Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Cut Printing Costs In Half With Refilled Printer Cartridges

By Donald Bressellford

An inkjet cartridge is the removable part of an inkjet printer that contains the ink used when printing. The ink cartridge can also contain the printing head itself.

There are both one color and multi-color reservoir cartridges depending on which model and/or manufacturer's printer is in question. Frequently manufacturers build in electronic contacts and microchips that tell the printer how the cartridge is performing.

Prior to printing anything, the ink level must be ascertained. If it is too low, ink may dry on the printing head and lead to sub-par prints. The ink must have a smooth flow in order to produce high quality prints.

To proper way to clean the dried ink from the printing head is to gently rub the head with isopropyl alcohol on a swab or paper towel.

Most of the time original manufacturer ink cartridges tend to be quite costly, so customers sought ways to extend the life of the original cartridges.

The costs of replacing ink cartridges, compared to the price of a brand new printer, amaze many consumers. Leading printer manufacturers like Hewlett Packard, Lexmark, Dell, Canon, Epson and Brother often lose money by selling cheap printers expecting to make their true profits selling the inkjet cartridges, known as consumables.

This means that they MUST get a premium price for their cartridges to make their business model work. To that end they try every conceivable way to convince consumers that only "their" cartridges are any good, and that they should only be used once. Some have also have taken legal action against companies that started to refill and recycle these cartridges rather than waste them.

The printer manufacturers lost their case and now seek other ways to create a monopoly on printer cartridges.

Now, many consumers are delighted by the savings they enjoy, when buying refilled or re-manufactured inkjet cartridges at a fraction of the cost charged by the manufacturing companies.

This new resource saves them both time and money and lets them print to their hearts content without breaking the bank. It also reduces unnecessary waste at landfills to the tune of hundreds of millions of cartridges.

A whole industry has grown up around ink cartridge refilling. Customers can find several qualities and types of refilling. However, some are safe and successful while other types can destroy the printer or produce sub-par prints.

It is essential that the refilling of these delicate cartridges is done by someone with the extensive training that ensures the job will be done correctly.

You also want to be sure that their reputation is excellent and that they offer a 100% satisfaction guarantee.

Generally speaking, Brother, Canon, Dell, HP, and Lexmark cartridges can be refilled, although some cartridges require the chip in the ink cartridge to be reset.

I hope you now realize that you can now do all the printing you've ever done and more, and still save a great deal of money and the environment, that's a win-win deal. - 15437

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