Keeping printer ink cartridges good

[DC_MC]

We are full time and are still in the Yuma area. I just bought new ink cartridges to do my taxes at the end of February. Today I tried to print and the black cartridge is barely printing. It’s not that hot in here cause we do run the air. How can I keep ink so I don’t have to buy a new one every time I try to print something. Anyway to rejuvenate this one?

[trail-explorer]

DC&MC wrote:
How can I keep ink so I don’t have to buy a new one every time I try to print something. Anyway to rejuvenate this one?

Throw out the inkjet printer and buy a small laser printer.
Toner last far longer than ink.

HP makes a bunch of compact laser printers.

Ink jet printers are the biggest scam ever in the printer world.

In the beginning, they were an affordable solution, but laser printers have dropped in price so much, they are my preference instead of an ink jet printer.
They are faster too.

[jcpainter]

Tom_M wrote:
Here's a link to an article comparing costs:

https://www.ldproducts.com/blog/pros-cons-of-inkjet-and-laser-printers/

Good article, thanks for sharing.

[Tom_M1]

I started out using inkjet printers, and like many, I had the issue of cartridges drying out or plugging up. I am now using a monochrome laser printer. If I need a color photo, it's much cheaper to go to some place such as Walmart. Here's a link to an article comparing costs:

https://www.ldproducts.com/blog/pros-cons-of-inkjet-and-laser-printers/

It may look like it's cheaper to just buy a new printer when the ink is used up, but keep in mind that typically they come with sample cartridges that only print a few pages.

[T18skyguy]

Gd,I didn't spill a drop filling my tanks. The bottles are cleverly designed such that you can hold them upside down and they wont leak. They only empty when inserted. What did make a mess was when I refilled the laser cartridge with powder. Powder is a lot harder to control than liquid in my opinion. I see you have been doing some homework on the tank printer. "Tanks" for all the good info. Now if you really want to save on ink, you need this app so it will only print the wording you want and not all the pics and sidebars. I use printwhatyoulike and love it. As far as the nozzles clogging- meh- whatever I'll deal with it. This thread is getting to be a tankless job. OK, one more, Tanks for the memories.

[RLS7201]

As an owner of an Epson 2500 series, ink jet tank printer, I can tell you that our printer resides in the MH and gets very little use but has worked when called into service for the last 18 months. No more dried up or empty cartridges. So my problems have been resolved with the Epson tank. No theory, just facts.

Richard

[Gdetrailer]

T18skyguy wrote:
I use my inkjet once a week for several pages, so clogging heads are no issue for me. But if I used it only once per month, has I have done in the past, I didn't have clogging issues then either. I agree lasers are superior in every way, except perhaps cost of cartridges. But I think the inkjet tank models are disrupting the cartridge business model. HP has also introduced a tank model now. Canon will have to follow especially since they are long regarded as the highest price cartridges per printed page.

You don't seem to get it.

Very few folks WILL be able to take "advantage" of bulk ink tanks in a printer.

What good is 6500 pages capability when you simply do not print enough pages to empty the tank BEFORE the ink in the tank dries or clogs.

For myself, 6500 pages would take me nearly 60 yrs, yeah, I rarely need to print in color.

I pretty much broke my family of printing everything and to print ONLY what IS NEEDED. For my needs I only need to print a couple of pages per YEAR and that is for my vehicle registration documents which I do online yearly for vehicles and every 5 yrs for trailers.

If it wasn't for my DDs school "projects" my HP 952 inkjet printer would not have had new cartridges installed recently.. Those were the first new cartridges I have had to buy in TWO YEARS and the only reason they HAD to be replaced was from LACK OF USE..

I was able to revive the cartridges a couple of times by removing the cartridges and letting them soak on several layers of wet paper towels..

I have been lucky with the HP952 printer, my first inkjet printer would clog if you didn't print at least one page every week.. This one I have been able to allow to sit unused for several months with no issue..

Because of how quick the ink clogs the print cartridge heads (which the print head IS integrated into the cartridges) I have serious doubts on just how well a tank based unit will store for long periods of disuse.

I suspect if the tank based print head clogs, it WILL result in your printer becoming a doorstop since I highly doubt the print heads will be offered as a reasonably priced replacement part..

I can't find ANY tank based printer which offers a replacement head..

Additionally, Epson states that you SHOULD use up any OPEN battle of ink within SIX MONTHS and the unopened bottles have a shelf life of only 3 yrs..

Then there IS the potential ink refilling mess to deal with, Yeah, in the past I reinked DOT Matrix printer ribbons, it was often messy, you WILL be shocked at just how little of ink it takes to get it all over your fingers, clothes and furniture.

They do also state that you should be careful when moving your tank based printer to prevent spills.. Epson even includes a plastic bag JUST FOR THAT PURPOSE.. I suspect that a tank based inkjet printer might not like the rocking and rolling that will happen in a RV environment.

As far as Laser printer cartridges being "expensive" goes, not ALL are expensive, in fact some are down right cheap to replace..

For example, I have a 20 yr old Okidata 10i monochrome laser, the replacement cartridges are $20 for OEM, get about 4K pages out of one toner. In that printer, the drum is separate from the toner refills. You only replace the drum when it's performance goes down. I have only had to replace that drum ONCE and that was because I got the printer used and it had been used by a business.

Brother lasers also use a separate drum and toner refill setup, and you can once again get those toners for around $20 and 4K-5K pages from a toner..

[T18skyguy]

I use my inkjet once a week for several pages, so clogging heads are no issue for me. But if I used it only once per month, has I have done in the past, I didn't have clogging issues then either. I agree lasers are superior in every way, except perhaps cost of cartridges. But I think the inkjet tank models are disrupting the cartridge business model. HP has also introduced a tank model now. Canon will have to follow especially since they are long regarded as the highest price cartridges per printed page.

[fj12ryder]

T18skyguy wrote:
There is no debate that lasers are faster and more quiet. I love mine. I personally have never experienced clogging heads on any of my ink jets, but it obviously happens. Buying 30 dollar printers with $40 dollar cartridges is a constant hassle, and you are quickly above the price of the tank models. Here's what the tank models will actually do "4000 pages of black ink, and 6500 pages of color" How much would you spend on a laser to get that? Plus Epson threw in another bottle of black in for a total of 8000 pages. So of course we have the issue of how long will the printer mechanically last, plus think of all the wasted time and gas going to buy cartridges. I was seriously considering a color laser, but for the limited amount of color I need I decided to give the tank a go. We'll see what happens and I'll give you an honest report on that.

Obviously if you have more ink the printer will print longer. The problem is what do you do with all that ink when the print heads get dried out and clog up? That is the issue discussed here. If you print a lot, it's not a problem, but if you only print a few pages every month or two... We gave up on inkjets because most of the time we didn't print enough to keep the print heads clean and unclogged. Then when we needed to print we got nothing. It wouldn't matter if we had 55 gallon drums of ink, if you can't get it on the paper what good is it? Our laser printer can sit for 3 or 4 months and print just as good as it did the last time we used it.

[T18skyguy]

Gdetrailer wrote:

T18skyguy wrote:
I have Samsung M2020 B&W laser printer thats awesome, and I refill the toner myself(check on youtube). For color I bought an Epson Ecotank on sale $279.00 (Costco) with the big tanks of ink, and they also included an extra black tank of ink. Works real well, not as fast as a laser, but faster than I expected. The tanks are suppose to provide thousands of pages. We'll see. But as far as inkjet goes, I can see they will all go to the tank model idea. The per page cost is a small fraction of the cartridge types. I can't see people sticking with cartridges.

No real "advantage" to an "ink tank" type inkjet printer, they cost more upfront but yet still have the issue of the print heads clogging/drying up due to non use. Not to mention, most folks buy on PRINTER PRICE, not OVERALL per page price..

Can easily buy complete NEW inkjet printers for $30 which is considerably less than most replacement ink cartridges vs a ink tank printer costing $297 with cheaper bulk ink refills..

Guess which one most folks WILL gravitate to? Yeah, the $30 inkjet which takes $40 cartridges and when they run out of ink they throw away the entire printer and buy another new one with a new cartridge..

We live in a throwaway society and printers are essentially expendable throwaway items.

Toss on top of that many people are lining up for the "auto ink refill" services some inkjet manufacturers are offering now days.. Yeah, some folks just don't get it.

For low/infrequent use, laser printers really are the way to go, no worry of toners drying up or clogged print heads.. Yeah, the toner and drums can add up, but hey, bet a laser printer TONER WILL still work in 30 yrs if you can find drivers for it.. Not so much for any ink based printer.

There is no debate that lasers are faster and more quiet. I love mine. I personally have never experienced clogging heads on any of my ink jets, but it obviously happens. Buying 30 dollar printers with $40 dollar cartridges is a constant hassle, and you are quickly above the price of the tank models. Here's what the tank models will actually do "4000 pages of black ink, and 6500 pages of color" How much would you spend on a laser to get that? Plus Epson threw in another bottle of black in for a total of 8000 pages. So of course we have the issue of how long will the printer mechanically last, plus think of all the wasted time and gas going to buy cartridges. I was seriously considering a color laser, but for the limited amount of color I need I decided to give the tank a go. We'll see what happens and I'll give you an honest report on that.

[Gdetrailer]

T18skyguy wrote:
I have Samsung M2020 B&W laser printer thats awesome, and I refill the toner myself(check on youtube). For color I bought an Epson Ecotank on sale $279.00 (Costco) with the big tanks of ink, and they also included an extra black tank of ink. Works real well, not as fast as a laser, but faster than I expected. The tanks are suppose to provide thousands of pages. We'll see. But as far as inkjet goes, I can see they will all go to the tank model idea. The per page cost is a small fraction of the cartridge types. I can't see people sticking with cartridges.

No real "advantage" to an "ink tank" type inkjet printer, they cost more upfront but yet still have the issue of the print heads clogging/drying up due to non use. Not to mention, most folks buy on PRINTER PRICE, not OVERALL per page price..

Can easily buy complete NEW inkjet printers for $30 which is considerably less than most replacement ink cartridges vs a ink tank printer costing $297 with cheaper bulk ink refills..

Guess which one most folks WILL gravitate to? Yeah, the $30 inkjet which takes $40 cartridges and when they run out of ink they throw away the entire printer and buy another new one with a new cartridge..

We live in a throwaway society and printers are essentially expendable throwaway items.

Toss on top of that many people are lining up for the "auto ink refill" services some inkjet manufacturers are offering now days.. Yeah, some folks just don't get it.

For low/infrequent use, laser printers really are the way to go, no worry of toners drying up or clogged print heads.. Yeah, the toner and drums can add up, but hey, bet a laser printer TONER WILL still work in 30 yrs if you can find drivers for it.. Not so much for any ink based printer.

[T18skyguy]

I have Samsung M2020 B&W laser printer thats awesome, and I refill the toner myself(check on youtube). For color I bought an Epson Ecotank on sale $279.00 (Costco) with the big tanks of ink, and they also included an extra black tank of ink. Works real well, not as fast as a laser, but faster than I expected. The tanks are suppose to provide thousands of pages. We'll see. But as far as inkjet goes, I can see they will all go to the tank model idea. The per page cost is a small fraction of the cartridge types. I can't see people sticking with cartridges.

[AsheGuy]

Oops.

[K_and_I]

time2roll wrote:
My Dell 1355 still working great but stays at home. I can't imagine there would be any harm to go on the road unless it fell off the table during a panic stop. I will not own another inkjet.

Thanks for the reply. I have a laser all-in-one at home, and an ink jet for photos, and I will not have an ink jet in the camper. I am just a little concerned about all the bouncing.

[time2roll]

My Dell 1355 still working great but stays at home. I can't imagine there would be any harm to go on the road unless it fell off the table during a panic stop. I will not own another inkjet.