refilling ink cartidges

I've given up on the high cost of ink cartridges and bought an ink refill kit. however, when I tried to "open" my old cartridge, I ran into a metal ball that I can't get out or past.
what do I do?
can someone guide me through the steps? it's a refill kit with the instructions just in tiny pictures, not in words.

I am trying to refill a #15 black HP cartridge.
thanks!

 

I refill #45 HP cartridge, which has a similar metal ball. On this cartridge you push the ball out of the way into the cartridge itself, then stick the refill needle around the ball. You need to securily tape the hole up to keep the ink from leaking into your printer, I use vinyl tape. I've had this go wrong, there is always a risk refilling cartridges, be prepared for things to go wrong and keep an eye out. You will probably need to print several sheets to stabilize the ink flows inside the cartridge, I created a checkerboard test pattern to do this job. What happens if you don't do this? The ink can leak out uncontrolably, you want this on paper instead of inside the printer.

 

I've been refilling my Canon inkjet printer cartridges for awhile now and it is a lot cheaper than buying new cartridges. But Bill is correct -- things can go wrong and you can have a real mess. With nearly any type of liquid ink cartridge you do have to be sure to seal up the opening you use to inject the new ink into the cartridge or just atmospheric air pressure will cause the ink to leak out -- either inside the printer or...all over your hands, the table your working on and your carpet!

Suggest you put down plenty of newspaper to protect your work surface and not a bad idea to use some rubber or plastic gloves to protect your hands from getting badly stained. As I said, I've been doing this for awhile now, and haven't had any disasters but I do always get some ink dribbles on the newspaper and, if I don't use protective gloves, I have ink stains on my fingers for a few days afterwards.

The sad thing is I don't think it has to be this way. The first printer company to make an inkjet printer designed to be refilled should make a mint on sales of printers, even if they have to boost the printer's price because they have to give up selling expensive ink cartridges. And then maybe the other printer companies would jump on the same bandwagon.

Until that happens I'll keep buying ink refill kits and latex or plastic gloves and keeping some old newspapers on hand.

 

I've had limited success in refilling older types of cartridges . . . mainly Epson. I've tried the HP type . . . but not had much luck. I followed the instructions to the letter, and had no problem injecting the ink - but the Deskjet 3620 refused to recognize it as a full cartridge.

Having read Bill's post, I am wondering if I gave up too soon . . .

 

Having kept (in a vacuum sealed bag, mind you) my earlier refill jobs I decided to revisit the operation and have thus decided that no, I did not give up too soon . . . rolleyes

What am I doing wrong? Perhaps I have offended the ink gods in some fashion? I'll go into the garden tomorrow at midnight and sacrifice a new cartridge in an attempt to appease them . . .



I'll keep trying, I guess. I know it can be done. Been a while since I googled it . . . I'll start there

 

Natakel, some types and brands of inkjet cartridges require reprogramming as well as refilling. There's a small chip on the cartridge that stores info about how much ink remains and even if you refill it with more ink that stored info doesn't reset and since the printer reads "Empty" when it looks at that ink cartridge it will refuse to print with it.

Some ink refill kits include a little device that will reprogram the chip on the cartridge so that it once again reads "Full" and will work again. Take a close look at your ink cartridges for your printer and see if they are "chipped" or do a web search for that info. If they are "chipped" you'll need to find a refill kit for your specific brand of printer/cartridge that includes the chip reprogramming device.

Can't tell you anymore as my Canon cartridges don't have such a chip on them, but I've seen refill kits that include the chip reprogrammers in the kit for some kinds of cartridges. I don't think the device is very exotic -- may just short something out on the cartridge which effectively resets it to "Full."

Maybe someone here knows more about this and will respond.

 

My HP psc 1110 has chips that tell the computer that the cartridges are empty, but you can trick them by sticking a small piece of tape over the contacts. Just google "reset cartridge" and you should find something useful. I've refilled mine at least 20 times and it still works. Don't pay silly high prices if you don't have to.

 

I don't refill my own.. I take them to Walgren's and they do it for about 1/2 the cost of a new cartridge.

 

Just a tip from a long time "Refiller"(actually have had one cartridge last over a year and I print at least a ream a Month), allow the "Print Head to soak in 70% Isopropyl Alcohol(Rubbing Alcohol), this will free up any clogged jets. Then after refilling run the "Clean Print Head" program that most printers have, sometimes it takes three attempts to clean a stubborn plugged "Print Head". Also most important due not over refill, as the extra weight of the ink will cause the cartridge to weep all over your printer mechanism Yucker job to clean up with dinky Q-Tips:mad :eek

 

Hey BC, try denatured alcohol, supposed to work a lot better. The printer I use for banners and stuff is a breeze to refill. Just unscrew a cap and pour the ink in. You can even refill while you are pinting a job. I helped the guy flash the firmware on it to a version that lets you bypass the chip thing on the cartridge.

A little off topic, Sorry.

E

 

Vendors I used kept pushing Amonia (yuck). My printer tells me the cartridge is empty, but other than that it doesn't matter. The only thing I've had problems with is universal inks, I like to buy ink rated for my printer. The other thing that gets me is the cartridge can burn out the filiments that vaporize the ink and cause it to squirt out. Nothing can be done if this happens, so the trick is to shut down the use of the cartridge while theres life left in it.

I've been refilling HP cartridges since day one, it does seem like it is getting less and less reliable. Buy hey, one good refill beat a $35 dollar cartridge.

Lately I've been experimenting with Dremels and drill bits sized to the hypodermic needles, with limited success. I suspect the vendors are designing the cardridges to be hard to refile, one of these days I'm going to have to suit up and disassemble one to see what's inside, might be able to pick some optimum points for the dremel drill.

I've come across a lovely Cannon (Epson?) refill system, huge reseviours next to the printer, just pour additional ink as needed into the external reseviours. If I don't violate the antispam rules I may scan the brouchure and post it here. It really is neat, I just don't want to give up my printer, but if I came across a similar system for my brand I'd buy it in a heart beat.

 

Wow Bill, I'd be interested to know the make and model of that printer with the easy-to-refill ink tanks. I'm pretty happy with my Canon inkjet printer (an i560) but if it's not too pricey I might be tempted to buy another color inkjet printer. If you decide not to post because of the SPAM worry I'd be interested in a pm from you with that printer make and model if you have the time.

:hyper

 

Hi.
Thought i'd butt in.
Here in the uk these tanks fitted to the side of your printer are getting very popular.
Once fitted correctly, ( you can kink the pipes or they snag as the carriage moves) they are trouble free.
They are known here as CISS (continuous ink supply system).
I haven't tried them yet but from the reviews they seem to get a thumbs up.
I have a Epson R265 and the kit to set mine up is £29.99 ($60) with 6 80ml bottles of ink. Then the 6 100ml refill bottles after buying the kit are £5.99 ($12)!
Sounds well worth a try.

 

Ah, understand -- even better it's available in versions/models that can be fitted to a number of brands and models of printers.

Did a search and found company's website, apparently in Great Britain. Only took a quick look, but couldn't find any US vendors that carried the system for my particular printer, a Canon i560, but will keep looking.

Good info.

 

Thanks, Eezak - I wasn't aware of that. I'll check into it.

 

Interesting thread for sure!!!! I have been refilling my Lexmark cartriges since day one too, different models. I never tried a "chip resetter", but those little plastic? thing are in Best B and Wal... around 15.00 dollars. Had tried different kind of inks and a couple of days ago checked the prices for ink in bulk (about 25ml bottle) and were comparable to buy a new cartridge, so I got a kit compatible with my cartridge model (and many other models) and as usual with Lexmark I had to drill a little hole for the black one and three for the color one, but everything under 25.00 and with option for around 4 - 6 more times. Normally the kit comes with general instructions and some with the specifics of where to drill the holes in a particular cartridge, in other circunstances google provide lots of posts about many cartridges.

 

thanks for all the feedback on refills. unfortunately I'm more frustrated than ever. the ball WILL NOT move. I've tried pushing it in with the little screw drill that comes with the package, pulling it out with tweezers, it just stays put.

I know a lady who has a bottle of ink that she buys comparatively cheaply, but she has someone put the ink in for her. I'm not sure what I'm going to do as my inability to print has lost me at least one paycheck. can't get a new cartidge, much less a new printer. we just had enough to squeek by this month. maybe I can get a friend to let me upload my printer driver and use her printer this one time. it's a clunker, but at least it has ink.

 

don't think we have a Wal-Greens here...they aren't in the phonebook. pity, because that's a fairly descent price. we may get one yet, we're a little "boomtown" overgrowing our territory. I see ads for them on TV, but some of the ads are geared for Portland. why they get into our area, I've no idea. Portland's a day's drive from here.

 

I can't say for certain about your cartridges, but my Canon cartridges have a little steel ball in them and I just drill the refill hole through the plastic top and leave the ball as it is. I think the ball is just an easy way to enable an automated sealing up of the cartridge once it's been filled at the factory.