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You did see the title of the thread didn't you?
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I was browsing PC magazines at WHS this evening and the somewhat trashy weekly called MicroMart had a reference to cutting printer cartridge costs, "It's worth looking at Asda and Tesco when your printer runs out of ink. Both shops sell do-it-yourself kits that can be used to refill cartridges five or six times."
Has anyone successfully refilled ink cartridges? Any comments about print quality and whether they're value for money?
I saw a couple of YouTube videos showing the procedure and one showed how you replace the chip but that seems to be optional. Do these kits automatically include the chips as I suppose you'd need to buy ones compatible with your make of cartridge?
My cartridges (for some funny reason) always "run out" way ahead of printer usage which is no more than a few pages a month if that.
If there is one thing more dangerous than getting between a bear and her cubs it's getting between my wife and her chocolate.
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Used to do it, as HP cartridges were, are and likely will always be obscenely priced. This was many years ago before I said, "Elephant this, I'm buying a laser printer!"
Back then, I don't think there was a chip in the cartridge that kept count. I could refill 2-3 times before the print head started to lose quality. If all you do is print a little now and then, I'd look at a cheap laser. Of course, most of my stuff is just b/w.
Charlie Gilley
<italic>You're going to tell me what I want to know, or I'm going to beat you to death in your own house.
"Where liberty dwells, there is my country." B. Franklin, 1783
“They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” BF, 1759
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SeptimusEjjog 151576 wrote: My cartridges (for some funny reason) always "run out" way ahead of printer usage which is no more than a few pages a month if that.
Not funny, just built that way. The printer companies are living off of King Gillette's model these days[1].
I've refilled in the past. No need to update the chip, it's usually (for inkjet) a case of drill a small hole, then use a syringe to refill it. Much cheaper and quality is the same (at least as far as I could tell).
I haven't done it in a while as I've moved off of inkjet. I think I spent more time refilling than actually using the printer.
[1] Yes, he didn't invent that marketing strategy[^], but he is the most notable early user of it.
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TTFN - Kent
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As somewhat of an expert in such things...
Refilling cartridges is fine, as is buying 'compatibles' so long as it is for personal use or kids homework or the like.
In a professional setting I would advise against it.
The ink tends to be thinner and more prone to spatter.
Also the heads wear out over time or clog and render things rather messy.
Oddly enough, this tends to be less of a problem with laser toner.
I supply original and compatible toners and the price difference is substantial.
The compatibles are made by Xerox but white boxed. The quality is almost as good and I would recommend them for most uses.
(I would suggest that for HIGH quality uses, such as graphic design or architectural drawings etc to stick with originals).
---------------------------------
Obscurum per obscurius.
Ad astra per alas porci.
Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum videtur.
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Dalek Dave wrote: I supply original and compatible toners
Are you trying to get DD banned?
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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Thanks, DD. I've been toying with the idea of getting a laser printer to replace my inkjet. Our old HP printer at work has been complaining that we need to replace the toner for about three months but it keeps on printing and printing. 
If there is one thing more dangerous than getting between a bear and her cubs it's getting between my wife and her chocolate.
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I fitted my printer with one of these kits from Melco[^]. It was quite fiddly to get the ink flowing and the tubes positioned so as not to jam, but it worked fine after a (fairly extended) setup period.
My printer has been in storage since we moved house (only 10 months!) so I expect I'll have to go through a similar amount of cocking about to get it working again.
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You have a printer!
Never underestimate the power of human stupidity
RAH
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Are you trying to get DD banned?
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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Nope. But it irks me that the cost of cartridges for my Kodak ESP far outweighs the usage I get from them.
If there is one thing more dangerous than getting between a bear and her cubs it's getting between my wife and her chocolate.
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No argument there; I'm forever running out of ink and having to print stuff out at work (I never said that, and if you say I did, I'll deny it vehemently!)
I've got a refill kit, but I've never tried it out.
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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Yes it can be done, but my experience of it was it very quickly went pear shaped and wrecked the printer. Speaking with others they have had the same experience.
Personally I wouldn't bother now. Just look for a good source of cheap OEM inks. Speak to your local friendly Dalek and he may help you there!
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Dave, I usually take anything printed in MicroMart under caution.
If there is one thing more dangerous than getting between a bear and her cubs it's getting between my wife and her chocolate.
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As most of my printing is text files I ditched ink printers a while back and bought a b/w Laser from Brother - the quality is perfectly acceptable and if I don't use it for a while all I have to do is shake the toner cartridge a few times and all is fine - the cost of a new toner cartridge is £22 ( last time I checked ) and I still have 60% of toner left. No brainer for me. DD I will check your site for prices.
We can’t stop here, this is bat country - Hunter S Thompson RIP
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Waiting for the cost of printer cartridges to become so high that it will be more economic to just hire someone to type your stuff on an old Smith-Corona.
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Did a *lot* of refilling years ago. With Epson it is really easy, just get some bottles of compatible ink and syringe it in. At the time, I got a special little gadget that reset the ink counters on the cartridge chip back to 100% and was good to go.
The big problem is actually getting decent ink. Unfortunately, there seems to have been a race to the bottom in a large part of the market. Most of the ink you'll find on Ebay and the like is absolute rubbish. The black comes out green or is not very dark so grey shades on photos have a greenish tint. It is a common problem.
The ink I used to buy in Epson branded cartridges is really excellent but priced almost as much as a new printer for a full set of cartridges which is clearly very wrong.
Best advice I can give you is for B/W, get a laser. The cheap ones are mostly pretty good and far crisper for text than an inkjet can ever be. They are also usually a lot faster. For photos, take them to a local shop. In the long run, although a *bit* of a hassle, they will be better quality and longer lasting especially if they are generated using a photographic process.
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A short (~12 minute) documentary on one of the world's greatest problems. Safe for work and little sisters IMO, but I don't really have that much of a problem with the word. Still, the real title "encrypted" for the sensitive.
The ΑȓʂεНοɭę gene[^]
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TTFN - Kent
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Your encryption algorithm failed miserably.
I did enjoy the mocumentry though.
I had a good laugh. Thanks for posting.
"Rock journalism is people who can't write interviewing people who can't talk for people who can't read." Frank Zappa 1980
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http://www.engadget.com/2013/09/04/asus-zenbook-ux301-hands-on/[^]
Why does it take so long, I've been waiting all year! They are just teasing now. 
13.3" i7 haswell, 8gb ram, hi res touchscreen, SSD and GT7xx gpu it is certainly looking like the worthy winner (Samsung have let me down with the spec of their Ativ Book 9 Plus), so just Toshiba's KIRAbook to be finalised now released.
Think the Infinity is winning my purchase so far. (with my winnings from the Ultrabook Article competition earlier in the year no less!)
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Guy I work with got his yesterday. It is one slick piece of kit.
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Very nice! 
/ravi
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2560x1440? That's insane. I have a 30 inch monitor that runs at that resolution and I often find things too small on that.
Presuming that its just there to make everything supercrisp rather than fitting more on the screen I suppose its ok but I haven't really seen that on a PC. iPads, mobiles etc. yes.
Edit - thinking about it the 30inch is 2560x1600.
Regards,
Rob Philpott.
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Rob Philpott wrote: 2560x1440? That's insane. I have a 30 inch monitor that runs at that resolution and I often find things too small on that.
Presuming that its just there to make everything supercrisp rather than fitting more on the screen I suppose its ok but I haven't really seen that on a PC. iPads, mobiles etc. yes.
Exactly. Apple started the trend last year with the Retina Macbook Pro; a number of PC OEMs are now selling premium laptops with DPIs high enough for 2:1 resolution scaling now. There're still occasional problems[^] with apps that tell Windows "Yes I know how to scale myself to high DPI so don't do it for me" that only do so partially or not at all; but integer scaling has much fewer issues than other modes.
Edit: Ars did a more detailed review of the issue at one point; but I'm not finding it. The article I linked is mostly about win8.1 changes.
Did you ever see history portrayed as an old man with a wise brow and pulseless heart, waging all things in the balance of reason?
Is not rather the genius of history like an eternal, imploring maiden, full of fire, with a burning heart and flaming soul, humanly warm and humanly beautiful?
--Zachris Topelius
Training a telescope on one’s own belly button will only reveal lint. You like that? You go right on staring at it. I prefer looking at galaxies.
-- Sarah Hoyt
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You think that is insane? You obviously haven't seen the spec for the Samsung Aptiv Book 9 Plus @ 3200x1800! Shame the rest of the spec cpu/memory etc is poor.
See http://ultrabooknews.com/[^] for the current crop of ub's.
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