Experiences with refilling Printer cartridges - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: Leland_Gaunt
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: December 12, 2024, 11:31:07 am
content: hello gentlemen.After having a laserprinter for 10 years, i just bought a supercheap Canonprinter PIXMA TR4755i. I was under the impression that i only need to print a page a month anyway, just for official paperwork, not much. Now im very surprised of the quality-fotos this cheap breadbox puts out. With all the functions it has, i cant even see how they can sell it for 65 eu. We know the trick-they try to hook you on the ink. Even if you buy the cheapest option, which would be the XL cartridges from 3rd party producers, 1 Liter of ink is still over 1000eu.With a money-saving potential like this, its just natural people will mess with the cartridges. There are 2 methods to insert cheap ink into the cartridges, by drilling a hole or by opening the cartridge. Ive seen a couple of videos and am pretty confident i could easily do that.The worry i have is that is a pretty new printer, thats not that long in the market and i dont know which kind of new trickery they built in it to make sure it will make problems with cheap ink. The "ink is low" warning, you can deactivate it by holding down the stop button for 5 or 10 seconds. I assume it still works with this model. I have heard stories where people ruined the nozzles of the printer or they got clocked. Other are injecting cheap ink for years without problems.Knowing myself, i will most likely mess with it sooner or later. Can anybody share some experiences maybe?edit: the cartridges are the PG-575 and PG-576, by the way

author: elektryk
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: December 12, 2024, 11:43:35 am
content: QuoteThose cheap printers have nozzles integrated into the cartridge, so after clogging you can replace it and start over.There are also printers refillable by design, eg. Canon Pixma G3410 with GI-490 ink.btw I've replaced inkjet with (old HP) laserjet, in my case genuine HP61X with 10k yield will probably last forever.

author: Leland_Gaunt
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: December 12, 2024, 01:07:38 pm
content: so theres only anozzle in the cartridge? i thought there was a tube that would suck the ink to the nozzle inside the machine. If its only about the cartridge nozzle, that wouldnt worry me too much...hm.

author: elektryk
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: December 12, 2024, 01:39:21 pm
content: Does it look like this?

author: Leland_Gaunt
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: December 12, 2024, 02:03:19 pm
content: yeah, pretty much. Does the ink get out of that thing straight on the paper? Doesnt the ink have to be sucked out first into another nozzle? I really have no idea how that works.i think youre showing the black cartridge. On the colour cart., that thing, that channel/opening or what it is down there, is only about half as long.

author: elektryk
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: December 12, 2024, 02:40:21 pm
content: Quote from: Leland_Gaunt on December 12, 2024, 02:03:19 pmExactly.QuoteColor one may look a bit different, but it works the same way.

author: squadchannel
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: December 12, 2024, 02:41:13 pm
content: The cartridge(Canon) in the image shown by elektryk is an integrated head type cartridge.In this case, the head is in the cartridge, so the price of the printer itself is lower and the price of the cartridge is higher.Yes, it is refillable.A hole is drilled in the top of the cartridge and about 10mL is injected with a dropper.Ink should be fine as long as it is from Canon. Recently, a cartridge-less, bottle-type ink that can be set directly into the printer is available. I think it is also possible to suck it.If PG-575/576 is the same as 310/311, this ink does not have a chip that records the remaining ink level.Therefore, even if the printer is determined to be out of ink, it can continue to be used as is. In that case, the remaining ink level indicator should be grayed out on the computer.This is in Japan.p.s.In Japan, canon used to manufacture this type of printer, iP2700 I think.Interestingly, the price of the printer itself was cheaper than the price of the cartridges, which led to an interesting phenomenon: people didn't buy cartridges and replaced the printer when the ink ran out. For a while, the junk stores were flooded with iP2700s. At $5.

author: Leland_Gaunt
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: December 12, 2024, 03:20:50 pm
content: ok. I think id rather go for the "opening the cart. completely" option and glue it so its closed again. Yes, going with the original Canon Ink-Bottles might be safer. Its still orders of magnitude cheaper than cartridges. Allthough, im using non-Canon cartridges and they are fine. At least they are about 25-30% cheaper than Canons. I only bought 1 XL combipack black/colour for 42eu, hopefully my last.I think i might print some Fotos as decoration every now and then, the quality is really ok. If i didnt do that, my problem would probably be more like "How long does a cartridge last before it dries out", because an XL cartridge set would literally last several years for me.

author: elektryk
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: December 12, 2024, 03:30:13 pm
content: There is no need to remove the cover. Look under the sticker, there should be a few holes.

author: Leland_Gaunt
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: December 12, 2024, 10:05:46 pm
content: so let me ask one more time for the stupid XDif i use the old cartridges, the ones that were in the printer(They are called "Starters", they have a very small amount of ink) and mess with them, try to refill them...the worst thing that can happen is that the cartridges fail and its nozzle gets clokked, but not the printer?

author: elektryk
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: December 13, 2024, 06:01:42 am
content: Yes, nozzles in cartridges may be clogged, but you can still replace cartridges.

author: Leland_Gaunt
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: December 13, 2024, 11:40:31 pm
content: cool...if that works that printer was the best deal ever.