Turn Your Printer Into A Self-Filling Inkjet

Uh. Or you could buy a bottle of ink and a syringe. Many printers' ink cartridges have a little hole in them where the ink sponge is.

At my office we modded our HP Business Inkjet 1000 to be like this. we had someone do it for $40, and then we could buy 100ml ink bottles for just $4! It saves us TONS of money, since HP's 28ml ink cartridges costs around $25-$35

Rick-e

We've had a lot of problems with our continuous flow system on our Epson Stylus Pro 7800. I would advise caution if you live in a dry area (like New Mexico). However, Epson has a lock on the ink cartridge market and I wouldn't blame you for trying. I did.

AudreyErichthonius

I did something similar about a year ago for a student print office about a year ago. I did go the ebay route, but I have to say, the kit worked perfectly, and the long-term prices bumped down tremendously. So, if you're doing a ton of printing, it's really worth considering. At my place back home, I did it somewhat different. I just looked at printers which have those "grey" companies that make cheap cartridges. For example, I have a cannon IP2000, and I get 4 black cartridges for 5 euros at my local store; they come from a brand called "Pelikan". The print quality isn't staggering, but I mean, it's b/w, works great!

Bigby

@edosan: Agreed. Got myself a brother mfc-9440cn. Not cheap, but toner last sooo much longer than ink. If you need pictures, get them from Kodak or Shutterfly. I've had color ink jet printers - not worth the trouble (special inks, special papers, etc...). I keep my cheapo HP LaserJet 1300 for the bulk of my printing.

appleturnover

I don't think this is something I'd ever find myself doing. I honestly don't do a TON of printing, so shelling out $64/year for a toner cartridge for my mono laser printer is fine. Back when I had a color inkjet, I still only went through cartridges about once or twice a year. This just seems like a lot of work and has the potential to get pretty messy when the cartridges start to get dried out ink in them and you have to start cleaning the printer. I suppose if you're someone who goes through cartridges every month, there's a potential to save a bunch of money, but it really comes down to convenience for me :)

the problem with late is it destroys the very fabric of society. Hear me out soon we wont have to change ink then, we wont have to change paper then, well have self filling gas, soon we wont have to wipe our own butt! Technology to a degree is making man kind lazy..... A good mod none the less

Agreed. Lasers can't accomplish what ink and a good RIP can. Warning, though: Those little tubes dry up easy. If you're building a CIS--steam-punk or from a kit--you'll want to push a full-color page through daily. There are tray apps that push a full color spectrum page through daily for this. (And, yes, I'm aware of the irony with using ink to spend less on ink. I just lurk here!)

kilikopele

All I have to say about CIS systems is BUY QUALITY. Yes that $10 CIS system on Ebay looks like a great deal, but you will change your mind when two colors don't work at all and a third color works too well (think cyan ink squirting all over the paper everytime you try to print). After spending several hours fiddling with it and getting ink all over the place, you'll wish that you had paid a little more. Besides, even if it costs $300 in the long run it will still save you tons of money over cartridges.

jft135

@TheFu: Ahh right right. I've been thinking about it, the B&W Samsung laser printer, for school work and stuff. I didn't buy it, because I wanted to look online for reviews and stuff first. But reading from your comment, it sounds pretty amazing ^_^ A 1000 page toner should suffice for a year, I think.. And that 3000 page toner should be even better then! Haha, I wonder if I could finish my education with that toner XD

Joshiii-Kun

@Donkey_Pasta: not really. family of 6 here - the kid's district is project & presentation happy. with 4 kids that translates to a ton of color printing.

'i owe my soul to the ink jet cartel'

the_wiggle

Something like this is a huge help to those who print a lot of color... like for those people who print a lot of pictures. My father-in-law dabbles in photography and did this about 5 years back or so.

With color laser printers becoming so inexpensive, I recommend picking one up. Like others have said - they last a long time.

And now my father-in-law outsources his printing because of the price and time it takes to print at home. Printer calibration and set up takes a lot of time. It might be a better choice to outsource printing.

TownyArt

@OptionalJoystick: I just pull the cartridge and use a qtip or tissue with alcohol and I'm done. Preint a test page after to make sure everything still works after wards.

I know it isn't always possible, but I have found that printing is usually not needed. My son is in High School, so he needed the printer more than me. So I moved the printer to his room. Maybe once every few months, I need to go into his room to use the printer. Things that I used to print out, I have other solutions for now. Evernote, printing to PDF, etc.

Ryan Fisher

@edosan:
actually at med-high volumes, you can't compete with outsourcing. Once you start hitting their volume rates, you save big over doing it yourself. Plus the labor is practically free.

Delegation = major money savings.

ericesque

@PickledEgg: And that is why I never buy Lexmark printers. The printers are cheap and break down easy, the ink is cheaply-made, expensively-sold, and dries out like crazy, and the print quality leaves something to be desired.

I've had Epson and HP printers in the past and would recommend either one. Lately, I stick with HP for Linux compatibility. I hear Canons are nice too.

HeartBurnKid: Agent of R.O.A.C.H.

Just as an FYI, something that happened to me and it is a little bit OT but I want to share this.
I came w/ an HP printer from Germany to the States, did you guys know that they have something like region codes as you know from DVDs for ink + printer?
Sorry HP, I switched to Epson. (OK, I know that you can change the region code on the printer ~6 times, but I was not amused about this situation)

NBK1971

I suppose the intersection between people who are geeky enough to try this out and people who print out that much isn't that huge.

BangBang

makes me glad i got my CIS off ebay for my epson cx7400 for around $25. i also use laser printers for B/W printing. i get them for cheap or free after rebate and give them away as gifts once the toner cart is gone. i can't imagine using my laser printer to print any photos, even the thermal and inkjet photo printers i have, have the inkjet photos turn out better(all be it they have a shorter lifespan)

mcdavey

the Hewlett Packard 1012 I got for free from Office Depot (Rebates + Rebates + Rebates) 4 or 5 years ago is still going strong! I've pushed many boxes of paper through the thing, and I really hope it lasts forever! Toner lasts a good while, and its highly reliable. They no longer manufacture this model (probably for that reason!).

rdw200169

To the "get a colour laser printer" camp, it depends on WHAT you are printing.
If it is just web stuff, or business charts, then fine. But you won't get great photos (13x19) from a laserprinter. Additive colours (via toner) aren't good enough.
You need to have a decent inkjet for photos, along with proper paper (regular copier paper is a wick...and can lead to inkhead failure).
I prefer laser for B/W and inkjet for colour.

SigmundTheSeaMonster

It's a bit more expensive, but toner-based laserjets seem to be cheapest. The carts are expensive, sure, but they last forever. I have a tri-color HP color laserjet. I haven't had to change the toner in about 3 years

Patrick Plude

Laserjet + toner, kthxbai

I stick to black and white laser printer

@edosan: Agree 100%

GrapeofWrathNYC

A $50 laser printer is at least 10x cheaper, long term.

For me, I printed 20 pages every year, around April 14. By the next year, the ink was dried out and I'd have to spend $40 on more.

Then I bought a cheap samsung laser printer. After a few years, the 1000 sheet sample toner died. A 3,000 sheet was purchased and we're still using that 5 yrs later.

Heck, if you must have color for 10 pages a year, work out a deal with a neighbor or Kinkos and even at $1/pg, you'll still save money.

TheFu

I'd imagine this to have far to many opportunity for me to make a huge mess. I once stained my entire hand black for a week and made a stain on my table just by refilling a black cartridge.

Jordan10la

On a slightly related topic, is there a way to DIY a cleaning cartridge? I don't print often, so I waste a lot of time and ink cleaning the print heads.

OptionalJoystick

I don't print much, so this is definitely not worth it. When I do have to print something, I usually just do it at work. The home printer is basically a last resort. I've had my cartridges for a year now, and they are still 3/4 full.

As an aside, my last printer was a Lexmark and the ink cartridges would go dry after a few months whether you used them or not. I threw away oodles of full (but useless) cartridges.

I ditched it for a Brother, and they last forever. Big thumbs-up.

@Gonzie:
If it busts, just sell the print outs as artwork from some chimpanzee...you could afford a new one with the proceeds.

mac_daddy

if it goes wrong then this it's going to get messy!

I have a Canon MX318 AIO Printer and have a black + three colour ink tank attached. Previously, the ink tank was attached to my old Canon printer. The ink cartridges have now been in continual use for about 9 months with NO problems at all. I teach English privately in Thailand and use the printer to print exercise size sheets in full colour every day. I can buy 300 ml ink bottle for around US$9 for each colour, so the cost is really low. I have never tried this on anything but Canon, but I am really pleased with the results. If you do a lot of printing like I do, it is a huge saving on buying new cartdidges which cost around US$30 for a black or colour one.

apex2000

I have a Canon InkJet, and I've been re-filling OEM cartridges with ink for the past few months. I bought a kit for like $30 and it's still going strong. I've filled my inks at least 3 times and there's 60% left.

Only some printers allow this (and the self-filling inks are even a smaller portion.) I've gone to this site for helpful information: [www.nifty-stuff.com]

lilyHaze

Here's another guide:

Step one: buy a color laser printer.

Seriously, if you're going to do any serious amount of color printing, you should buy a color laser printer.

I'd buy a kit off ebay. But this looks like a tinker project taht would eat up too much of my time.

+1 for knowledge
-1 for lack of refinement

SloYerRoll

I don't really print out much stuff, especially not in color, but this just looks really complicated and laborious and just not really worth it... Especially considering the tutorials don't really cover nearly a small portion of printers.

pettiblay

This looks pretty cool, but you would have to be doing some serious color printing to require this.

Donkey_Pasta

this seems messy..ill pass..

Or just print your stuff at work :) Hey, I work at home, I can 'home' at work too.

doctor_cos

@SigmundTheSeaMonster: Agreed. Folks, if you're gonna print pictures, at least do it on photo paper. Your dad did. Damn right your dad did. I like the multiple printers approach, and if you network them all all your computers can use them. Very useful