An inkjet cartridge is the replaceable component of an inkjet printer that contains the ink used when printing. The ink cartridge can also contain the print head itself. Every ink cartridge is made up from one or more partitioned ink reservoirs and some producers also insert electronic contacts and a chip that transmits information to the printer.
The printing depends on the smooth flow of ink, which can be hindered if the ink begins to dry at the print head, as can happen when an ink level becomes low. Dried ink can be cleaned from a cartridge print head by rubbing gently with isopropyl alcohol on a swab or folded paper towel.
Most of the time ink cartridges tend to be quite expensive, so customers started to use "compatible" ink cartridges. These cartridges are produced by companies other than the printer manufacturers. Compatible ink cartridges can come at the same quality as the original ones, depending on the manufacturing company. However, all compatible ink cartridges are cheaper than original ones. Many people use modified printers that allow the use of continuous ink systems. These printers use ink from external ink tanks. People can also use aftermarket inks to refill their cartridges, or take them to local refillers.
Customers are often amazed of how much it costs to replace their printer cartridges compared with the price of a brand new printer. Major printer manufacturers such as Hewlett Packard, Lexmark, Dell, Canon, Epson and Brother often loose money selling cheap printers. To recover the losses and make a profit, they sell very expensive cartridges over the life span of the printer. Because many printer manufacturers rely on selling ink and toner cartridges, some of these companies have taken action against aftermarket cartridges. Some of them even took legal action against companies manufacturing aftermarket cartridges.
Recently, many printer owners prefer to refill their used cartridges or even buy remanufactured cartridges from third parties rather than buying expensive new cartridges. Since they only need to buy the ink and a few other small raw materials, it is much cheaper and quality is almost the same. Customers can find different qualities and types of refilling. However, some of them can damage the printer and lead to low quality prints. People take their empty cartridges to refillers or remanufacturers, or simply buy store branded ink.
There is one more thing the consumer can do: refill their own cartridges. Most cartridges have instructions on how to use and refill on the Internet. Bulk ink sellers can also be found on the Internet. They offer pints, quarts, and even gallons of ink. One single pint (473 ml) can refill between 15 and 17 large cartridges (of 27 ml capacity).
Brother, Canon, Dell, HP, and Lexmark cartridges ink cartridges are very easy to refill manually. By using a simple syringe, you can fill some of them. All you need is ink. However, Epson cartridges are usually hard to refill and need a chip resetter. This tool resets the counter chip inside the cartridge. Refilling process can be messy as it involves handling ink directly. Some experience is needed to make the process as clean as possible.
Laser/toner cartridges found as "compatible" are, in most of the cases, refilled cartridges. However, you can find many third-party newly manufactured cartridges. On the other hand, inkjet cartridges sold as "compatible" are newly produced. "Remanufactured" inkjet cartridges have been used by consumers and then refilled by a third party. Be very careful what you buy. Used cartridges may not work as newly manufactured ones.
Andrew James can provide a great deal of interesting content about ink cartridges as well as information about other topics to do with printing consumables including inkjet cartridges
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