Inkjet Printer Ink

[n2ize]

I generally refill most of my HP ink cartridges manually. For the most part it works very well and saves considerable money on cartridges. On the down side it can be a bit messy at times and require patience, persistence, etc.

As an example , last night I printed a document with some colour in it and I noticed that I wasn't getting any colour. My black ink cart was fine, my colour cart was dead.

I started injecting fresh ink into it and, it took a LOT of ink. The cart had pretty much run dry. After refilling I put it back in the printer, and tested. Nothing... No colour printing. The refill had failed. Probably the print heads burned... right ? Wrong.

I soaked the print head part of the cartridge in hot water overnight. In the morning I dried it off, put it in the printer and gave a test. I noticed I was getting some colour. Very faint cyan and yellow was coming through. So, I pulled it out and soaked the print heads for a couple of hours in hot water. Put back into printer and I noticed I was now getting solid cyan and yellow but no red. Soaked it in hot water for another 2 hours. back into printer and I'm getting solid yellow and cyan and faint red. Pulled the cart again, soaked in hot water for another 2 and a half hours, put it back into printer and viola' !!! I am getting all three colours again, solid and like new. I ran a few cleaning cycles and ran an print head alignment and everything prints correct now. I'll take the time to run a cleaning cycle or two over the next couple days, just to make sure I keep the heads open. But otherwise it's working fine.

So, I've managed to breathe new life into what otherwise seemed like a dead colour cartridge. Refilling these things take more than just adding in ink. Sometimes it takes continued persistence. Just because it doesn't print after adding new ink doesn't always mean it's dead, The print head may be clogged, in which case soaking in warm or hot water may open them back up.

[HUGH]

Addition of a little alcohol or commercial detergent might help too.
The only reason I still buy manufacturer's original cartridges (old stock admittedly because they are cheaper) for a 5-tank printer is to maintain correct colour rendition for printing photographs.

[kb2vxa]

Ink jets also dry out from disuse so it's a good idea to print something, anything on a regular basis.

[n2ize]

Ink jets also dry out from disuse so it's a good idea to print something, anything on a regular basis.

Yes, very true. Good idea to print a test page or run a cleaning cycle now and then if the printer is seldom used.

[KC2UGV]

You might want to think about replacing the parking pad for your heads. Sounds like it's mucked up.

Most of the time, they shouldn't dry out, because they are parked (Unless unused for a LONG time). If the parking pad is mucked up from dry ink, etc; it wont keep it moist.