Peripherals: Poll: How do you refill your printer ink/toner?
- 10/26/07 10:29 AM
Canon, and supercheap
by Brianstech - 10/27/07 5:33 AM In reply to: Poll: How do you refill your printer ink/toner? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I've had a Canon S520 for over 3 years now that still impresses me. I buy ink carts in 10-packs for $20 on eBay, and have even refilled those with cheap discount store ink. The darn printer just keeps churning away! Sometimes I don't print for 6-9 months and it takes right off after a good cleaning.
I refuse to be raped on printing costs, especially after losing so much money to Lexmark.
Refilled Inkjet Cartridges
by 46thchief - 10/27/07 6:35 AM In reply to: Poll: How do you refill your printer ink/toner? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I use Cartridge Mart to refill my Cannon Inkjet Cartridges. I have had very good luck with them and the cost is much less than Cannon , or buying third party elsewhere.
Melbourne, Fl.
I use Inkjetsrus
by tbnorris - 10/27/07 10:40 AM In reply to: Poll: How do you refill your printer ink/toner? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I have been using this site to purchase cartridges for my Epson 740 Color Styles for years now and have not had one bad one yet. I get about 6 cartridges for the same price as one locally. I really like this site and its prices are a little lower than others. Thier URL is:
http://inkjetsrus.net/
Refill the cartridges
by flytdeck - 10/27/07 10:49 AM In reply to: Poll: How do you refill your printer ink/toner? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Island Inkjet has kiosks at our local malls here on the west coast of Canada. They have served me well through several printers over the years. The only inconvenience is the Canon chip which does not get reset. The refilled cartridge works fine, but there is no warning when the ink gets low. One just has to plug in the spare when the output starts to fade!
I use a combination of ways, Canon first:
by PolymorphDigital - 10/27/07 11:45 AM In reply to: Poll: How do you refill your printer ink/toner? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I have some Canon printers, older models like BJC 5100, BJC 6000, and have refurbished some other models. I used to use a BJC 600.
Some of these use the tiny cartridges where the color is 3 in one and separate black, and the ink is held in a felt block. For those, I've refilled by simply turning upside down and slowly dripping ink in. Works OK, but you must be very careful never to overfill. If ink starts dripping out the top while filling, toss the cartridge because the ink is now cross-contaminated. I got good at judging how full by how the ink absorption slowed as the felt sponges got saturated.
For the Canons with separate tanks, they use an ink compartment linked to a sponge. For my BJC 600, I bought 3rd party cartridges. The only problem I ran into was on one particular really cheap brand that didn't make a good seal and leaked. The printer was not harmed and I went back to the slightly less cheap brand.
For my BJC 6000, I bought only Canon OEM cartridges for quite a long time. It cost me $400 for the printer, and the huge tanks didn't cost that much for the amount of ink. I wasn't brave enough to risk the printer when it was my only photo printer (I have a digital photography business). Later I started finding the BJC 6000 in thrift stores, so I bought a bunch for backups. I also found lots of them with full tanks, probably the nozzles blocked up so people put new ink in and when that didn't work, gave them to a thrift store.
I started picking up Canon BJC 5100 printers (because they can print 11x17) and Canon Fax/Printers that use the 3 in 1 color cartridges.
I found that I was able to successfully clean about 90% of them to work 100%. I've now used 3rd party cartridges, really old OEM cartridges, and refilled with miscellaneous dye inks and all have worked fine.
A really cool feature of Canon printers that use separate cartridges for each color is that they actually measure the ink, unlike Epsons and HPs and Lexmarks etc. There is a little prism in the back of the tank, a light shines up inside and if the ink is low, some light begins to be reflected back.
There are also edible inks available, so you can print on special sugar paper or rice paper to be laid onto a cake or frosted cookies to make your own photo cake or photo cookies.
The caveats to Canon printers:
1. The rubber seal in the print head that seals to the cartridge wears out. This causes ink leakage and persistent "clogs" that may actually be air bubbles sucked in. Fortunately there are companies that sell replacement seals that are better that original.
2. The 3 in 1 color cartridge heads have an occasional fatal failure of the seal between the colors. This often shows as the yellow printing green (try a nozzle check) due to cyan leaking across.
3. Don't give up right away if you see cross contamination. I found more often it is caused by a build-up of gunk in the park pad, this causes ink to wick across the nozzles.
I use a combination of ways, Epson:
by PolymorphDigital - 10/27/07 12:02 PM In reply to: I use a combination of ways, Canon first: by PolymorphDigitalI have quite a few Epson printers. My first was an Epson 1520 bought from a thrift store, with dried out empty cartridges and badly clogged heads. I used a lot of patience and got it working 100% and subsequently installed a premade bulk ink system (aka CIS or Continuous Inking System). I found the bad reputation of the 1520 was sort of deserved, but figured out what exactly caused it and designed my own CIS for it. It works better than cartridges, because when you replace cartridges in an Epson the ink spike design forces a bubble of air into the foam. I've subsequently built my constant pressure CIS for several different Epson models.
I then bought or was given a lot of Epson printers so that I could learn the ins and outs of cleaning them. With what I know, I can rescue about 90% of them. The rest may have defective heads (google for "epson stuck nozzle") or may have otherwise had some clog that just won't clean and I'm not willing to put more time in them.
Epson 600, 800, 850, 890, 900, 1200, 1280, 1520, 3000, 5000, etc.
I've used OEM cartridges, but they cost -way- too much per page. I've used generic dye ink with great success. I've used pigmented ink with great success, with the caveat that they do tend to clog a bit more often but are worth it for the benefits, if you need them, of being waterproof (or at least highly resistant) and very fade resistant.
Any Epson that I am going to use for any length of time gets one of my CIS installed. It just doesn't make sense to me to pay 75 cents to a dollar per full page photo just for ink when I can pay 5 cents for the same. Less than a penny a page for printing letters.
Cleaning any printer can be a touchy process when you don't have experience doing it. Patience is a virtue. In my profile there's a link to my Tutorials, including print head cleaning.
I use a combination of ways, HP inkjet:
by PolymorphDigital - 10/27/07 12:10 PM In reply to: I use a combination of ways, Epson: by PolymorphDigitalI still have to build a CIS for HP printers. I know it can be done, because Encad wide format printers use modified HP print heads with a bulk ink system, and the HP wide format (older) 2x00cp and 3x00cp series use the HP 15/45 heads with a nozzle to refill the cartridges automatically. It's lack of time getting me...
I'm not willing to pay the extremely high price of OEM HP print head/catridges. So for now I buy HP cartridges at the thrift store, both OEM and refilled. Unlike Canon and Epson 3rd party cartridges, any of the integrated head and ink cartridge HP cartridge are always OEM heads that have just been cleaned and refilled.
I also refill my own cartridges. Some can be quite a task to refill and reset the proper internal (negative) pressure, or they'll leak all over. I won't go into that here, there are plenty of websites with good info on that.
Original cartridges refilled
by Swartswaan - 10/27/07 12:05 PM In reply to: Poll: How do you refill your printer ink/toner? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Thanks! I thought I was one of the wacky minority to refill. As I said, I use the original cartridges and refill them. The Canon i80 has single ink tanks and will take off like a shot after refilling and cleaning. The tanks and printheads are separate. The hp1310 series printer has separate tanks, but the printheads are incorporated into the unit. Once the ink has dried out, it is very difficult to get the cartridge going. However, HP warns you against this.
Then again, if you've put work into something you want a fair return. No beef there, but if you can get it at a better price with fairly good results, why not?
The esoteric exclusivity of the computer has also worn off very fast and well in the last few years. Electronic equipment, today, is not much more than a domestic commodity. You can use it much like a car - of which many motorists know not much anyway. Why should it be so expensive? The history of the computer is littered with companies going belly up for being too exclusive. If young Bill isn't careful he may well go the way of Big Blue. He actually took the computer out of that hegemony of expensive toys - no matter how expensive his software was. But that's another story.
buy off-brand ink/toner cartridges that are compatible
by sevenships - 10/27/07 4:22 PM In reply to: Poll: How do you refill your printer ink/toner? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I don't know if this is still availble. I bought online from:
1581 Sulphur Spring Road
Suite 113
Baltimore, MD 21227
Ship To
Voice: 443-568-0141
Fax: 443-568-0147
10.00IN1148 CANON S-200/S-300 BLACK INKJET 1.69 16.90
3.00IN1149 CANON S-200/S-300 COLOR INK 1.89 5.67
For my Canon Printer.They seem to use up more ink, but for the price of $1.69 and $1.89 couldn't go wrong.
I've tried the rest...now I stick with the best.
by jdmm - 10/27/07 9:40 PM In reply to: Poll: How do you refill your printer ink/toner? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Off brands didn't last long. Their cheaper inks dried up too quickly and often left streaky messes. Refills are only worth the bother if you have a non-HP printer and have problems finding cartridges. It just isn't worth the headaches to use anything less than the manufacturer's ink cartridges.
I roll my own until the cartriges stop working
by super-cal-a-frag-i-listic - 10/27/07 11:27 PM In reply to: Poll: How do you refill your printer ink/toner? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I do a lot of photo work and that takes a lot of ink! I have had experience with several printers over the last 15 years, but I have been refilling my own now for about half that time. I have both a Lexmark and a cheap little HP Deskjet. After a little hit or miss trial period, I found that I could pull a black cartridge from the HP and refill it in 10 minutes or less.
I pick-up refill inks at Walgreens and at Big Lots. 2 different brands and both pretty cheap. I can refill 5 or 6 times with the IPRINT brand wether color or black cartridge inks. The regular price is around $12 for the color. It figures out to be about $2.75 a cartridge for the color cartridge. The Walgreens inks cost more about $15 for the color and do less. Shop around. Be prepared to make a little mess the first few times you try this. But now I get by with a paper towel. And no mess. Be sure instructions are included for Your Printer Brand or Model.
I have found places on the Net where you can buy ink by the quart! Refill for pennies. I really don't need that much and I'm happy with the price of what I can get locally so I don't bother ordering any.
Look for the cost of new cartridges to nosedive with the new Kodak printers. Their new cartridges are at about half of every other manufacturer. I suspect they intend to buy the printer market. My daughter just purchased one at my recommendation. The 4 X 6 prints on photo paper are Excellent.
Robin of the Wichita Hood
I use refillable ink/toner cartridges
by bill1960uk - 10/28/07 1:16 AM In reply to: Poll: How do you refill your printer ink/toner? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I buy my ink cartridges from cartridge world at less than half the price HP cartridge. In fact to replace both cartridges in my printer with HP cartridges it cost more than the printer its self
cartridges on net
by darquara - 5/20/08 1:25 AM In reply to: I use refillable ink/toner cartridges by bill1960ukthat's the problem with original cartridges - too expensive to replace with originals 
that's why i use compatible cartridges.. my advice www.cartridges.net works fine for me 
Same qualify as the OEM products
by fasteddylee - 4/4/09 4:16 PM In reply to: cartridges on net by darquaraI agreed with all you here. The original ink and toner is too expensive to replace. As a result, I started to buy non-OEM products and refill kits from this site http://www.inkjetoffice.com a year ago. I've not seen any quality problem so far and they cost about half less than the original OEM products.
I have been buying my cartriges from dell But I feel cheated
by gargemil - 10/28/07 9:52 AM In reply to: Poll: How do you refill your printer ink/toner? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I have been buying my cartriges from dell but I can't help but feel cheated.
I was changing the cartrige when the low ink warning came up, but on a lean week I decided to see how long the printer would go before changing the cartrige. I normally get about 53 pages before the warning pops up. When I let it go and started ignoring the warning I found I got up to 70 pages after the change ink warning popped up. That seems a bit fishy to me. Sort of dishonest, instructing customers to change the cartrige shen it's still over half full.
I tryed the refilled cartriges on my old Epson C 60 but they never really worked right after refilling them. I would get streaked photos and would have to clean the heads 3 or 4 times per print job.
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