Computer stuff

[ewt]

The black ink on my printer has nearly run out, my printer keeps telling me. Print quality looks okay to me, at least for text and notation, and I can generally print stuff out on computers at uni if I'm desperate (but not if everyone else is also desperate!), but I guess I should start thinking about replacing ink.

I know that Tesco sells inkjet cartridge refill kits for not huge amounts of money. Is this worth messing about with, given that they're around a fiver and the new cartridges are likely to be closer to twenny quid? I'm inclined to say yes, but haven't actually done anything with this level of fiddliness before now. Any volunteers to help me out with it first time round? Also, once I have the refill kit which is basically a syringe and ink, can I do this without having to buy ink from Tesco again? Is it possible to just buy ink? I know my father used to replace his black cartridges with brown ink, very posh, for business stuff, and he had a syringe and a jar of ink to do this.

When I Grow Up I'll just get a laser printer but for the amount of printing I do now it really isn't worth it, the handly little two-in-one printer and scanner I have suits my needs quite well.

Comments

[rillaith.livejournal.com]

I had one, and it was great; the bottles of refill ink last for more ink refills than the cartridges in my case. Considering a refill was £20 for a pair of black/colour cartridges, and £s;25 for the refill kit, this was fine by me.

I've never used Tesco's refill kits, but it cna't be much harder than mine, which as very straightforward and had good instructions.

[dizze.livejournal.com]

The refill i used on my old printer was a combined syringe/ink jobby, once it was spent you just got a new one. It worked, 'nuff said.

My current HP printer has cartridges that cannot be refilled at all :( HP are particually evil when it comes to this sort of thing.

[pplfichi.livejournal.com]

It shouldn't be very difficult (but messy if you get it wrong!) but some cartridges by HP and Lexmark can't be refilled. A friend had to use a dremel to refill his but that was a long time ago. The old HP I used to have could be refilled with a syringe a couple of times before the cartridge started to screw up. I used to buy replacement ink off the net, a quick search shows there are places offering various quantities of ink by itself.

It's definalty worth refilling if you can, and if you can't most "compatible" cartridges are generally okay in my experience- the Lexmark ones a shop near me sells are good enough for the odd photograph on my old Lexmark..

[grishnak.livejournal.com]

not sure how it is around you, but here you can buy refilled for bout 1/5th of the "new" price (and they claim they will refund you if it doesnt work), in case you dont want smudgiefingers. And here the bookstores sell ink, so its just a matter of beating up the nearest junkie and steal his/her syringe and get jiggy with it ;) but in general an inkcartridge goes bad after something like 3 refills, then the head is more or less worn out. Another thing to waste energy on is that refills tend to dry up faster than originals, so if you are not printing alot remember to put the wittle storage cap on the cartridge.

Grish_ blackfingers
yup been there ... done that .. messed up alot hehe.. my livingroom floor is still green someplaces