How to Refill Your Printer Ink Cartidges for < $3 Each!

[K1JJ]

Most everyone uses printer ink cartridges, right?

I got tired of paying $30 each for my HP printer cartridges. I did
a search and ordered a kit for $19 which includes a bottle of ink
enuff for 10 refills and a syringe and cartridge holder/refiller.

Before I tried it on an empty cartridge, I axed some guys
on the air about it. They said it makes a mess, the cartridge will
leak, etc. Forget it. Everyone seemed to have given up on it.

Well, anyway, they were right... partially. The first try I made a mess
on the newspapers and almost gave up after the cartridge
continually leaked thru the ink jets.  But I found the secret....

The ink stays in the cartridge by back vacuum. It's
mandatory to pump it with the syringe, fill it all the way to the TOP
and have ink flow out of the jets. Then when it is sealed, a little
ink leaks out, but then the vacuum inside keeps it from leaking further.

The refilled cartridge works FB in the printer. Dark print with no smudges
or leaks. I guess they are good for maybe 6-10 refills, but I have
plenty of old ones. Just wash the old cartridge with warm water and
you will melt away the old dried up ink.

So now that I have the little refill kit, the ink is real cheap and
brings the price for refills down to maybe $1.50 or so. Depends
upon the size of the bottle you buy.

Do a Google search for your cartridge and "refill" and you will
see lots of vendors.

I just read an article in the WSJ where HP was bragging about  
their cartridge business being VERY profitable and they are POed
about the refilling going on... :lol:    I feel like I got the bastards
this time.

BTW, this was a black ink type. The color ones are just as easy
and you can top off only the color that runs out instead of throwing
it out.

Just wanted to pass along this info since it appears many have
given up and did not realize the trick to it.

Caw Mawn.

T

[W2VW]

You are a real ham Tom. #1 goal = do stuff for less money. BTW the laserjet stuff is even better.

[W3SLK]

Tom,
 In the 'old' days when I subcontracted work at NASA, The Tektronix 4691 & 4695(?) ink jet printers  used ink bladders/wells very similar to the modern day ink cartridge. Like you pointed out, the ink was held in place by virtue of the 'vacuum'. How it was dispersed was by way of the piezo electro/mechanical effect.  A voltage was induced on a crystal which in turn created a high pressure inside the ink chamber placing a 'drop' of ink equal to the resolution of that time (late 80's). The ink drop would fall on the paper which was attached to the platten by way of a vacuum. The exiting ink drop would draw the next drop into the chamber until the cycle repeats itself. The platten would spin at about 400~500 RPM and the proper position was determined by 3 Hall-effect sensors. These were all manually refilled with ink until the 4692/4696 printers came out with disposable cartridges. Other than the re-inking, they were very dependable printers for their day.

[KB2WIG]

I've been refilling my HP 56 carts for a while... there is a problem with the amount of times the carts may be refilled. I've only been able to refill 2x (factory load  + 2 more times). I think this is a software problem.. Anyway, thats a savings of $40.00  not to bad.
HP consumer rvice is non-existant ( in my opinion)
... I need the "kicker" the little plastic part that pushes the paper out... Call HP- the parts no longer available.. we will sell you a new printer "No" ...OK, w'll sell you a rebuilt printer.. " how can you sell me a rebuilt printer if the parts are no longer availoable?... DUH?? " Where do the parts to rebuild the printer come from?"   Duh ah overseas...((( Like the US??)....  PS.  his rebuilt price was $30.00 HIGHER than the HP website wanted

[W1RKW]

What is funny is you can buy a printer with ink cartridges for less than a new set of ink cartridges.  Though I have heard now the manufacturers have been getting wise to this and are now only supplying partially filled cartridges with their inexpensive printers.  Don't know how true that is.  Anyone know?

[Jim, W5JO]

Don't know about others, but HP always sold half filled cartridges with new printers.  Now you can opt to buy the printer with full or partial cartridges somewhere.  You can even purchase 1/2 filled cartridges.  Maybe HP losing enough business to refill companies they may start to cut the prices some.

[wa2zdy]

Refilling HP carts is a worry-free deal too.  The heads are on the carts.  Other printers have integral heads and the carts are separate.

So anyone thinking of refilling HP carts but worried about the drastic warning "may damage print heads" need not worry.  If by some quirk you should do that, the heads go out with the cart anyway.  So fill away!

[VA3ES - Piss-Weak Ed]

I've been refilling ink-jet carts for my HP 812C for the last five years.  The trick is to place pressure on the cartidge body (with a large "bulldog" clip) so that when you finally seal the cartridge, there is a vacuum inside.  I've only been ably to refill cartidges about 3-4 times maximum, before the cartridge stops printing alltogether.  Don't quite know what that is.  I have a collection of about  6 old  disused cartridges, so I'm good for a while!

The color cartridges seem to loose different colors at different times.  Sometomes the blue goes first, then, the yellow, etc.   On my '812C, refilling those is a bit more ambitious, and challenging.

[k4kyv]

On my old Canon printer, I used a refill kit that came with a small twist drill to manually pierce a hole in the plastic case.  Then you used the syringe to squirt ink into the tank, and the instructions said to re-use the cartridge label to reseal the hole.  I found that didn't work very well, but I had on hand a roll of duct tape that looked to be heavy gauge aluminium foil with some kind of adhesive backing.  That adhesive stuff stuck to the plastic better than the original cartridge label.  So I just cut a  little piece, about 1/4" X 1/4" to stop up the hole and it worked every time.

I always set the default on my printer to greyscale and "draft" quality to save ink and speed up printing.  99% of the stuff I print is b/w text anyway, so I basically don't waste ink printing such stuff as colored banner ads, and draft quality is usually perfectly ok.  Even so, the other 3 tanks seems to run dry as often as or more often than, black.  Anyone know why this happens?  I have noticed the same thing with two different printers.  Is the "black" text actually composed of a combination of black with the other inks?  Or does the "clean" routine at printer warm-up waste that much ink?  I wonder if this isn't built into the software to make sure you have to buy ink at frequent intervals.

I have often wondered what would happen with a printer you used only for b/w text, if you filled all four cartridges with black ink.  Would the printer still work, or would it recognise the wrong kind of ink and refuse to print and give an error message instead?