supersurgilator
Well-known member
I was just wondering what you all did with your old, empty printer cartridges.
Printer Cartridges
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autowasherfreak
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Cartridges
I have mine refilled at Cartridge World, instead of buying new cartridges.
James
I have mine refilled at Cartridge World, instead of buying new cartridges.
James
I've had bad luck with refilled cartridges, both done myself and bought at Costco (Rhinotek). I've gone back to genuine HP cartridges. And yes, I don't go through that many at home here so I'm just gonna chuck 'em in the trash when done.
We throw ours away, or at least we used to. We got tired of trying to keep an Epson R800 fed, so a few months ago we replaced it with a Brother HL-5250DN laser printer. Has Ethernet, duplexing, and uses one 7000+ page toner cartridge instead of eight ridiculously small and expensive color cartridges.
It's 10x as fast, and print quality for B&W documents is better to boot.
It's 10x as fast, and print quality for B&W documents is better to boot.
I refill
printer cartridges for my HPs and ancient Canons.
Toner is too scary for me, but at 20,000 pages/cartridge I am not too bothered, just return the used cartridge to Brother, postage prepaid.
Using Pelican Brilliant Schwarz 4001 fountain pen ink, I can refill a black cartridge twice and get perfect documents. After that, some of the heads seem to fail.
I've never been satisfied with the color refills, so buy the commercially refilled color cartridges which have 3x the quantity of ink.
printer cartridges for my HPs and ancient Canons.
Toner is too scary for me, but at 20,000 pages/cartridge I am not too bothered, just return the used cartridge to Brother, postage prepaid.
Using Pelican Brilliant Schwarz 4001 fountain pen ink, I can refill a black cartridge twice and get perfect documents. After that, some of the heads seem to fail.
I've never been satisfied with the color refills, so buy the commercially refilled color cartridges which have 3x the quantity of ink.
autowasherfreak
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Refilling Cartridges
At one time I was refilling my own, and one time all the ink ran back out and into the printer. Oddly enough the printer stilled worked after than. I put the printer on it's side with a bunch of newspaper, and old towels to soak up the ink. I never refilled a cartridge again, and went back to buying new cartridges.
I've been using Cartridge World for 2 or 3 years now, and I've been very happy with them. I was going to have them refilled at Walgreens the next time they needed to be refilled, but I couple friends of mine told that Walgreens doesn't fill the cartridges as full as Cartridge World, and not to bother with Walgreens.
I have two HP inkjet printers Deskjet 6122 with a duplexer and extra paper tray. I won it off of eBay for $29.95. It's been a great printer so far. My second HP is a 4-in-1 Office Jet 4215V, which I got off of our local FreeCycle group. The owner said it just quit printing one day, so she bought a new. Of course the printer stopped printing, it ran out of black ink. I put a new cartridge in in and it prints perfectly.
James
At one time I was refilling my own, and one time all the ink ran back out and into the printer. Oddly enough the printer stilled worked after than. I put the printer on it's side with a bunch of newspaper, and old towels to soak up the ink. I never refilled a cartridge again, and went back to buying new cartridges.
I've been using Cartridge World for 2 or 3 years now, and I've been very happy with them. I was going to have them refilled at Walgreens the next time they needed to be refilled, but I couple friends of mine told that Walgreens doesn't fill the cartridges as full as Cartridge World, and not to bother with Walgreens.
I have two HP inkjet printers Deskjet 6122 with a duplexer and extra paper tray. I won it off of eBay for $29.95. It's been a great printer so far. My second HP is a 4-in-1 Office Jet 4215V, which I got off of our local FreeCycle group. The owner said it just quit printing one day, so she bought a new. Of course the printer stopped printing, it ran out of black ink. I put a new cartridge in in and it prints perfectly.
James
perc-o-prince
Well-known member
I've been having my Lexmark carts refilled at Walgreens since they started offering the sevice. The last two times I had the black filled, they said it didn't pass the print test, so they gave it to me no charge. Both times it worked fine in my printer!
Of note, the more popular carts, HP and Lexmark, are supposedly going to be manufactured so that if you try to refill them or have them refilled, they won't work! The guy explained it to me like so:
There's a bladder that holds the ink, and normally it can be punctured in the proper spot (where the fill hole is) and it's not a problem. Once the new system is in place, there will be a little 2-piece sensor in the cart. One piece will be on the inside of the plastic cart body and the other on the bladder. They'll be perfectly aligned in the manufacturing process. When you try to puncture through the fill port, the bladder will shift ever so slightly, and the sensors will no longer be aligned. When you put the cart back in the printer, the printer won't recognize that it's there, so it won't let you print.
Has anyone else heard anything about this?
BTW, as far as recycling the carts, even if you don't have them refilled, you can turn them in for purchase credit at Staples. They used to give a free ream of paper for each one. Now you get a $3 "like cash" voucher toward a purchase. And Walgreens gives you 10 free prints for turning them in.
Chuck
Of note, the more popular carts, HP and Lexmark, are supposedly going to be manufactured so that if you try to refill them or have them refilled, they won't work! The guy explained it to me like so:
There's a bladder that holds the ink, and normally it can be punctured in the proper spot (where the fill hole is) and it's not a problem. Once the new system is in place, there will be a little 2-piece sensor in the cart. One piece will be on the inside of the plastic cart body and the other on the bladder. They'll be perfectly aligned in the manufacturing process. When you try to puncture through the fill port, the bladder will shift ever so slightly, and the sensors will no longer be aligned. When you put the cart back in the printer, the printer won't recognize that it's there, so it won't let you print.
Has anyone else heard anything about this?
BTW, as far as recycling the carts, even if you don't have them refilled, you can turn them in for purchase credit at Staples. They used to give a free ream of paper for each one. Now you get a $3 "like cash" voucher toward a purchase. And Walgreens gives you 10 free prints for turning them in.
Chuck
I've got an old Laserjet 4 that I use for mass quantities of B&W printing. But it jams occasionally and is a power hog. Also, it has only a parallel port, and newer computers seem to lack parallel ports.
I might pop for a color laserjet the next time one rolls around to Costco again. I really don't like inkjets.
I might pop for a color laserjet the next time one rolls around to Costco again. I really don't like inkjets.
nurdlinger
Well-known member
it has only a parallel port
HP made a nifty gadget called a "Jet Direct" which will expose an upstream ethernet port, and a downstream parallel port. This effectively networks your parallel port printer. You can usually find them on eBay, just need to be careful to get the parallel-port variant, because other models provide downstream connections for USB printers.
HP made a nifty gadget called a "Jet Direct" which will expose an upstream ethernet port, and a downstream parallel port. This effectively networks your parallel port printer. You can usually find them on eBay, just need to be careful to get the parallel-port variant, because other models provide downstream connections for USB printers.
autowasherfreak
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Parallel Printers
There is a cable that is USB at one end and parallel at the other. I haven't tried it yet, the price is $45 to $50 that's why I haven't tried it. The majority of my printers are older laser and dot matrix machines that are parallel only. I dread getting a new computer with only USB ports. My roommate has a new Dell, and there are no PS2 ports or USB ports on it at all. I had to get him a adapter so he could use his PS2 mouse and PS2 keyboard.
The times they are a changing I guess.
Jim
There is a cable that is USB at one end and parallel at the other. I haven't tried it yet, the price is $45 to $50 that's why I haven't tried it. The majority of my printers are older laser and dot matrix machines that are parallel only. I dread getting a new computer with only USB ports. My roommate has a new Dell, and there are no PS2 ports or USB ports on it at all. I had to get him a adapter so he could use his PS2 mouse and PS2 keyboard.
The times they are a changing I guess.
Jim
SmartChips
We use Epson 4800's, 4880's, 9800's and 9880's at work. They all come with the "Smart Chip" technology. They can't be refilled. (Then again, we use them for contract color proofing of printed pieces...we have to be 100% positive of the ink that's in those cartridges.)
Even their waste tanks, smart chip technology. On our old proofers, we could just empty the wast tanks and put them back in...not on the Epson's!
Jeff
We use Epson 4800's, 4880's, 9800's and 9880's at work. They all come with the "Smart Chip" technology. They can't be refilled. (Then again, we use them for contract color proofing of printed pieces...we have to be 100% positive of the ink that's in those cartridges.)
Even their waste tanks, smart chip technology. On our old proofers, we could just empty the wast tanks and put them back in...not on the Epson's!
Jeff
Inexpensive USB to Parallel
Check out MonoPrice.com for an inexpensive, high quality cable. One of the major magazines buy all the cables for their testing from them. Check about halfway down the page.
Lisa
Check out MonoPrice.com for an inexpensive, high quality cable. One of the major magazines buy all the cables for their testing from them. Check about halfway down the page.
Lisa
autowasherfreak
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Thanks Lisa!
That is a lot cheaper than the ones I've seen in OfficeMax and Office Depot. I will have to bookmark that page for if and when I get a new computer.
James
That is a lot cheaper than the ones I've seen in OfficeMax and Office Depot. I will have to bookmark that page for if and when I get a new computer.
James
nurdlinger
Well-known member
JetDirect clarification
A whole lotta products are called JetDirect, and there are over 700 on eBay right now. The particular one that I have, for a parallel-interfaced printer, is model 300X (J3263A). There's 40-odd of these on eBay, $8-15.
A whole lotta products are called JetDirect, and there are over 700 on eBay right now. The particular one that I have, for a parallel-interfaced printer, is model 300X (J3263A). There's 40-odd of these on eBay, $8-15.
whitekingd
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I used to be a printer repairman.
Never, ever, refill your inkjet cartridges on your own. So many, many printers came in to the shop with customer refilled cartridges that leaked all over inside the machine. It is a horrible mess that is time consuming and expensive to clean up. I don't know about the Walgreen's refilling of cartridges. They started that after I got out of the business. I would recommend you buy the original factory cartridges, just to be safe. HP cartridges have the print head built in, so, even if you refill them, they will only last so long. Just buy new. I do!
Never, ever, refill your inkjet cartridges on your own. So many, many printers came in to the shop with customer refilled cartridges that leaked all over inside the machine. It is a horrible mess that is time consuming and expensive to clean up. I don't know about the Walgreen's refilling of cartridges. They started that after I got out of the business. I would recommend you buy the original factory cartridges, just to be safe. HP cartridges have the print head built in, so, even if you refill them, they will only last so long. Just buy new. I do!
perc-o-prince
Well-known member
HP cartridges have the print head built in, so, even if you
I'm lucky in that mine is on its 2nd refill and doing fine. Maybe it won't make another!
But, where can you get cartridges at a decent price (other than fleabay)? $30-33 for a black HP #16 cart is ridiculous! I've seen the new Kodak printers, and their claim to fame is that their carts are something like $10 and give the same number of prints (I think I have that right). Anyone try one of those yet?
Chuck
I'm lucky in that mine is on its 2nd refill and doing fine. Maybe it won't make another!
But, where can you get cartridges at a decent price (other than fleabay)? $30-33 for a black HP #16 cart is ridiculous! I've seen the new Kodak printers, and their claim to fame is that their carts are something like $10 and give the same number of prints (I think I have that right). Anyone try one of those yet?
Chuck
neptunebob
Well-known member
It was "Today's Special" so I just had to get
I just bought the Kodak EasyShare 5500 printer (and copier, and fax, and scan, and -- orgasmatron?). Kodak claims that their cartridges do not cost so much. Anybody know about this unit? I will start to use it today and let you know.
I just bought the Kodak EasyShare 5500 printer (and copier, and fax, and scan, and -- orgasmatron?). Kodak claims that their cartridges do not cost so much. Anybody know about this unit? I will start to use it today and let you know.
