Refilling Ink Without Dipping Further Into the Green
Getting an inkjet printer for about $100 seems like one of the true bargains of the digital age--until you find out it costs $30 to replace an ink cartridge. But there’s good news for the thrifty: Kits allow you to refill both your black and color cartridges for a fraction of the cost of a new one.
The kits are relatively easy to use and available both online and at office-supply stores. But these things might not be for everybody. It’s a bit like changing your car’s oil yourself--you’ll save money, but expect to get your hands dirty.
Most inkjet cartridges are designed to be thrown away after each use, providing a steady stream of profits for printer manufacturers. The kits enable you to override that design flaw, but the level of difficulty varies by printer, and you’ll want to follow the instructions carefully to avoid a leaky cartridge.
I tested two refill systems for my Hewlett-Packard 600C color inkjet printer: the Dataproducts Corp. Color Inkjet Refill Kit (https://www.dpcsupplies.com) and the Re-Ink-Kit by Definitive Data Solutions (https://www.reinkkit.com).
Both companies had kits specifically designed for the HP 51629A and 51649A cartridges used by my printer. I also ordered a one-size-fits-all kit online after being hit with an Internet mass-mailing. More on that later.
Like most HP inkjet printers, the ink cartridge also serves as the print head, which means it can be refilled only three to five times before the print head wears out and you need to buy a new cartridge.
The Dataproducts refill kit, which retails for about $33, comes with vials of the three hues used in the color cartridge--magenta, cyan and yellow. There’s enough ink for four refills.
The kit also comes with a screw-driven “cracker” to pop the top off your existing cartridge and a replacement cap.
The Re-Ink-Kit costs more--$45, plus an extra $6.95 for the cap popper--but it comes with both black and color ink. There’s enough ink to refill your black cartridge twice, plus nine or 10 color refills.
There are only a few small differences between the two products. The Re-Ink-Kit, for example, comes with bottles of ink and syringe needles to inject the ink. Dataproducts supplies the ink in containers topped with a built-in needle. I thought the syringe gave slightly better control in dispensing ink.
Another difference is that the Dataproducts kit comes with a replacement cap to put on top of your cartridge after you refill it. With the Re-Ink-Kit, you have to reattach your old top with black electrical tape, which is not included. I had some in my toolbox, and it worked fine, but it would have been good to know up front that you’re going to need it.
There are different procedures for refilling color and black cartridges. In both cases, though, some words to the wise: Do this in a garage, on a patio or over a kitchen counter covered with plastic or newspaper. Trust me, you don’t want to do this over a coffee table in the living room. And if you can, put on a pair of plastic gloves. If you spill ink on your hands, the manufacturers recommend removing it with bleach. I decided to try laundry detergent first and got most of it off.
Refilling the color cartridge entails removing the top with that special cracker tool. It’s like a vise; you put the cartridge in the middle and turn the screw until the pressure pops the top off. Exposed, the top of the cartridge shows a white foam top with dots of magenta, cyan and yellow ink. Stick the needle in the color for each one and squeeze in some ink. When you’re done, clip the top back on with tape or use the new top, and you’re ready to install the cartridge in the printer.
The process seems easy, but when I reinstalled the cartridge and printed out a color page, the sheet rolled out blank. Obviously, I had done something wrong. Or maybe not.
The trouble-shooting guides with both kits noted that ink cartridges can dry out over time when they are not being used. To tell you the truth, I couldn’t remember the last time I used the color cartridge.
Following instructions contained in both kits, I first tried blotting the cartridge with a damp paper towel to draw the ink out. That got the cartridge to print, but in magenta only. I then tried soaking the cartridge in a saucer of water for 10 minutes. That worked--sort of. The sheet now printed out in different, but muted, colors. The cartridge apparently had been dry for too long, and to get sharp color quality I’d have to buy a new one.
Refilling the ink in the black cartridge is a lot messier. Instead of popping off the top, you essentially drill a hole in the top of the cartridge to inject the ink. But because the cartridge is pressurized, there are some critical steps to follow--and no matter what you do, there is going to be some leakage.
The first step is to cover an air hole in the bottom of the cartridge with a small piece of electrical tape. Then, you turn it over and use a small screw to drill a hole for the injection needle.
Whenever there is the least bit of ambiguity in instructions, I can always be counted on to make the wrong decision, and it was no exception here. The instructions said use the “small self-tapping screw” to drill the hole. There were two small screws in the kit; one had an unusual tip, so I presumed that was the self-tapping screw. Wrong. As I figured out later, and as common sense should have told me, the smaller screw was to tap and the larger screw to plug. No matter--even after making a bigger hole than needed, the large screw tapped and plugged just fine. Still, the instructions could have saved me the error by saying use the “smaller screw” to tap the cartridge.
Once you’ve tapped the hole, you fill up the ink as before. Then, plug the hole with the screw and remove the tape covering the hole. Careful! Ink starts to percolate from the vent hole, so have some paper towels underneath the cartridge.
There’s one last step--re-pressurizing the cartridge. Using a syringe, you push 5 cubic centimeters of air into the chamber through the vent hole on the top of the cartridge. After waiting the recommended 10 minutes to ensure successful pressurization, you reinstall the cartridge. The black printed cleanly on my first try.
In addition to those two kits, I also checked out a $29.95 universal refill kit by Filljet that I discovered through some junk e-mail. It is similar to the other two but comes with a CD-ROM that has instructional video that shows you how to refill various models.
That’s a nice touch, but there was a problem with this system: The video tells you to use the supplied air bottle to re-pressurize your black cartridge, but the air bottle didn’t come with my kit. And the printed instructions didn’t even mention the need to re-pressurize the unit.
From using the other kits, I guessed that you could use the syringe and a plastic nozzle in the kit to recharge the cartridge. A call to Filljet’s toll-free support number (answered on the first ring!) quickly confirmed this. And without being asked, the techie told me to refer to the updated online manual, which does mention the need to recharge the cartridge.
Hewlett-Packard, by the way, does not recommend using a refill kit. The company said in a statement that its “print head nozzles are designed to work precisely with HP’s patented ink formulations,” and that “it’s not clear what the long-term effects of third-party inks might be on print heads and other mechanisms inside the printer.”
Then again, if you’re spending more on ink than you are on a printer, you might not be so concerned about the long-term effects.
Like most do-it-yourself projects, this is something that will be easier and faster the next time you do it. And once you have the kit, you can save more money by just buying the ink. Definitive Data sells a quart of black ink for $92, enabling you to refill cartridges for $3 a pop. (Dataproducts, by comparison, sells only the kits.)
The downside is you could have a leaky cartridge that could wreck your printer if you don’t do it right. Dataproducts includes a warranty that if a defect in its product causes printer damage, it will repair or replace it. Chances are, though, that any damage would most likely stem from a mistake in the refilling process. And no one’s going to pay to replace your carpet if you happen to spill ink on the floor.
Still, if you do a lot of printing and have a modicum of hand-eye coordination, this is one way to save a lot of money.
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John Corrigan is an assistant Business editor of The Times.
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The Skinny
Color Inkjet Refill Kit
Price: $33
Manufacturer: Dataproducts
The good: Cheaper than buying a new cartridge
The bad: Messy, but that’s true for all of them
Bottom line: Takes some practice
Re-Ink Kit
Price: $45
Manufacturer: Definitive Data Solutions
The good: Comes with black ink too
The bad: Caps cost extra
Bottom line: Our choice
Universal Refill Kit
Price: $30
Manufacturer: Filljet
The good: Cheapest of the bunch
The bad: Unclear printed instructions
Bottom line: The budget choice
