Cheap way to refill Lexmark inkjet cartridges..
(posted this over at Ars too.. i thought it might be useful for somebody here)
Difficulty level: Easy!
If you own a Lexmark inkjet, you will know that they really suck. Not only are their OS X drivers sh*tty, but the ink cartridges last all of 50 pages of text. To make things worse, for some mysterious reason, refills and refurbished cartridges don't seem to exist.
Anyway, i'm the sad owner of a Lexmark Z22, and my black cartridge (17G0050) ran out the other day, after a pathetically short lifespan.
A trip to Office Depot revealed that my only official option was to buy another, for $29 USD.
I decided there and then not to give Lexmark any more of my money, and found the cheapest Office Depot brand ink refill syringe, designed for Canon bubblejets (item #753-781). It was about $11. I knew that different printers use slightly different inks, and that the viscosity etc might not be right, but i took a chance and bought it anyway.
The kit is very simple.. just the syringe (actualy an 'accordion' bottle with a needle tip), and a little drill bit with a handle. I took the black cartridge out of the printer, dampened the nozzles with a drop of the ink from the syringe, and covered the nozzles very lightly with a piece of scotch tape. I also covered the electrical contacts with some tape.
Then i used the the drill to widen the tiny vent hole on the top of the cartridge, inserted the syringe (making sure it penetrated the sponge inside the cartridge) and started filling. The cartridge easily took the full contents of the syringe.
Then i carefully removed the tape, blotted the nozzles with some kleenex, and re-inserted it into the printer.
And it's been working perfectly for two days.
Hope someone else finds this useful.
-robo
ps. I was thinking about the widened vent hole.. it's probably fine, but if it keeps you up at night, i guess a piece of scotch tape over the hole with a pin-prick in it should be functionally similar to the original, smaller hole. But the new hole is still small, and i think it's probably A-OK.
Difficulty level: Easy!
If you own a Lexmark inkjet, you will know that they really suck. Not only are their OS X drivers sh*tty, but the ink cartridges last all of 50 pages of text. To make things worse, for some mysterious reason, refills and refurbished cartridges don't seem to exist.
Anyway, i'm the sad owner of a Lexmark Z22, and my black cartridge (17G0050) ran out the other day, after a pathetically short lifespan.
A trip to Office Depot revealed that my only official option was to buy another, for $29 USD.
I decided there and then not to give Lexmark any more of my money, and found the cheapest Office Depot brand ink refill syringe, designed for Canon bubblejets (item #753-781). It was about $11. I knew that different printers use slightly different inks, and that the viscosity etc might not be right, but i took a chance and bought it anyway.
The kit is very simple.. just the syringe (actualy an 'accordion' bottle with a needle tip), and a little drill bit with a handle. I took the black cartridge out of the printer, dampened the nozzles with a drop of the ink from the syringe, and covered the nozzles very lightly with a piece of scotch tape. I also covered the electrical contacts with some tape.
Then i used the the drill to widen the tiny vent hole on the top of the cartridge, inserted the syringe (making sure it penetrated the sponge inside the cartridge) and started filling. The cartridge easily took the full contents of the syringe.
Then i carefully removed the tape, blotted the nozzles with some kleenex, and re-inserted it into the printer.
And it's been working perfectly for two days.
Hope someone else finds this useful.
-robo
ps. I was thinking about the widened vent hole.. it's probably fine, but if it keeps you up at night, i guess a piece of scotch tape over the hole with a pin-prick in it should be functionally similar to the original, smaller hole. But the new hole is still small, and i think it's probably A-OK.
Comments
I refilled my epson stylus 600 for 3 years without any problems. My HP 840, however, got HOSED (post-warranty) by ink contaminants.