Peripherals: Poll: How do you refill your printer ink/toner?
- 10/26/07 10:29 AM
Time is money!
by bambootoy - 10/26/07 7:43 PM In reply to: Poll: How do you refill your printer ink/toner? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I pass a big-box computer store on my way to work... In, grab, checkout, and back onto the freeway... No time wasted searching for 'a deal', so more time to do everything else I want to (or have to) do. (Among these is MAKING money!) Shopping around for a better price TAKES TIME, and I don't have time to waste.
printer ink cartridges
by blakesters - 10/26/07 7:43 PM In reply to: Poll: How do you refill your printer ink/toner? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I live in Marietta,Ga i take mine to walgreens drug store and get them refilled ten dollars for black and fifthteen for color cartridges
Compatible cartridges
by bobmc32 - 10/26/07 8:30 PM In reply to: printer ink cartridges by blakestersI have a Canon i560 which has four separate carts. I love this printer and order generic compatibles from Inksell.com or voltexx.com and the carts are quite reasonable and have never failed me in maybe two years of using. Which provider you choose would depend upon your printer, your location, and your preferences.
How do you fill your printer ink
by JeandeStClaire - 10/26/07 8:20 PM In reply to: Poll: How do you refill your printer ink/toner? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I have an Epsom R210 inkjet printer for which I was using genuine ink cartriges until money became a problem and so swapped to non-genuine cartriges. Although the colour was not as good the printer operated ok until I was confronted with the problem of waste ink pads needing replacement. Epsom told me that this problem occured when using non-genuine cartriges because the print heads needed to be cleaned more regularly and suggested that a new printer would be cheaper than repair. Being unable to afford either option I set off for an alternate course of action which led me to a program that allows the printer settings to be reset and that overcame the need for a new printer. I do not know if using genuine ink at all times would have resulted in the same problem.
The printer cannot know what kind of ink is in it
by PolymorphDigital - 10/27/07 11:25 AM In reply to: How do you fill your printer ink by JeandeStClaire> Although the colour was not as good the printer operated ok
> until I was confronted with the problem of waste ink pads
> needing replacement. Epsom told me that this problem occured
> when using non-genuine cartriges because the print heads needed
> to be cleaned more regularly and suggested that a new printer
> would be cheaper than repair.
Wow, they'll say anything to keep you buying their ink. The printer has no way of telling what kind of ink is in it, so why would it be running head cleanings more often?
The truth is that many people bump into the problem of "waste ink pad full" error. The printer cannot measure this, it only guesses based on pages printed, cartridges replaced, and cleanings run. It is set to be very conservative.
I'd caution you to be careful about blithely resetting the waste ink counter, though, as without actually looking at the waste ink pad, you don't know how full it really is. Lots of ink over a long time will dry, lots of ink in a short time can overflow and mess up your table and carpets.
Been re-filling my own cartridges for years
by bluesky12102 - 10/26/07 8:31 PM In reply to: Poll: How do you refill your printer ink/toner? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I have 2 Epson printers, different types using different ink. I've been refilling them myself with bulk ink from AtlanticInkjet.com for a couple of years now and have no problems and have saved a bundle. The quality of printed documents is excellent and photos is pretty good. For special photos I just use local providers for 19 cents a pic.... what a deal. OEM ink is just a big scam........ they gouge consumers cause consumers let them. If everyone boycotted them for a few months I bet their prices would come down dramatically. :-}
Toner refill
by vandecar - 10/26/07 9:03 PM In reply to: Poll: How do you refill your printer ink/toner? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I have a Samsung ML-2010 B&W laser printer. Since a new cartridge cost as much as a new printer, I have been refilling the cartridge with toner from Recycled Image. Easy to do and takes about 10 to 15 minutes. The toner seems to last about as long as the orginal.
Refilling print cartridges
by jdbowen - 10/26/07 9:03 PM In reply to: Poll: How do you refill your printer ink/toner? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I have been buying ink in bulk and refilling cartridges for my canon, HP, and Epson ink jet printers since day one (over 10 years). I find the Canon cartridges the easiest to fill. I see no different in print quality on color photos though I am careful to buy ink from reputable bulk ink suppliers. I used to buy my refill ink at Costco because it was more convenient than from the mail order bulk ink suppliers but Costco stopped carrying the bulk ink replacement kits about 6 months ago. The Canon 3e cartridges are designed to be refilled though they don't tell you. The secret is retaining the covers that come with the cartridges and reattach them to the cartridges when you remove them and put a piece of tape around them to the sides of the cartridge to hold the cover. Do not let the cartridges dry out. On the top of the liquid ink reservoir of the cartridge is a plastic ball under the cover tape. Take a small phillips screw driver and pop that ball down into the reservoir. It will pop nicely if you rest the the bottom on a smooth surface. Once you have popped the ball you can now fill the resevoir slowly at first as you tilt it so that the absorbant material in the opposite chamber can absorb the ink, then continue to fill the ink reservoir about two thrids full. Remove the refill ink noozle and wipe the top of the hole so it is dry and place a piece of adhesive tape over the hole and onto the sides. Make sure you do this so that hole is sealed and you can then replace the filled cartridge in the printer. i generally go into Print maintenance and do if ink maintenance cycle so as to purge any air bubbles or I set it in the printer when I am going to leave it for the night. I find that leaving it overnight settles any air bubbles that may have gotten into the system. This sure beats the high prices of manufacturer filled cartridges. it is also good to have a two sets of cartridges so that you can alternate them as you replace and refill them.
Off-brand cartridges
by GFW - 10/26/07 9:19 PM In reply to: Poll: How do you refill your printer ink/toner? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I won't say that all off-brand cartridges work well, but I have used ones for Epson from InkResq and from Shop4Tech with good results. Cost varies but runs around $5 per cartridge, compared to $30 from Staples, etc.
Note that you will likely get the best color match by using the manufacturer's ink. You may also find that some cartridges run out a bit sooner, some may run longer. I have found this to be inconsistent.
Some of the replacements have been made in China; some in Germany
How do you refill your printer /toner
by bazbean - 10/26/07 9:46 PM In reply to: Poll: How do you refill your printer ink/toner? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
There is a franchise , Cartridge World , in Australia , that refills just about any inkjet cartidge. I have used them for about 5 years to refill for my Canon printers and have found the results to be very good and much more economical than replacing with real ones.
I have tried generic , cheap replacements and found that they are generally not up to speed.
This is how I do it
by 9dano5 - 10/26/07 9:46 PM In reply to: Poll: How do you refill your printer ink/toner? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I have learned to fill my own cartridges over the years,simply out of necessity.I found that the older models from Canon,like BJC4400 and BJC5100 are the easiest and they are identical.They use tanks,which can be refilled with and eyedropper instead of syringe.I buy ink in bulk and it probably costs me around 50 bucks a year and i do a fair amount of picture printing.I have tried Epson the Stylus42UX where i had to buy an electronic Gizmo with pins to match the cartridge.That would tell the PC,that now,this cartridge is full.
NEVER - Use Substitute Cartridge Refills
by Swervyn Mervyn - 10/26/07 9:47 PM In reply to: Poll: How do you refill your printer ink/toner? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Over the past three years I have had three inkjet printers All have been Canon who are arguably judged to be the best in this category. With the first one (Pixma-IP2000) , after a while, I used a local replacement company (Ink On The Run) to refill my 6 cartridges.
Black PCI - B
Yellow PCI - Y
Magenta PCI - M
Photo Magenta PCI - PM
Cyanide PCI - C
Photo Cyanide PCI - PC
On printing, the colors ran together, even on top quality printing paper and the result was disaterous. I decided to continue use of the cartridges and just print day-to-day mundane things. Within a week, the printer's inkjets became totally blocked up and too it to a Canon repair business. As the printer was a week out of warranty, I was told the cost of repairs was greater than the price of a new printer. I was also warned about using inferior products and that by using them, would invalidate any warranty as well.
I gave the owner of "Ink On The Run" a real spray and he said there was nothing at all wrong with his product, but just an old machine. Right!
I then purchased a new Canon Pixma-IP4000D printer. The cartridges ran out after about 8 weeks and had to replace most of them. I wondered about using compatible replacement cartridges again and went to another business well advertised on television, Cartridgeworld. On my first print, the colors once again ran together like you wouldnt believe. I then decided to experiment and continued use to see if the inkjets wouls again clog up. Within 3 weeks of use, the inkjets were again blocked up on a new machine only 11 weeks old. This as all but one of my original cartridges still had some ink left in them, I then put them back in, purchased a new Black cartridge, inserted it and went back to another authorized repair dealer. I produced my warranty and the printer was replaced free of charge as the amount of damage done in such a short time was considerable. When they phoned me, they were out of that model and I was given a brand new Pixma IP6000D printer. This printer has serviced me wonderfully for the past 18 months.
I would NEVER consider buying cheaper, half-price replacement cartridges ever again. I know that new company manufactured cartridges are much more expensive, but at least they give a more than satisfactory result. Also, should there be a maintenance problem, then it will be covered under the warranty conditions (providing you don't use incompatible cartidges).
I am an IT professional and I know what I am talking about. Hopefully, all of you wonderful readers out there will heed my advice. If you don't, then proceed and prepare yourself for the consequences.
Regards
Swervyn Mervyn
Poison in your printer?
by PolymorphDigital - 10/27/07 1:26 PM In reply to: NEVER - Use Substitute Cartridge Refills by Swervyn Mervyn> Cyanide PCI - C
> Photo Cyanide PCI - PC
Aha, there is your problem, you've been putting poison in your computer! ;')
Seriously, it sounds like you had a couple of bad experiences. Success of refilling is subject to the skill of the person refilling. It is also subject to things like pet hair getting caught between the cartridge and print head, and a lot of other things. Typically the ink refillers have 3 dozen or so slightly different formulations of ink. Some are dye vs pigment, but many are just slight differences in shade to match the manufacturer's ink. However, there may be differences in viscosity and surface tension that could cause ink to run out of the heads.
Steve Greenfield, aka Alien Steve
CIS System
by RhondaBrwn - 10/26/07 10:03 PM In reply to: Poll: How do you refill your printer ink/toner? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I have CIS (Continuous Ink Supply) systems installed on both of my Epson Photo Stylus printers. A CIS uses large external tanks for the ink and has a feeder tube that runs into your printer and feeds a set of special cartridges with resetting chips installed. When the printer thinks the ink has run out, the cartridges automatically reset.
The ink is bought in bulk and I roughly estimate that it now costs me about a penny for an 8X10 photo print (vs 67 cents using regular ink cartridges from Epson bought at a discount).
I'm a school teacher and I print out my student's PowerPoint projects for display and also have personal projects that result in hundreds of pages of color prints per month. I won't argue that the CIS inks are as good as the name brand cartridges, but I really can't tell the difference. Will the prints fade over the years? Maybe, but I haven't noticed any deterioration in pictures printed over the past two years with generic inks.
CIS systems seem to be quite a "secret" and I'm really surprised that more people don't have them. It is such a pleasure to be able to print anything I want without worrying about how much ink I have left in a cartridge! Installation is easy and refilling the tanks effortless.
Highly Recommended!
Refilling inkjet cartridges
by bazbean - 10/27/07 4:15 AM In reply to: CIS System by RhondaBrwnI have to say that my experience in Australia with refilled cartridges has been great- the ink quality is excellent and the results are equal to the original cartridges. I also have to reinforce that some ( not all ) of the replacement cartridges offered and tried were not the best by a long shot.
i feel for you guys who have been ripped off by inferior products in this area.
Do you have Cartridge World in wherever you reside - I assume that the USA is the bulk of respondents.
TTFN
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