Printer Ink Refills

Have you got a printer? Are you tired of paying $50 -$60 for a new cartridge? Does you new printer seem to use more ink rather than less? There is an alternate, cheaper solution for your dilemma; refill the old cartridge at ½ the cost. You can either buy a previously used cartridge refilled, or obtain your own refill kit (cheaper yet) and do it yourself. In spite of claims by the various printer manufacturers that only THEIR cartridges should only be used refill kits can provide you with ink that meets or exceeds manufacturers' specifications.

Originally ink jet cartridges were made with tiny bladders inside the tanks. These bladders would fill with air and as the ink was needed they provided "negative pressure". Only one current model still uses bladders. The rest use ink tanks that can easily be refilled at home by yourself or at ink resellers. Plastic formed tanks contain a sponge inside to prevent the ink from "sloshing" around so it is recommended to let cartridges stand for at least an hour after refilling.

The cartridge with the bladders (currently only HP51629A) cannot be shipped by air because they will expand upon the plane reaching over 10,000 feet.

Refilling became popular a few years ago when the cost of new OEM cartridges were much higher. Manufacturers lowered the cost of the basic machine so you were "trapped" into buying their cartridges as the ink ran out. The industry used cartridges to sell new machines. Pressure is put on retailers to NOT provide refilling kits by saying to the retailer, "you want our printers at good prices? Don't sell refill kits"

Epson printers have a peculiar trait. They have an external print head which, like all others, lets new ink cool the print head. However, the temperature reached inside the printer causes the ink to dry out rather quickly. This is not the fault of the refiller but of the design of the Epson printer. While a very good printer, the Epson people use the "warranty" angle to scare their customers into not refilling. However I, and many others have had sucess refilling our own cartridges. It is my personal experience that black cartridges are only good for about 5 or 6 refills before they deteriorate. colour about 3 refills.

The cost of refilling lowers the cost per page. A standard kit will refill most cartridges for over 10,000 pages of print (based on 5% coverage). Many local computer stores and office supply stores now carry refill kits for a large variety of machines. You can also buy refill kits on line at a variety of places.