Ink jet refill kit experiences?

[Ted Roche]

On Sep 1, 2005, at 6:43 AM, Jerry Feldman wrote:

> I have both refilled ink cartridges on Epson and Canon. It is a messy
> process, but in both cases the inks ruined the printers.

Well, if I didn't indicate it before: this is an HP OfficeJet d145,  
probably four years old. It's a combo unit: color printer, scanner,  
fax, memory card reader with a duplex printing capability and add-on  
NIC. It's a CMYK printer, with a 3-well color and separate black  
cartridge. Print heads are separate units. Being frugal New  
Englanders, we use a laser printer for most day to day work. We're  
database developers, so we're testing reports, dumping data or  
source, and throwing them away (well, flipping them over and reusing  
the pages) within a day.

Once a month, we print a few color pages for a client proposal,  
entity-relationship diagram or similar document. Inevitably, the  
printer is clogged (with HP's $20-$30 cartridges and $80 printheads)  
and we need to use a tenth of the cartridge to get the print quality  
to the point of being acceptable.  The time wasted is likely the most  
costly. However, replacing the printer would entail reconfiguring all  
the computers and getting rid of a working scanner and fax. I'm a Do- 
It-Yourself kind of guy (painting the house, plumbing the bathroom,  
wiring the house, debugging the lawnmower, compiling kernels, etc.)

> I would follow Bill's recommendation, and get an ink jet printer  
> that does not have the print heads in the cartridges.

The print heads are separate, and the four would cost more than a  
replacement printer. Once I have a refill kit and my confidence built  
up a bit, I'll disassemble the machine and soak the problematic head  
(the magenta one) in water/ammonia (Windex) and give it a shot.

> I also recommend that you use the recommended inks. (I actually  
> used 3rd party ink cartriges on the Epson).

I recognize that there are some unscrupulous vendors out there who  
sell snake oil instead of the proper inks. Different vendors use  
somewhat different solvents, inks, pigments and so forth. Using the  
wrong ones will obviously clog or mangle the mechanisms. I had hoped  
someone here might know a "reputable" vendor. There was a fellow at  
Hosstraders but he couldn't match up my particular printer model.

HP, on the other hand, sells cartridges with a bit of electronics in  
them that cause them to "expire" after two years. A plastic container  
with a sponge full of ink and a chip that tells the printer the  
plastic is too old -- for forty bucks! Nasty stuff. Takes a bit of  
thought to figure out how to work around it, but it's possible.

> I currently have an HP all-in-1 PSC2210.  It has been printing,  
> scanning and faxing with no problem for over 2 years.

And when mine works, it is a delight. And when it doesn't... well,  
I'll roll up my sleeves (and lay down some newspaper <g>) and fix it!