Re-inking print cartridges - is it worth it?

[Paul Shields]

As we all know, printers are relatively cheap but the ink costs more than its weight in gold. In my never ending quest to find a cheaper alternative to the extortionate price of original manufacturers ink, I thought I'd give one of those 're-ink' packages that I often see on evilbay a go. I've documented the process for my own education:

The package is quite professional (I'd assumed some dodgy back street kit). For this exercise I was going to top up an HP 57 tri-colour cartridge. The kit contains the three inks, as well as three syringes



and a device in which the original cartridge is mounted.



You apply a sticker over the cartridge, which then enables you to insert the syringe in the appropriate hole for refilling. This is the first difficulty - you need to place the sticker right at the top of the cartridge otherwise the marker is not right over the hole. I got this slightly misaligned and had to angle the syringe much more than I had expected.


You then place the syringe in one of the bottles and draw the ink out. This part of the process is equally flawed - the rubber stopper in the ink bottle can't take the pressure of the syringe and drops into the bottom of the bottle (on all 3 occasions...).

Once the syringe is loaded, you just squeeze the ink into the cartridge (very slooowly)


It's a bit of a messy job, at least for me as this was my first attempt. The kit comes with disposable gloves, but being a real man I didn't bother with them (and currently have technicolor fingers).



Conclusion:

Well, it took 5 calibration runs (on plain paper) before the ink started flowing through correctly. I guess for a total cost of around £12 it's very good value, at least on paper (pun intended). There is enough ink to refill the cartridge 8 times, and a single HP57 cartridge is around £20, so you do the maths, as they say...

However, it's very messy and I'm not convinced it's going to do the printer any good. The printer itself still says that the cartridge is less than 10% full, so I'm concerned that it will still switch to backup mode and not use the newly filled cartridge. (To be honest, I'm partly hoping for printer meltdown so I can justify an Epson R2400, but that's another story ).

In the end, you pays your money and takes your choice...

[rpcrowe]

I agree that printer ink is costly. I hate paying the prices for genuine HP inks for my HP 7960 Photo Printer.

I have attempted to use generic ink cartridges which had been reloaded and which are available on the Internet, through Ebay.

My printer clogged up after I began using the generic ink cartridges. I attribute the clogging of the jets to the generic cartridges since it had never clogged before using them or since I have stopped theuse of generic cartridges.

Generically reloaded cartridges may be O.K. for Epson printers and even for other models or copies of HP printers but, I will not use them again on my printer.

[JDArt]

Excellent post, Paul. I too have tried these re-inking systems and, after much trial and tribulation, concluded that the cost savings were not worth 1) my time, 2) the hassle, and 3) potential damage to the print heads, and 4) the loss of warranty service that would result.

I print sparingly, unfortunately, and I also use an external service such as Mpix in addition to home printing.

[Blinky]

I haven't refilled cartridges but I do use an Epson 2200 with a continuous ink system. This is the one I use...
http://www.mediastreet.com/site/n2.html

It's not perfect, but their ink is very high quality and matched to Epson's UltraChrome. They provide color profiles for certain printers and papers with their inks too. If you get serious about this option, contact me— there are things you need to know first.

At least ink is no longer a major cost issue.

Chip

[Mr. Pickles]

I have refilled my Canon carts for years, and never had that type of mess you got there Paul. I have dribbled some PhotoMagenta on the carpet though. Looks like a murder took place in there.

I isn't rich, so I refill.

[Paul Shields]

Originally Posted by Mr. Pickles

I have refilled my Canon carts for years, and never had that type of mess you got there Paul. I have dribbled some PhotoMagenta on the carpet though. Looks like a murder took place in there.

I isn't rich, so I refill.

I'd be quite happy with refilling if the printer didn't still report less than 10% fulll. This particular printer will use the other inks in that case in 'backup' mode, which negates the process somewhat. I'm not sure why it's doing that (maybe it needs 'rechipping' or something?). Anyway, I'll persevere for a bit longer. The good thing about HP printers is that the print head is in the cartridge, so no real damage done as I can just buy a new cartridge if it doesn't work out.

[Blinky]

With the Epson P2200, I found a utility that will 'reset' the chips to zero until you reboot, maybe you can find something similar. The Niagara bulk ink system I'm using comes with 'always full' chips in the cartridges.

Chip

[bvaughn4]

Hi Paul

The cost of ink will make you reconsider the "I can do it myself" notion. However, I have been using refillable cartridges from inksupply.com for over a year in both an Epson 2200 and a C86. Have only used their black and white inks so can't speak to color yet. They are very helpful over the phone. It looked like they had the kits for your printer, but you may want to call to be sure.

I have gotten beautiful B&W prints from their Ultratone and EZ-N inksets. Printed on Hahnemuhle Photo Rag paper, I have been told by some really good photographers that they look equal if not better than chemically processed prints. It cost me about $100 to get set up for the 2200 and about $75 for the C86, but I have not bought ink in over a year, and I have printed quite a lot.

As far as the inklevel showing 10%, they have a "chip resetter" for the Epson printers that sells for about $15 to trick the cartridge into thinking it is new. Didn't see one for the HP but it may not be listed ont eh website. Give them a try before you give up.

I will also say that I just tried MPix and like another post in this forum, I was impressed with the quality and service. For color, I have almost decided to let someone else do it - mainly because I can't seem to get the colors right. Have tried different profiles, but so far they almost always seem a little off.

Just my $.02

Bill

[JohnJ80]

I just got one of their new Niagara IV CIS systems that I'm going to be installing this week. This looks very much different and much more finished than many of the CIS stuff out there. I'm really interested to see how this goes.

However, I did buy a set of their cartridges to evaluate the ink. The two papers that I tested so far are Ilford Galeria Smooth Pearl and Epson Prem Glossy using the profiles supplied and created by Mediastreet.

What I found, and in a nutshell is the following:

Ilford:
Very equivalent. Seemed like MS ink did better with greens and reds. Fleshtones were more natural. Other than that, very equivalent. differences were small. In point of fact using the MS ink with the profile for the paper using the OEM profile was actually pretty ok - would do for snapshot quality prints.

Epson Prem Glossy
Using OEM profiles with the OEM ink, the print was (predictably) very good. Using the MS supplied profile, at first I thought it was light on the Cyan but looking at the prints a week later, I think they are VERY close. I might add a touch of yellow or a touch of cyan to the profile but both are very nice and would be considered excellent. Changes were minor.

The ink savings are significant. A set of the inks is about $159 for all 8 in 4 oz bottles and is about 8 refills. So, the equivalent cost in epson will be about $700-800. So..... You can spend a lot of money on profiles (heck, buy your own Printfix Pro print profiling package) to make up for that.

I'll post more when I finish it.

J.

[Mr. Pickles]

Media Street has long been a reputable place. The Niagara system has been bought by many and most love the heck out of it. You don't really want to check a print right after it comes out of the printer, because it does need to dry and "cure". Some papers absorb ink at different speeds, and the inks themselves can certainly vary the process.

And if you don't have a good profile,a nd go experimenting and trying this paper with these settings, and so forth, and you get off by some margin. It is very hard to get back to acceptable without scrapping all you have done. You can waste a ton of paper, ink and money playing around tweaking.

[JohnJ80]

agree.

in my obsession with all of this, I'm probably going to get the Printfix Pro package to make my own profiles. from the agreement between the MS and OEM test prints, I think that with a custom profile FOR MY PRINTER, they will probably be pretty much dead on.

J.

[dlenos]

John,

I am considering the R1800 and MS Niagra IV ... is this what you have http://www.adorama.com/IMSR18004P.html - I ask because it mentions 7 4oz bottles not 8 - what am I missing?

Doug

[JohnJ80]

Yes, I believe that is what I have - only there are eight bottles as you have noted.

You might want do check a bit further on this - maybe it is only the description that is in error. The box I got was actually for the R800 (MS sent me the wrong thing - order entry issue) but only one bracket is different (they overnighted those to me). The box said that it was a N4 kit for the R800 - and it was a single box with all the inks, initial set up supplies and CIS.

J.

[JDArt]

Good thread--shows the pain and hassle involved in re-inking. My own experience with re-inking has been NEGATIVE, unfortunately. I blame the third-party inks for ruining print heads in two printers. When the inks weren't ruining heads, they were making color management a true headache. Unfortunately I cannot recommend re-inking, but I certainly hope I can be shown that it works as well as the oem inks. Ink is too damned expensive!

[TonyK]

Chip,

What things should one know before moving to the CFS on an Epson printer? I have a R800 and am thinking maybe of moving at some point.

Thanks,

Originally Posted by B

I haven't refilled cartridges but I do use an Epson 2200 with a continuous ink system. This is the one I use...
http://www.mediastreet.com/site/n2.html

It's not perfect, but their ink is very high quality and matched to Epson's UltraChrome. They provide color profiles for certain printers and papers with their inks too. If you get serious about this option, contact me— there are things you need to know first.

At least ink is no longer a major cost issue.

Chip

[TonyK]

Mr. Pickles,

Don't you and I know that from Sunday.

But with your help, and others, I resolved my R800 issue and have wonderful prints now.

Thanks,

Originally Posted by Mr. Pickles

Media Street has long been a reputable place. The Niagara system has been bought by many and most love the heck out of it. You don't really want to check a print right after it comes out of the printer, because it does need to dry and "cure". Some papers absorb ink at different speeds, and the inks themselves can certainly vary the process.

And if you don't have a good profile,a nd go experimenting and trying this paper with these settings, and so forth, and you get off by some margin. It is very hard to get back to acceptable without scrapping all you have done. You can waste a ton of paper, ink and money playing around tweaking.