What to do after refilling a printer cartridge?

[KhanAlf]

Original cartridge went dry so I went to my local drugstore, spotted a generic refill kit (syringe an all) and followed the instructions to refill. Pretty sure that I follwed it accurately too but still no luck with the printing, they come out as black pages. Now I just assumed that I waited to long to refill and that the ink dried up (been a few months since it stopped working) and it's time to just pony up for more expensive cartridges. My questions are :

1. Is there a method whereby I can "clean" the printer to maybe make this work? I have read it but not sure exactly what the directions are.

2. Where to order good, cheap generic ink? Personal experiences preferable.

Thanks for your advice

 

[egale]

Many years ago I went the ink refilling route. At the time, I had a Canon printer and each color was separate. I spent a lot of money on ink and syringes and when that didn't work too well, bought a lot of empties to fill.

When I reused existing cartridges, they worked maybe half the time. The new cartridges I filled myself did a little better, maybe 65%. I still threw away a ton of cartridges that didn't work. I got more clogs than with the oem ink, and refilling was super messy. I had to make sure the area I was working was covered and that I wore gloves.

To be honest, it wasn't worth it. Too much waste, too much hastle, too many headaches!

 

[KhanAlf]

Indeed, it seems to be a good idea. Any good online vendors you recommend?

 

[cheetoden]

Yea, I gave up on trying to refill them myself too. Sometimes worked, sometimes didn't. Mostly didn't. I think I waited too long to refill them and created a air bubble near the bottom. Going poor buying new ink carts, but they work.

 

[Zepper]

I notice in your list that you don't mention what printer you have. Any reason?? IAC, the printer mfr. should have a method for cleaning clogged print heads on it's web site - not like it's never been done before.
. A common one is to wet down some paper towel with warm water and set the cart with the nozzles down on the paper. More drastic measures involve putting a half inch of warm water in a glass container and dunking the heads in it for a while.
Others use rubbing alcohol for the dunk bath. The key is to never let your print nozzles run dry or set too long... I just did the first refill with generic ink on my new Epson C82 (magenta - yellow will be next ). Those chip resetters work neat. So far so good.
.bh.
:moon:

 

[Macro2]

Need to know what printer cartridges and printer you are using. The newer Canons that use BCI-3 and BCI 6 cartridges refill exceptionally well. If done the same cartridge over 100 refills and it still works.
I have a lot of experience with HP as well, enough to tell you forget HP.

Mac

 

[Abhi]

Try cleaning the head of the cartidge, via software/a button on the printer.

Repeat it a couple of times.

Also, best way to get a good refill is to fill the cartridge immediately after it goes dry. Best to keep a refill kit at home, prepared for when the ink runs out....
Have been refilling my HP cartridges this way, and never had a problem...

 

[KhanAlf]

The printer is a HP Deskjet 648C, it came with a HP Pavilion desktop. I am not sure even if it's worth refilling the damn thing, or just get a new printer with better quality and cheaper refills. Over time, I may be saving myself a lot of grief and money, especially in the long run. Thanks for all the advice