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The number one refilling problem is waiting too long to refill your cartridge. If you run out of ink, leave your cartridge in the printer. Don't let your cartridge dry out. Inside just about all inkjet cartridges with a built-in print head, there is a foam sponge. When the cartridge runs out of ink, the sponge may dry up and go hard, especially when the cartridge is removed from the printer.
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Once the sponge has hardened the cartridge is "done for". Even if you refill the cartridge before the sponge becomes useless, dried ink can clog the microscopic holes (jets) in the print head. It's always better to refill the cartridge before it runs dry. Topping off the cartridge every 200-300 sheets ensures that the cartridge always has ink in it to stop the sponge from drying out, and preventing you from running out of ink in the middle of a job. The print head of an ink jet cartridge can reach temperatures of 500 degrees and the ink itself serves as a coolant, so allowing the cartridge to run dry can destroy the print head.
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If you are out of refill ink supplies and want to preserve, your cartridge for future refilling, wrap your cartridge in a slightly moist paper towel or cloth and seal it in tightly a plastic baggie. Remember to get as much air out of the baggie as possible.
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If you've refilled a cartridge and find that it's clogged up and won't print, there is something you can try before discarding it. Place the print head of the cartridge (just the nozzles where the ink comes out) in a small bowl containing roughly a half-cup of very hot water and hold it there for five minutes. In some cases this will dissolve the dried ink that's obstructing the nozzles, and, if it works, you should see a little ink bleeding from the print head into the water. This procedure can be repeated two or three times if you wish. Once it looks as though the nozzles have been unclogged, you should gently wipe off the entire cartridge, especially the copper electrical contacts, with alcohol on a soft, lint-free cloth, insert the cartridge into your printer, and run it's print head cleaning cycle (consult your printer's manual if necessary) before you try printing. If this doesn't fix it, you should discard the cartridge but you may wish to recover the ink from it first.
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| Keep The Print Head Clean |
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Care needs to be taken to ensure that the print head is kept clean in order to stop ink clogging in the print head. Some printers (Hewlett Packard for example) don't do a very thorough job of cleaning the print head when you run their normal cleaning cycle. Deposits of ink can build up on the print head, causing the cartridge to function poorly. You can help circumvent this problem by occasionally cleaning the print head with a soft cotton cloth or Q-tip (doesn't use tissues and be gentle) dipped in water. Snap the cartridge in and out a couple times to get a good connection after cleaning. Keeping the print head clean will result in a maximum number of successful refills. You can also purchase Inkjet Printer Cleaning Kits to aid you in this.
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| Preventing "Color Mixing" When Refilling |
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When refilling a three color (or more) cartridge, there is a chance that you can have the cartridge turned the wrong way and get the colors on the ends backwards. In other words, you might put the magenta ink in the cyan chamber. To avoid this from happening and ruining your cartridge: use three tooth picks and insert one of them into each fill hole, deep enough to pick up some ink. Mark the cartridge with a marker or piece of tape to help you remember which chamber is which color.
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Warning when refilling color cartridges be sure to follow the instructions provided with your refill kit very carefully. Some manufacturers (I hate to be redundant, but, HP for example) may have misleading information attached to the cartridge.
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| Do Not Run Back-to-Back Cleaning Cycles |
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Give the cartridge a chance to let some ink flow in between cleaning cycles. This will purge air bubbles or foamy ink that a cleaning cycle may have created. Print a test page or a color-balanced image. If the printing quality hasn't improved, run another cleaning cycle and test it again. Repeat the process as often as needed.
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| Purge the Cartridge |
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Purging the cartridge regularly is one of the most important steps in ensuring a long cartridge life. The purging cycle is not the same as the cleaning cycle. If you don't know how to do this, read your printer manual, it's all in there. The purge cycle consists of a process that heats all the jets in the cartridge and then cleans them from the inside out. All purge cycles produce a grid that consists of vertical and horizontal lines that represent all the jets in the cartridge.
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| Prevent Print head Burnout (HP and Lexmark cartridge types) |
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One of the most common causes of printer cartridge failure is print head burnout. When the command is given for an inkjet nozzle to "print" many things happen; ink has been brought to the "firing chamber" by a combination of gravity, capillary action, and vacuum caused by the last firing. The circuitry applies current to the heating resistor that rapidly heats the ink in the chamber, causing it to expand. This quick expansion forces ink to shoot through the print head nozzle onto the paper. There are over 200 of these microscopic expansion chambers on the end of a typical printer cartridge. The ink that flows through them also serves to cool them off. The resistor that heats the ink achieves very high temperatures and without the cooling action of the ink, the print head very rapidly begins to deteriorate. Printing even part of a page with no ink in the cartridge can permanently damage the print head. Most printers will warn you of a low cartridge before it completely run out of ink. At the first sign of low ink, refill your cartridge to ensure a long refillable life.
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| Late model printers may offer an "ink level gauge". |
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Be aware that this software "gauges" are not accurate measures of the ink level in the cartridge and should not be trusted. For this reason we suggest that you top off your cartridges on a regular basis. If you know that you use a cartridge every 2 months, refill every month. Place a sticky note on your printer to remind you when to next refill. If you rely on your printer ink level gauge, be sure to refill before the 'out of ink indicator' pops up. Note: if you have ink left over don't worry, it'll keep.
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| Pressure Equalization |
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When some cartridges are refilled the cartridge many require time to re-establish internal equilibrium. Some may require you to re-pressurize them with a plastic squeeze bottle while others require only time to stabilize before being inserted into the printer. Your ink should have specially designed printer refill kits, which provide for refilling through the outlet hole on the bottom of the tank rather than filling through a hole in the top. This superior refilling method greatly reduces the amount of foaming (bubbles) within the tank.
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