I can’t recall how many times I’ve tried to refill my own print cartridges, only to be disappointed. I do remember ending up with a printer with clogged heads, an ink stain on the desk, and a completely useless printer that could only muster up the lowest quality of prints. (Fool me once, fool me twice, but fool me three times?) Worse, though, I’ve ended up with printers that wouldn’t print at all. Although pre-refilled and refilled cartridges sometimes work just fine, in my experience, they cause more problems than they are worth.
My advice then is to purchase cartridges
from the manufacturer, even though they are more expensive. They’re quality controlled, have warranties, and best of all, they work! If your budget doesn’t allow it though, or if you’re the daredevil type and want to take the risk, you can save quite a bundle on your printing costs by going the other way. Just don’t expect too much.
If you insist on second-hand cartridges or refilling your own, at least follow these guidelines:
* Refill cartridges over newspaper or an old towel to avoid making a mess.
* Run the printer’s cleaning routine after replacing or refilling a cartridge and print a test page. If the test page produces streaks or lines, run the program two or three more times.
* Clean the printer’s circuitry after replacing a cartridge to remove any spilled ink or residues.
* Print something once a week to keep the heads and ink from drying or clogging.
* Align your print heads with the printer’s alignment program after replacing or refilling any cartridge.
* Don’t install a refilled or used cartridge if it is leaking ink, is too full, or has ink on the outside of it. Wipe all cartridges clean before replacing.
* Don’t use a sharp object to open or clear the air or vent hole, if one exists. If the refill kit requires it, use the plastic squeeze bottle included to repressurize the cartridge.
* Don’t let an empty cartridge sit very long without refilling it. If you wait too long, the empty cartridge can be ruined.
And finally, if you refill a cartridge and it doesn’t work, return the product no matter how much of a hassle it is. If we all did that, this quality problem would go away much more quickly!