Can My Cartridge Be Refilled?
by Barry Shultz
New styles of inkjet cartridges are entering the
market all the time, faster than anybody can keep up
with. It takes time for the remanufacturers to
collect empties and tool up to refill them.
Sometimes it could take many months for
remanufactured or generic cartridges to hit the
market. Bulk inks need to be developed or reverse
engineered. For this reason we don't always have
refill kits or bulk ink or cartridges right away for
new printers.
What's a person to do? You ask, "Can my new
cartridge be refilled while I'm waiting for the
after market to catch up?". Thankfully the answer is
a resounding YES! If the manufacturer got ink inside
that bugger you can bet you can too. "What about the
inks?", you ask.
Many new cartridges are just re-hashes of the old
ones with minor variations. While you're waiting you
can experiment with your old
cartridges and try to refill them with the ink you
already have. There are some guidelines to follow
here though because I don't condone a one ink fits
all solution.
Generally Lexmark and HP inks are interchangeable.
Likewise, Canon and Epson can be interchanged. There
might be some color variations
but you should be able to compensate in the driver
set up. Pigmented ink should not be used in a dye
based cartridge, however, dye based ink can be used
in a pigmented cartridge. An Example is the Canon
BCI-3e black cartridge which uses pigmented ink and
BCI-6 which uses dye based ink. You can use the
BCI-6 black in the BCI-3 but not visa-versa.
Finding the right place to drill a cartridge may
take some trial and error. If you proceed logically
you should get it the first time. For instance if a
cartridge has two chambers, one with a sponge and
one without, drill in the reservoir side, not the
sponge side. In a multi-chamber cartridge with
several colors drill over the place where you
suspect the first color is and use a toothpick to
sample the color. The chambers will usually have
some kind of dimple or air hole directly over each
chamber.
Start by injecting a small amount as a test, like
2cc or 3cc for color cartridges and 8cc - 10cc for
black cartridges. You can add more if the
test is successful. Try to avoid overfilling the
cartridge to avoid cross chamber contamination.
Take notes in case you kill the cartridge somehow.
Your next attempt won't be possible until you buy
another set of cartridges and use them up. If you're
like me I won't remember what I did in a few weeks.
(or days for that matter, that's scary!)
About the Author
Barry Shultz is the author of Atlascopy News, and
President of Atlascopy, Inc. Atlascopy specialized
in affordable alternatives to the high cost of
printer supplies. Sign up for the Atlascopy
Newsletter and get 10% coupons every week in your
email.
http://atlascopy.com/signup_new.htm
Go to Atlascopy to save a bundle on your printer and
refilling supplies.
http://atlascopy.com
<<
Back to Inkjet Articles
|
