First off, I would like to send out good wishes for a happy, healthy and prosperous 2010 to all my readers!
Almost every other day, a new customer comes into our Cartridge World Newmarket store and says, “I didn’t know that these little things could be refilled”. They are of course, talking about their ink cartridges.
Refilling ink and toner cartridges is not a new phenomenon. The original founders of Cartridge World started their journey in Adelaide, Australia about 20 years ago. That lead to franchising and currently there are over 1,600 locations is over 35 countries. Many others were also experimenting at the same time. Trial and error and experimentation from these pioneers over the last 2 decades has lead to advanced techniques and outstanding quality making refilling/remanufacturing products, components and services a multi-billion dollar industry.
As I mentioned, the technology from then to today has improved immensely. The use of specialized refilling equipment and ink, tried and true remanufacturing processes and quality tested individualized toner has greatly improved the quality and reliability of refilled and remanufactured cartridges.
Another common question is “How many times can a cartridge be refilled?” The answer I always give is, it depends. There are 2 types of cartridges; the first type has the print head on the cartridge (such as HP, Lexmark, Dell and a few Canons such as the PG40 and CLI211). The second type are called ink tanks and these are Epson, Brother, most Canon and more recently select models of HP printers which take the #02 and #564 series of cartridges.
The most important part is the print head in both cases.
In first example above, if the print head fails or gets clogged, you have to replace the cartridge if you or your local refill company cannot get it ‘unstuck’ for you.
Tip: If your print head cartridge has been sitting idle in the printer for a period of time or has been packaged and sitting on the shelf for for a time and is not printing, you can try wetting a paper towel with hot water and wringing it out. Place the print head where the ink comes out (as shown in the picture above), on the paper towel for about a minute and then dry it off. Now place the print head on a dry paper towel and apply slight pressure. For the black ink cartridge, you should see a solid black rectangle of black ink. From the color ink cartridge there should be 3 colors- magenta, yellow and cyan (pinky-purple, yellow and green-blue).
If your cartridges are not showing a solid line or if the colors are distorted, you should head to your local refilling expert so that they can determine if the cartridge can be salvaged. If not, then ask them to recycle it for you and you have to start with new cartridge again.
In my next post, I will provide tips on how to assure that you will be able to refill your print head cartridges. I’ll also provide some insight into printing with ink tank cartridges, as well as some insights into toner cartridges for laser printers.
I’d love to get your feedback! For you bloggers out there, you’ll get some commentluv here on my blog. By leaving your comment, you’ll be able to provide a link back to your own blog. But you don’t have to be a blogger to leave a comment! I love hearing from you.
Remember, think green when it comes to printer cartridges, you will save money and help the environment.
Karen
They don’t do that at Staples. Good to see your post at http://zoomit.ca I hope you will continue to be an active participant.
Thank you for your comment. We are in business to help consumers and business owners understand how to get the most from their printer cartridge. The more education that we can provide the better informed the public will be. We hope that our blog results in readers trying refilling and therefore eliminating needless dumping of cartridges in the garbage. There are still too many consumers and businesses just throwing out cartridges without understanding the consequences of that action and on the other side of the coin, how they will benefit by having them refilled or remanufactured locally.
I saw a funny cartoon earlier. It was an image of a pen beside an image of an ink cartridge.
Above the pen was written:
“Ink in plastic: $1.29″
Above the cartridge was written:
“Ink in plastic: $25.29″
(I might be slightly off on the numbers; my memory isn’t perfect.)
Ted, That is certainly a humorous image. I cannot profess to having much knowledge about pen ink. However, I do know that the price of ink for cartridges is substantial in the aftermarket industry. The ink we use comes from very reputable German company who supplies all 1,600 + Cartridge World stores among other end users
Each time a new cartridge is released in the marketplace, extensive R & D goes into examining the cartridge to determine the structure, sponges, nozzle plates, and so on. After the analysis it is determined if the existing inks can be used in the cartridge or if a new one has to be developed. They look for viscosity, the speed that the ink drops onto the page, how much it spreads and much more.
Printer ink is certainly over the top compared to the price of a gallon of gas…. and a ballpoint pen….but we call need it, so why not refill and save? Why pay more to print?
Thanks so much for reading my post and for your comments!
I Just bookmarked your blog! I Have it right up there on my task bar
Thanks again for another awesome post.
Hi Kendrick.
Thank you for reading our blog. We hope to provide valuable info for everyone on reusing printer cartridges and more.
Hope to hear from you again.
Karen