Inkjet Refills

To anyone who might be thinking about refilling their ink cartridges, I just have to say, "It's really easy." My tri-color cartridge (HP#57>35 U$D a pop) was running low and I had bought a small refill kit from Mr. Inkjet (thanks NooNoo) and so I refilled it over the weekend. The prints look just as good as before and so far haven't experienced any fouling of the print heads. It was a little messy, but a hot water and isopropyl alcohol mix cleaned it up quite well including the syringes. My next project will be to mod the cartridge and remove the sponges and I will post again when I get to that point. My only reservation is that, living here in the US, it should only be a matter of time before this practice is outlawed too.

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Originally posted by Duke of Rezin
To anyone who might be thinking about refilling their ink cartridges, I just have to say, "It's really easy." My tri-color cartridge (HP#57>35 U$D a pop) was running low and I had bought a small refill kit from Mr. Inkjet (thanks NooNoo) and so I refilled it over the weekend. The prints look just as good as before and so far haven't experienced any fouling of the print heads. It was a little messy, but a hot water and isopropyl alcohol mix cleaned it up quite well including the syringes. My next project will be to mod the cartridge and remove the sponges and I will post again when I get to that point. My only reservation is that, living here in the US, it should only be a matter of time before this practice is outlawed too.

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I'm pretty sure removing the sponges will just cause the ink to pour out the head immediatly, the sponges act as a retainer to prevent the ink from just spilling out. Anyway, what would be the point?

I also refill my # 56, 57 & 58 cartridges for my HP 5550 and get up to 40 refills each time before the cartridge has clogged nozzles. What printer are you using?

The thought that the sponge might retain ink in the same manner as the felt in a magic marker occured to me. The only reason why I was thinking of removing it would be to allow for more ink in the cartridge. Perhaps only part of the sponge could be removed. Perhaps that might create a mess that would ruin the machine. Hmm...

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Originally posted by Duke of Rezin
The thought that the sponge might retain ink in the same manner as the felt in a magic marker occured to me. The only reason why I was thinking of removing it would be to allow for more ink in the cartridge. Perhaps only part of the sponge could be removed. Perhaps that might create a mess that would ruin the machine. Hmm...

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I know that older HPs had black cartridges with no sponges and they required the ink to be in an air thight bag inside the cartridge (which then has to be resealed with a rubber plug inclued in the refill kit) and refilling those caused the cartridge to leak for a long time before the presure equalized and it finally stopped leaking. So I guess removing the sponges or even just part would also cause it too leak. Even when refilling the ink sometimes leaks out the bottom when there's too much ink in the bottom of the sponge.

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Originally posted by Duke of Rezin
........... My only reservation is that, living here in the US, it should only be a matter of time before this practice is outlawed too.

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I've been using bulk ink refill system for years, ever since I got my first printer and discovered that my refills cost $55 a pop. Companies like Cannon, HP, Epson, etc hate this because it undercuts their profits. I don't feel sorry for them but you might be right - Epson has lawsuit against the refill companies and has installed 'chips' in their cartridges to prevent refills. I believe England is the only country to ban these 'chipped' cartridges. (God save the Queen & Tony!)

Whether Epson will succeed I don't know. I do know however that there is a 'bios resetter' available from the same company where you purchased your ink that will reset the chip. In my case it came out 6 weeks after the printer hit the market.

Interestly enough, it was from a Canadian company (Richland Technical Svcs. in Montreal) that I bought my first injet refills. Since that time a lot of US companies have jumped on the bandwagon.

Orangeman:D

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Originally posted by Orangeman
... Epson has lawsuit against the refill companies and has installed 'chips' in their cartridges to prevent refills. I believe England is the only country to ban these 'chipped' cartridges. (God save the Queen & Tony!) ...

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If this is so - you know more about my country than I do ! However you might be right, I don't refil cartiridges because of the mess ! ... I exchange 'em at companies who do ;) .. nearly the same saving but a lot less mess !! :)

However I will quibble with the 'God save' bit ... God can save the Queen, she's been a loyal servant doing her job for 50 odd years (though how hard is it to be the richest woman on the planet as a job?) but as for Tony 'I spin for a living' Blair ... I don't think even the Devil would touch him !! He'd have a hard time finding out the truth ! :D

Actually I was trying to give your country a compliment but I guess not.....

Well anyway, I did read on these very forums that England did indeed ban these 'chipped cartridges' That was the reason for the compliment. As for the Queen, perhaps it is easy to love your country when your the richest woman in the world. As for Tony, well you know him better than I.....:eek2: