How To Refill Your Ink Cartridge

Forget about emptying your wallets every time you see the blinking light. Quit worrying and start doing it yourself! It's an easy process that won't take you more than five minutes.

The following is included in a typical ink refill kit: ink bottles, syringes and detailed instructions. Some kits include an air balance clip for balancing the air inside the cartridge to ensure proper ink flow. Some kits also include hand-drill tool to make a hole in the top of your empty cartridge.

Refilling Process

1. To start the refilling process, fill the syringe with one of the ink colors over the sink or several sheets of scrap paper to prevent any mess. Different printers hold different amounts of ink. In most Epson printers, the black cartridge holds approximately 17 ml and the color cartridges hold approximately 8 ml. See the instructions with your refill kit to see how much ink your cartridges can hold.

2. Before inserting the needle, make a small hole in the top of the cartridge (one for each color chamber). The hole is at the top of the cartridge near the label. Simply push the needle through the hole and press to the bottom of the cartridge towards the outlet hole. It's important to fill the cartridge slowly so as to avoid the ink from foaming and introducing air in the chamber.

3. You do not need to seal the refill holes since there are already breather holes on the top of the cartridge.

4. Any unused ink can be put back in the bottle. You should clean the syringe with water and dry it properly to do the same process for the other cartridges or for future use. You can also label each syringe for the different colors so that each syringe is only used with one color.

5. Once you place the cartridge back in the printer, run the cleaning cycle 1 to 3 times. If there are any gaps in the printing, run the cleaning cycle again.

Don't Forget

There are a few things to remember when refilling your cartridge. It should be refilled before the cartridge is completely empty to avoid the chamber from drying out and clogging. Also, it is a good idea to let the printer cartridge sit for a few hours (or overnight) so that the pressure in the cartridge will stabilize.

Some printers, like newer Epson models, have a green chip on their ink cartridges which is visible by looking at your cartridge. They are often referred to as "Intellidge" cartridges. The chip keeps track of how often the cartridge is used and lets the computer know when the cartridge may be low or empty. As long as you reset the chip, refilling the cartridge with ink from a refill kit will not be a problem. A resetting tool can be used to reset the memory on the chip. This allows the printer to recognize the cartridge as being full which makes printing with a refilled cartridge possible.

Refilling your own ink cartridge is easy, good for the environment, and very good for your pocket.

Marisa Pellegrino

About The Author

A recent grad from Concordia University's English Department, Marisa uses her computer technology skills along side her writing skills to be the webmaster for www.printpot.com. Sharing her interest and expertise about ink jet refill kits has helped convince many of the advantages of refilling rather than discarding empty cartridges. Marissa can be reached at info@printpot.com.

---

Dusting Your Computer - Keeping it Cool

My mother always told me to dust, but I never... Read More

A Review of Refurbished HP Laptops

HP refurbished laptops can be found on their website hpshopping.com.... Read More

Basics of RAID

A couple of the recent Tech Tips from www.geeks.com have... Read More

Trouble-shooting Hard Drive Problems - Part 1

It is extremely important not to make or write any... Read More

USB Drive Popularity

So many people have small USB drives today, but what... Read More

How To Troubleshoot DVD Drives Fast

You really enjoy those dvd movies and games and the... Read More

The Importance of Ergonomic Products

Interestingly, ergonomics though sounds to be a modern and trendy... Read More

How To Refill Your Ink Cartridge

Forget about emptying your wallets every time you see the... Read More

Laptop Security -Where?d My Laptop Go?

Laptops are lovely. They are convenient, mobile, powerful and prestigious.... Read More

Wireless Networking, Part 1: Capabilities and Hardware

Wireless Networking, Part 1: Capabilities and HardwareThese days it isn't... Read More

Digital Camera Prints - Getting the Most for Your Money

Digital cameras have really taken off in popularity in recent... Read More

Choosing The Right Bar Code Reader

The importance of a bar code reader in this day... Read More

The Printer Cartridge Game

Think you got a great deal on a printer? Like... Read More

Bluetooth Basics - Bluetooth Technology Tutorial

Bluetooth BasicsBluetooth technology is nothing new, but in many respects... Read More

Motherboard Basics

A recent Tech Tip covered the basics of selecting a... Read More

The Hard Disk

From throwing our unnecessary files, to defragmenting, from partitions to... Read More

A Technical Introduction to Audio Cables

What is so important about cables anyway?One of the most... Read More

Five Band Resistor Color Code-What Does The Last Band Of White Color Represent?

In electronic repair, most of the time i came across... Read More

How to Get the Case Off Your PC!

This is the first step to servicing, upgrading or removing... Read More

Investing On A 1D Bar Code Reader

Whereas 2D bar codes offer more security and safety for... Read More

Learn About The Three Basic Types Of Computer Mouse

1) Mechanical: This is a type of computer mouse that... Read More

Inkjet Printer Tips to Select Proper Printer

If you are tight on budget, go for Inkjet Printer.... Read More

Setting up a Network -- Wired or Wireless?

To Wire or Not to Wire Wireless networks... Read More

Hard Drive Selection

Perhaps the biggest mistake people make when building their computer(s)... Read More

Cisco CCNA Certification: Why You NEED Hands-On Practice !

CCNA and CCNP candidates hear it all the time: "you... Read More

Tips To Select Proper Motherboard

Selecting motherboard is really simple. As name suggests "Motherboard" acts... Read More

Review: Implementing the Google Search Appliance in an Intranet environment

Our corporate intranet is a non-framed environment with both Lotus... Read More

Cheap Ink Cartridge

A cheap ink cartridge is sometimes the only way that... Read More

Digital Cameras, Media, and Card Readers

With the dropping prices on digital cameras and digital media... Read More

10 Solid Reasons To Make Your Next PC A Notebook

Notebook computers are becoming very popular. They seem to be... Read More

Used Laptop Computer: Your Quick Purchase Inspection Guide ? Part 1

Used laptop computers are everywhere these days. How can you... Read More

How To Choose The Best Gaming Laptop

The gaming laptop is coming of age! It is steadily... Read More

How to Read Zener Diode Code

Many technicians are confused on how to really read a... Read More