Food coloring as printer ink?

Discussion in 'Hardware' started by majinbuu, Sep 23, 2007.

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  1. majinbuu

    majinbuu Specialist

    Hi there,

    I have an old printer that I would like to use again, and was wondering if food coloring can be used to refill the empty cartridges. I have refilled cartridges before with no problem, but that was with commercial refill kits.

    The printer I have is a canon ip4000 and I have refilled it in the past with proper printer ink. But being a tightass I would really like to know if food coloring will work or will it kill the printer. I don't really care about color or print quality as mostly I just print text documents.

    Thanks
    Sam
     
  2. Adrynalyne

    Adrynalyne Guest

    Not a chance. The ink must dry almost instantly upon hitting the paper.

    Food coloring? Nah.
     
  3. majinbuu

    majinbuu Specialist

    I thought I remember reading about someone using food coloring once and getting good results, that's why I am curious to try it.

    As for the ink needing to dry as soon as it hits the paper, even some official inks need a few seconds after printing to dry or they will smudge if you touch any printed parts.

    However, if you say it is not possible I better forget it :)

    Thanks
    Sam
     
  4. Colemanguy

    Colemanguy MajorGeek

    well you can risk it, but chances are it will ruin your printer, so if it didn't work your be screwed.
     
  5. Adrynalyne

    Adrynalyne Guest

  6. majinbuu

    majinbuu Specialist

    sweet, I'm gonna try it once I run out of my commercially available refill kit. I'm sick of paying extreme prices for ink when I could be using cheap as sh*t food coloring.
     
  7. paltao_rhea

    paltao_rhea Private E-2

    you know what my brother try it and when he test it and it goes well and now he is looking for a food color, that is color black.. hehe.. it work well..
     
  8. jlphlp

    jlphlp Master Sergeant

    Hi Paltao,

    Black ink is just a mixture of the 3 colors in equal parts. I wouldn't bother to try food coloring but then I have an endless supply of real ink.

    Jim
     
  9. paltao_rhea

    paltao_rhea Private E-2

    Hi Jim,

    thanks a lot!:) and using food coloring, i think i can save more using food coloring.. ;)
     
  10. jlphlp

    jlphlp Master Sergeant

    Hi again Palteo,

    Thanks for the thanks. Further thoughts. Epson uses Pizzeo (spelling) Electric pumps to move the ink through the jets. They will pump most anthing that is the right consistency. HP uses Heat to pump the nozzles. Both should work. If I ever run out of ink maybe I'll try it on an old Epson.

    Luck, Jim
     
  11. paltao_rhea

    paltao_rhea Private E-2

    Hi again Jim,

    Good luck to you.. just try it.. i will be fun.. :) (sorry if my English is "barok" coz i'm not good in english..) thanks for eveything! God Bless! ;)
     
  12. Michenko

    Michenko Private First Class

    If anyone wants to document this, then post some photos, I would be most impressed! I'm intrigued as to whether this will work at all. Anone got a crappy old printer?
     
  13. Bugballou

    Bugballou MajorGeek

    Considering the price of printer ink, 8000 dollars a gallon? I imagine the price of food coloring will be on the rise...:p
     
    Last edited: Nov 22, 2008
  14. paltao_rhea

    paltao_rhea Private E-2

    uhm.. i just wondering what are the methods of food coloring as printer ink? can you suggest something? i am making an IP for this one.. :D
     
  15. Michenko

    Michenko Private First Class

    I think the external refill companies just inject it back into the original cartridge (?) have you got a syringe handy?!
     
  16. BILLMCC66

    BILLMCC66 Bionic Belgian

  17. Michenko

    Michenko Private First Class

    Good work that man there V
     
  18. frapper

    frapper Private First Class

    Just don't start licking your printouts :p
     
  19. The Shadow

    The Shadow Specialist

    As a factory trained Epson printer tech, I can verify that at least Epson printers can and do use pigmented ink. Not just colored water.
    And the inks differ from printer model to printer model.
    Put in the wrong ink and you've just roached the print heads.

    In years past I've refilled Canon black ink carts with Epson black ink and they worked very well.
    Good ink is almost as cheap as good food coloring, when you buy it in bulk, like I do. I would try "India Ink" before I'd fuss around with food coloring.

    I have four Epson printers in my house and I buy all my after-market ink carts from "LD Products", via the internet.
    Original Epson carts cannot be refilled, but the ones from LD Products can. ;)

    Good Luck,
    Shadow :cool
     
  20. subdestruct

    subdestruct Private E-2

    well on the food colouring thing i would say it works on a hp deskjet printer for over a year now and still running on it my wife does a lot of baking and my printer does a lot of printing so my supply of ink is food colouring and just exp with the mix for different colours
     
  21. LauraR

    LauraR MajorGeeks Super-Duper Administrator Staff Member

    Hello and welcome to Major Geeks. :)

    Before replying to threads, please note the date. This one was started 13 years ago and last replied to (even though it should have been closed then) 11 yrs ago. I'm going to close it now. Please feel free to post in any recent threads though. We are happy to have people here.
     
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