited lifespan, but so far it's working just fine.

[The village idiot]

adam must have some awefully big ink bottles the ones around here,that i have seen,will give you 1 refill,then the next will only be about 3/4. plus...they sell black and color seperatly instead of an all in one sort of thing...which sucks

I can buy my ink in gallon bottles (about 5 liters) any color I wish, or 5 black, 3 yellow, 76 magenta, etc. They also have some Canon safe dye inks too. Smallest bottles are 4 ounces (125ml). A four color set of 4 ounce each dye inks runs about $40USD (that's 16 ounces total).

[The village idiot]

Oops, (6) 4 ounce bottles for Canon is $44USD
http://www.mediastreet.com/cgi-bin/tame/mediastreet/ink_bottles.tam?&case=canon#order

And coming soon for Lexmark too

For Epsons:

G6-BG-6PK
Generations G-Chrome Set of 6 Colors: CcMmYK each filled in a 1 Gallon bottle (with Photo Black)
$2930.16

or $488 each gallon
http://www.mediastreet.com/cgi-bin/tame/mediastreet/g6b.tam?uu=2154650
This is currently one of the best inks on the market, at least in my opinion. Works great on glossy and semi-gloss, as well as all the matte papers (except some of the Kodak matte papers).

[rallynavvie]

I picked up my Textronix Phaser 780 on eBay for $800 and about $50 shipping and it was almost new (less than 500 pages output). It works better than any inkjet I've ever had (other than the HP 5000) and the toner cartridges last longer than... well I haven't changed one yet and I've got thousands of pages on it. The only problem with the 780 is that all cartridges are equal in size so you tend to run low on black toner faster. Just shop around on eBay and you'll find a good deal on a color laser printer ever so often. The other advantage of some of those printers is that they have network capabilities built in so no need for an adapter. I heard some of the latest inkjets are doing this as well? How much does a good inkjet that will print up to 12x18" paper cost?

Personally I'd love to own a Xerox DocuColor 12. Now that would be an expensive color laser printer

[The village idiot]

12x18 is about $400+ or $200 used if you are lucky. 24 inch output can be had for as little as $1300 or new for $2200+. 44 inch output for $2500+ used or $4500+ new. All from Epson.

[EricB]

kazzer,

Did you ever get yours to work? I had problems with my Lexmark Z55 recently and the key seemed to be priming. My kit came with a cartridge holder and a syringe. After filling all three chambers, you draw out a small amount through the head with the syringe. The holder forms the seal that allows you to pull the ink through. Once I primed it, the cartridge worked fine.

[kazzer]

Hi Eric,

I still cant get the Lexmark working. I just gave up after countless priming cycles. The best quality I can get now is like very poor draft quality - just not good enough. I also tried drilling the hole through the bottom of the cartridge.

After filling all three chambers, you draw out a small amount through the head with the syringe. The holder forms the seal that allows you to pull the ink through

Could you explain this again Eric?

Thanks.

[EricB]

I bought my kit from www.4injets.com. If you look at the picture here : http://www.4inkjets.com/inkrefkitfor3.html you'll see they give you a clip which at the end of refilling, you use to hold the cartridge while you draw some ink out the bottom using a syringe. I found multiple prime cycles wouldn't help but this process corrected the cartridge right away.