hh said:
Anyone refilled anyof the cartridges for the Photosmart 1100 printer, either
black or colored? Just wonder how that works out when you refill the
cartridges with ink. Anyone happy with it? I know it should be alot
cheape.
I fill the cartridges for my HP970 printers all the time and I believe
they use the same cartridges as the P1100. I'm very happy with the
results over the past 3 years. Currently ink costs about $2 per refill
and can be done on an average of 4 times to the color and 7 to the
black. Here's some tips-
Never, never, never run them dry. The ink keeps the resistors from
getting too hot and running out of ink will overheat and burn out the
resistors. Here are some micro photos of what happens when they burn out.
http://www.alotofthings.com/inkjetinformation/BurnItUp.htm
Never remove them from the printer and leave them uncapped. You should
refill them immediately or you can buy storage clips
http://www.reinkkit.com/AccessoriesDir/index.html and store them in zip
locks with a damp paper towel inside.
Don't wipe the ink off the print head, blot it, preferably with a low
lint paper towel.
Buy good ink, formulated for your printer, not generic.
I like MIS Associates at
http://www.inksupply.com.
The blacks fill real easy with a Snap and fill adapter.
http://www.inksupply.com/index.cfm?source=html/snapfill45.html
It's a lot quicker and cleaner then popping out the ball, and squeezing
the cartridge with a clamp. The adapter covers the print head and the
attached syringe is used to first collapse the foil bag inside and
removes the remaining ink. Then a full charge of ink (42ml) is injected
back in. This way the foil bag will always have a slight vacuum, which
keeps the ink from dripping out. If you are refilling a small capacity
black 21ml (45G) you can still inject a full 42 ml but remember to just
reset the level indicator the first time it shows empty with out
actually refilling it. I like to just write on the side of the cartridge
with a fine permanent marker to make it easier to keep track of refills
and resets.
The color refills are a little more involved. You have to drill out the
vent plugs on the top. I just push them into the cartridge with a pen.
Then you insert a long needle thru the foam interior to the bottom of
cartridge near the print head and slowly inject the proper color ink.
The key here is to avoid creating an air trap. That's why it's important
to get the needle to the bottom. The middle chamber has a screen inside
so the needle won't go as far. Don't force it or you will pop the screen
with the sharp needle tip. It's a lot easier if you have 3 syringes and
3 needles so you can complete the job without having to clean up in
between. The MIS kit comes with only one needle so buy a couple of extra
4" ones. Clean up is very easy with water but wear rubber gloves just in
case. After refilling I use the primer clip which works like a champ
to remove trapped air.
http://www.inksupply.com/index.cfm?source=html/hp_primer.html
If any of the colors are not printing cleanly you can purge by printing
just the primary color as required. I create a document in word that has
3 blocks of the colors and adjust the size of the blocks as needed, or
you can dl the 3 color one from this page.
http://www.alotofthings.com/supportforrefillers/primerpages.htm
After you refill you are going to have to reset the level indicator to
have the level correctly indicated. You can still print when it shows
empty but you risk burning out the resistors when the cartridge
eventually runs dry. This seems a waste since you can refill several
times if you are careful to avoid this. There are several methods to
accomplish this but I think the easiest it the 3 cartridge swap method
so save you old cartridges. In any case, whichever method is used, it is
not necessary to print a calibration page each time you swap cartridges
or tape positions. Just close the lid and wait for a second set of
printer feed sounds before reopening the lid. This has been covered
soooooooooo many times I'll just link some pages.
http://www.alotofthings.com/supportforrefillers/resettingthehpid.html
http://www.inksupply.com/index.cfm?source=html/970reset.html
Removing the color cartridge and turning the printer on and off four
times worked to reset my color level once but did not work on the black.
