Printer ink

  • Thread starter Thread starter Mr Pounder
  • Start date Start date
M

Mr Pounder

Forgive top posting.
I have a HP C7180 printer with an empty orange cartridge. When this happens
HP kindly stop all printing until you replace the cartridge. You can't even
just print in black, I tried all the tricks I could find on Google. Like
many others I am disgusted with HP. As I print very little the chances of a
new cartridge drying up seemed to be quite high. I probably won't print
anything for the next 12 months, and then some.
Then, I came across this:
http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/4564...alizing-ink-cartridges-with-a-water-infusion/
Not having a syringe, I used the red tube from a can of WD40, put some water
in my mouth and blew it into the cartridge.
The printer chucked death and destruction messages at me which I ignored,
but IT WORKS!!!!
Four test pages later it still works and if there is a difference in the
orange colour I can't see it.
This was four days ago. The printer has been powered down several times and
about 10 test pages printed without any problems.
 
Mr said:
Forgive top posting.
I have a HP C7180 printer with an empty orange cartridge. When this happens
HP kindly stop all printing until you replace the cartridge. You can't even
just print in black, I tried all the tricks I could find on Google. Like
many others I am disgusted with HP. As I print very little the chances of a
new cartridge drying up seemed to be quite high. I probably won't print
anything for the next 12 months, and then some.
Then, I came across this:
http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/4564...alizing-ink-cartridges-with-a-water-infusion/
Not having a syringe, I used the red tube from a can of WD40, put some water
in my mouth and blew it into the cartridge.
The printer chucked death and destruction messages at me which I ignored,
but IT WORKS!!!!
Four test pages later it still works and if there is a difference in the
orange colour I can't see it.
This was four days ago. The printer has been powered down several times and
about 10 test pages printed without any problems.
Click to expand...

I'm surprised it knows when no ink is coming out.

When my printer stopped printing one color, the printer
didn't even notice. So your HP design must be special, to
know there is no ink flow.

Inkjet design is surprisingly tricky. One of the tricky
parts, is pressure balance between the inside of the
cartridge and the outside. If too much of a pressure
difference exists, the cartridge won't print. Special
materials must be empirically tested inside the
cartridge, to hold the ink, to try to get the
pressure balancing right. So if you find a "foam"
material inside the cartridge, it's not there to
"cheat" you, it is there as a means to deliver
ink without the cartridge developing a vacuum inside.
I found a patent, defining materials that would
work for the application.

The droplets are "2 picoliters" in size, which means
the output pipe must be very small, for each dot produced.
And that's why, even wiping the outside surface of the
cartridge, could block the ports. It's a flimsy design
and a miracle it works at all.

Some printers, if you leave them connected to a power
source, "clean the heads" once a day. This can pump all
the ink out of your cartridge set, if left that way for
months on end. Yes, it probably keeps the printing ports
clean and open, but it wastes all the ink. If you don't
print a lot of color, that could be how some of the ink
got lost.

Paul
 
Paul said:
I'm surprised it knows when no ink is coming out.


When my printer stopped printing one color, the printer
didn't even notice. So your HP design must be special, to
know there is no ink flow.
Click to expand...
Inkjet design is surprisingly tricky. One of the tricky
parts, is pressure balance between the inside of the
cartridge and the outside. If too much of a pressure
difference exists, the cartridge won't print. Special
materials must be empirically tested inside the
cartridge, to hold the ink, to try to get the
pressure balancing right. So if you find a "foam"
material inside the cartridge, it's not there to
"cheat" you, it is there as a means to deliver
ink without the cartridge developing a vacuum inside.
I found a patent, defining materials that would
work for the application.

The droplets are "2 picoliters" in size, which means
the output pipe must be very small, for each dot produced.
And that's why, even wiping the outside surface of the
cartridge, could block the ports. It's a flimsy design
and a miracle it works at all.

Some printers, if you leave them connected to a power
source, "clean the heads" once a day. This can pump all
the ink out of your cartridge set, if left that way for
months on end. Yes, it probably keeps the printing ports
clean and open, but it wastes all the ink. If you don't
print a lot of color, that could be how some of the ink
got lost.
Click to expand...

The HP sales technique is well known. The printer is plugged in, not turned
on. I would have noticed if it cleaned the heads as it is very noisy when it
boots up.
I tried all the tricks I could find, nothing worked.
 
I solved this problem a couple of years ago by buying a relatively
inexpensive ($55?) Samsung monochrome laser printer. The printer
cartridge lasts for months and runs about $20 ea. For color I eventually
bought a Samsung color laser for a couple hundred and am still on the
first color cartridges. That all after paying for HP and clone inkjet
cartridges for years. Just like Gillette get them to buy the blades by
giving you the razer for free.

T2
 
I solved this problem a couple of years ago by buying a relatively
inexpensive ($55?) Samsung monochrome laser printer. The printer
cartridge lasts for months and runs about $20 ea.
Click to expand...

I did the same, bought a Samsung ML-2010 laser monochrome.
Refilled it at least 4 times, and it still prints fine. A refill costs
US$ 3, and is a bit messy, but nothing a pair of rubber gloves can't
handle.
A new cartridge costs over US$ 75 in Brazil, almost the same
price as a new printer (US$ 85), and the new ones come with a chip
that burns out if you do a refill.
[]'s
 
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