Ink jet refill kit experiences?

Greg Kettmann greg at kettmann.com
Thu Sep 1 14:50:01 EDT 2005


On refilling:
I have an HP PSC 1350.  It uses ...56 and ...57 cartridges, which I 
refill.  It has a very annoying habit of being very erratic and then 
failing shortly after I get messages about low ink levels.  I fill the 
cartridges four or five times during their expected life so they are 
always full.  So, for example it will only be maybe a quarter down (3/4 
full) and I'll refill.  I'm fairly certain any problems are not being 
caused by "cheap" ink or other incompatibilities.  I truly believe (and 
I've read) that HP has a counter in there that shuts down a cartridge 
after a number of uses (not just after 2 years, or whatever).  I've read 
a bit on this and it appears that they only remember the "count" for 
three cartridges.  At any rate, my experiences with refilling have been 
less than perfect.  It does dramatically extend a cartridge but perhaps 
only doubling it's life.  With that in mind I'm very interested in the 
store in Nashua.  It would solve the problem of "expiring" cartridges by 
replacing it with one which the machine knew nothing about. 

Just my two cents.  GGK

Bill Sconce wrote:

>On Wed, 31 Aug 2005 22:12:08 -0400
>Ted Roche <tedroche at tedroche.com> wrote:
>
>  
>
>>The printer has paid for itself several times over, so I'm  
>>willing to risk its loss to save some money refilling it.
>>
>>HP has mastered the Gillette "give away the razor" technique, and  
>>extract $40 or more for a pair of cartridges filled with water based  
>>ink and a chip that expires the cartridge after two years. I'm clever  
>>enough to work around the expiration racket, but I don't have any  
>>direct experience with refilling. Has anyone done this? Recommended  
>>vendors pro or con? Words of wisdom?
>>    
>>
>
>
>Good news:
>
>    I have refilled any number of cartridges, Canon and Epson.
>    Printers and heads always survived fine.  (I too object to
>    the "stick it to 'em for the razor blades" racket, and
>    especially the DMCA extortion of "we'v bought a law which
>    forbinds you to circumvent our expiration chip"...)  I've
>    even refilled laser cartridges.
>
>    So refills are possible.  They've worked for me.  The stains
>    come off your fingers as the skin wears away.   :)
>
>    But wait, there's more.
>    
>    I don't do refills any longer.  I've found a store, a walk-in
>    place with stock on the shelves, which sells me FILLED cartridges
>    for $2.49 (black) and $3.99 (color).  At such a price refilling
>    doesn't make sense.  Also, the guys who run the store know far
>    more about printers and supplies than I could even get from
>    Google.(*)
>    
>    They also have the best deal (for me) on laser cartridges.  I've
>    used them for my Canon copier, my DECLaser 5100, and my venerable
>    LaserJet III.
>    
>    (Disclosure:  the store happens to be across the street from the
>    airport, so I'm frequently right next door for an easy supply
>    run.)
>    
>The bad news:
>
>    Cartridges for HP are not as cheap as those for Epson.  Black for
>    the D145 is $13.99;  color is $17.99.    (*ouch*)
>    
>    (There's more bad news about HP.  And Lexmark.  Did you know
>    that HP and Lexmark promote "economy" cartridges - cheaper, but
>    only HALF FILLED?  You have to read the milliliters before buying
>    or you find when you get home from Wal-Mart that the cartridge
>    contains an expensive portion of air.  The part number was just
>    one digit different...)
>    
>A final bit of good news:
>
>    The guys at the store are Linux-friendly.  (Hey, I'll bet we could
>    even work out a discount program for GNHLUG!  I know they've done
>    it for other groups.)
>    
>The place is:
>
>    GotInk4U
>    28 Charron Ave
>    Nashua, NH 03063-1783
>    Phone: 	(603) 579-3637 
>    
>    I've talked mostly to Bill, and to Micah, who read mail at:
>    	gotink4u at aol.com
>    and whom I've CC'd on this post.
>
>Super folks.
>
>-Bill
>
>P.S.  I have no financial interest, I'm only a satisfied customer, etc.
>
>P.P.S.  To Ted, or anyone I see at meetings:  I'll be happy to pick up
>anything you might decide to get from these guys.
>
>(*) There's an HP dodge whereby the printer "remembers" the serial
>numbers of the last 3 cartridges inserted in it, so that if you
>try a refill you have to cycle two other cartridges through so that
>"your" number gets flushed from cache.   Grrr.
>
>And selling HALF-FILLED CARTRIDGES!   GRRRR.
>
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>
>
>
>  
>

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