[NA]Refilling Printer cartidges[NA]

Let'sgoflying!

Let'sgoflying!

Touchdown! Greaser!
Joined
Feb 23, 2005
Messages
20,311
Location
west Texas
Display Name
Display name:
Dave Taylor
Black only of course.
As the ultimate Cheap Baztard I am considering trying.

I opened one of my Lexmark 30$ cartridges and was shocked at how the public is being so totally fleeced. I mean, 3 cents of ink is in there, with a half cent piece of foam.
I use a lot of ink apparently.
I am thinking a 1/8" hole, adding a small amount of black ink via a syringe and needle.
Crazy?
 
Sams Club sells the refill kits (ink, drill bit, tiny stoppers for the hole, and syringe) for around $20. Enough to do about 10 refills. I hate the mess and order mine off of E-Bay for about $4 each in lots of 20 and choose the colors for each tank.
 
I say go for it.
Last I checked, they quit selling the refill kits for them. (some super lame obviously made up sob story about refill ink not being high tech refill ink and invalidate manufacturers 30 day warranty even if it's 10 years after the warranty ran out - translation: we can make more money off you if we sell $30 of stuff instead of $9 refill kits)
The black $9 refill kit contents: Ink in an accordian style bottle, 1/8" drill bit, an adhesive plastic patch for the hole and a little syringe to pressurize the cartridge. (if you don't pressurize the cartridge, it doesn't work)
$2 would be a healthy profit. $9 is being taken for a ride. $30 replacement puts the lottery to shame.
Color refills were the same concept but didn't need pressurizing.
 
I counsel you, strongly, against this sillyness, Dave. Imagine black ink, all over you, leaking from the printer.

Buy third-party cartridges, but don't try refilling. Voice of experience here.

www.leehol.com
 
fgcason said:
I say go for it.
Last I checked, they quit selling the refill kits for them. (some super lame obviously made up sob story about refill ink not being high tech refill ink and invalidate manufacturers 30 day warranty even if it's 10 years after the warranty ran out - translation: we can make more money off you if we sell $30 of stuff instead of $9 refill kits)
...
Click to expand...
Some manufacturers like Lexmark figured a way around refills. They put a chip in the cart so once it print nn pages your printer will refuse the cart no matetr how much ink it has. They sued third parties who tried to clone the chip for violation of trade secrets and DCMA. They lost.

Somebody figured out that ink in the carts is around $1600 a gallon.

I used to have a ribbon re-inker kit until I tired of that leaving ink everywhere.
 
Last edited:
mikea said:
Some manufacturers like Lexmark figured a way around refills. They put a chip in the cart so once it print nn pages your printer will refuse the cart no matetr how much ink it has. They sued third parties who tried to clone the chip for violation of trade secrets and DCMA. They lost.

Somebody figured out that ink in the carts is around $1600 a gallon.

I used to have a ribbon re-inker kit until I tired of that leaving ink everywhere.
Click to expand...

Why should lexmark even bother. They could build a single piece ink cartridge and fixed printhead that's an integral part of the printer that won't allow refilling. Print 50 pages, buy a new $75 printer. Much bigger profit margin that way.

I'm not sure what the current going price of ink is nowadays but if I order $1600 of ink, UPS will likely show up on my doorstep with a couple 55 gallon drums.

Ribbons were a PITA to re-ink just due to the design. The black cartridge refill is dirt simple with minimal mess. The last refill I did took exactly 1/4 sheet of common paper towel to contain any leakage between filling and pressurizing the cartridge. The first refill I did took a single paper towel plus a few minutes with a bar of soap to get it off my fingers. (secret missing step on the instructions: Place paper towel over end of ink bottle when cutting the top of the nozzle cap off and do not apply pressure to the bottle when cutting) Follow instructions, go slow. 5 minutes tops, minimal if any mess.
 
I had an Epson C80 and decieded to use Staples brand ink cartridges saved a few bucks per cartridge. The black one broke and I had ink all over the printer. It destroyed the printer. Staples to thier credit repalced the entire printer. While I was waiting for the replacement I hooked up the dell printer, scanner that I got free with my desktop. I like it so much I never hooked up the replacement C80. My only caution is to make sure there is some kind of guarantee that comes with the discount ink.
 
I use http://www.carrotink.com and get a 25% discount on top of their already good price thru a business to business association I belong to. I tried the Costco/Sams Club refill kits on HP cartridges - one sucess and one failure. The failure was quite spectacular.

Refill kit - $19.95
Savings over new cartridges - $125
Look on wife's face as black ink pooled under the printer and raced to the edge of the desk towards the new carpet - Priceless
 
I have never looked at the off brands and have just bought the HP cartridges when I need them. I guess it has never really been worth my time to look at the other alternatives and just grab the ones off the shelf at Best Buy.
 
There is a reason that you can get a new printer with cartidges for the same price as just the replacemant cartidges...

The companys sell the printers at cost or less hoping you will continue to buy the 2000% markup replacement cartidges.

I refill mine. As long as you don't let the cartidge go dry, it works fine.
 
No, not crazy at all. But also keep your eye out for a cheap laser printer ... they are a lot lest costly per page printed than inkjets.

Let'sgoflying! said:
Black only of course.
As the ultimate Cheap Baztard I am considering trying.

I opened one of my Lexmark 30$ cartridges and was shocked at how the public is being so totally fleeced. I mean, 3 cents of ink is in there, with a half cent piece of foam.
I use a lot of ink apparently.
I am thinking a 1/8" hole, adding a small amount of black ink via a syringe and needle.
Crazy?
Click to expand...
 
If they gave away the ink refill kits I wouldn't even try. The mess potential is too great. Stick with remaned, OEM, or new. There's some things that just aren't meant to be done.
Oh, as a caution, manufacturers may void the warrantee if remaned, OEM, or re-inked are used.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top