For the Computer Gurus

[xs11jack]

Is there any way to extend the storag life of printer cartridges?
Ole Jack

[williamwaco]

Since most of them are hermetically sealed from the factory, I assume you mean after you open them?

I don't think so. If you use them they run dry, If you don't use them they dry out.

You might be able to vacuum seal them with a kitchen type vacuum sealer.

I have also heard of freezing them but I would test that out on an old cartridge first.
Not sure what would happen.

[dbosman]

Toner or ink? Brand is a part of the equation as well.
Murphy comes in to the question as well. Right after you stock up on an cartridge for an older printer, the printer usually dies.

Toner in a sealed cartridge, in a sealed plastic bag can be stored for a very long time, in computer time. Which is several years. No one knows about decades as the printers or the computer system they connect to really haven't been in use all that long and they keep being obsoleted. Toner is also magnetic and subject to electromagnetic influences. So, don't store it near an electric welder or generator.

There are so many types of ink cartridges and ink printing systems that there isn't a simple answer.
Some inks are water based and might be frozen, but are better kept in a cool place not frozen.
Some inks are solvent based and won't benefit from freezing or cold storage.
Some inks are UV cured and rarely used in home offices.
Worst, some ink cartridges have a date coded chip to prevent their use, past their prime. Prime being a date the manufacture decides.

Some ink cartridges are actually just ink tanks, that snap into a print head.
Some ink cartridges have sponges of various sorts, some of which are materials that deteriorate over time.

Your real problem with ink, is the print head. The holes or nozzles are microscopic and clog over time, with or without humidity, due to heat, due to over use or under use.

[xs11jack]

Ah, I left out some info, I guess. These are partly used HP ink jet cartridges.
Ole Jack

[dbosman]

HP is one of the companies that puts chips in their cartridges. On the good side they also have built in print nozzles so the printer gets a fresh print head at each cartridge change. The bad side of that, is the ink in the old cartridge could be drying and plugging the nozzles.

Since you're here, you're obviously willing to do some work. You -could- disassemble some of the cartridges and remove the ink, and top off another cartridge. Simplistically, find the spot to drill, then suck the ink out with a syringe. Inject in the correct location in the one you top off.
There are videos online showing how to refill a lot of different brands and types of cartridges.
Some HP printers can be modified so the chip technology can be fooled or bypassed.

Depending on the model, the cartridges may be worth a dollar or three at a commercial refill shop. We had one locally for a while, named Cartridge World.

[xs11jack]

I used to refill Lexmark cartridges a long time ago, and have one jug of black left. I could try filling one that is low or the program says is empty. I have a couple of HP 8100 series printers and they will use a used cartridge well enough. I work with a scrapper and we get old printers frequenty that still have ink and I just thought I could save a bunch of them so as not to have to buy new ones. One thought I had was setting the cartridge in a shallow pan with a bit of alcohol in it to clean away the dried ink in the nozzles. I haven't tried it yet. So far I haven't had to buy a cartridge in almost a year. And we get new paper out lazer printers we buy at auctions, haven't bought any of that for ages either. Cartridges are not that expensive on Ebay,but I need to pinch pennies at my age.
Ole Jack

[uscra112]

The HP cartridge chip is to prevent remanufacturing/refilling of their cartridges, and/or use of third-party cartridges. I've had my $100 C4280 "all-in-one" printer flat-out refuse to recognize non-HP cartridges, to my intense dis-satisfaction. It has been supplanted by an old 842C which doesn't have this trick built in. The C4280 is only connected when I need to scan something. I have to play games to get past the fact that the print cart slots are empty. HP has had me; I will never buy any new HP printer of any kind if they are going to do that carp.

[MtGun44]

Seal in a ziplock bag with a 1/2 tsp of water. I do this in my Colorado house,
has kept one cartridge workable for years. Very dry climate there would kill
it whenever we left for a few months before I started doing this.

Bill

[Cmm_3940]

<rant>

Ink jet printers are a big scam to sell expensive ink cartridges. The majority of the selection of consumer printers are ink jet, because the manufacturers can sell them below the cost of production and still make loads of money selling overpriced ink cartridges that don't last long and are designed to not be conservable. Often, replacing the cartridges a couple times exceeds the original cost of the printer. The printers themselves are very cheaply made and not meant to last. People continue to buy them because, "oooh!!! pretty colors!!!" :twisted:

</rant>

Unless you really need to print in color all the time, get a laser printer and just keep two printers. Laser printers aren't all that expensive and toner lasts a very long time. Don't open the color ink cartridges until you really need them. Otherwise, try not to store them in the printer. Water based, the ziplock bag trick should work. Solvent based, try removing the cartridge and seal the openings in the print head with a piece of tape to keep the ink from drying up. Sometimes, they sort of do this on their own when the ink in the print head dries up. You can clear the openings in the print head using a cotton swab and acetone.

The chip in the cartridge is a real bummer. I WILL NOT TOLERATE a product that I have bought and paid for trying to tell me how I am allowed to use it. Bottom line, don't buy a printer if the cartridges use chips. There are utilities out there to fool the printer into working, but I've never needed them, so can't say how well they work. Google is your friend.

[Oreo]

F''k Hewlett Packard and the horse they rode in on. may they burn in the fires of hell while getting gang-raped in both ends by a thousand dieased demons with schlongs the size of an AirBus 380 and prickly like a cactus, lubed with brake cleaner and salt.

Sorry. The mention of hp brings the hate-rage out of me.

I bought an $800 hp color laser multi-function printer a year before Win7 was released. Then, after only one year, I needed to replace the toner and found out that after spending $400 on new oem cartridges the printer would not calibrate the color to the new cartridges and so ever since I can only print tye-die looking images. HP all but told me to go F-myself.

Then Win7 was released and I upgraded my PC only to discover hp had no driver support for this machine in Win7. I was only able to print in Linux for a couple years. When drivers finally were released for Win7 there was no support for the scanner bed. Been like that ever since. I have contacted hp multiple times about the issue, once even paying their ridiculous fee for technical support only to be told that hp had no plans to ever support this device for Win7 and there was nothing they could do to help me. This was for a 3yo machine I spent $1200 on plus the tech support fee ($100 maybe?) and their best answer was, "sorry."

F U 2, Hewlett Packard.

So I'm milking this machine along for as long as I can when I see I need more toner. This time I buy an aftermarket refill kit. In short, it worked but was very messy and toner is not good to inhale. The color printing got worse but the black still worked ok. HOWEVER, it was during the refill process that I discovered none of my OEM toner cartridges were actually low on toner! Turns out, hp measured toner use based on page count alone, as far as I can tell. So whether you printed a full page of solid yellow or a blank page with a single pixel of yellow, it ticked off one page just the same. So I had $800 of toner cartridges with plenty of toner in them and because of those f'ing chips, the machine remembers the old cartridges as "empty" and won't let me use them. Well the refill kit came with new chips too and that has bought me some time till just this week. My yellow toner is out. The G-d damned machine won't let me print a black and white page because the yellow is out!! And at the worst possible time too. I was 15min late for an important business meeting because I had to print my document at Office Depot.

F''k Hewlett Packard !

Did I mention, f''k Hewlett Packard!?

F''k Hewlett Packard!

[MrWolf]

For my Florida place I have had luck sticking them in the refrigerator. I only use them to print boarding passes a few time a year. Been lucky the last year or so as the still work. Probably jinxed myself for our trip next month [smilie=b:

[Mal Paso]

F''k Hewlett Packard and the horse they rode in on. may they burn in the fires of hell while getting gang-raped in both ends by a thousand dieased demons with schlongs the size of an AirBus 380 and prickly like a cactus, lubed with brake cleaner and salt.


+1

Last one was an expensive 8000. Chewed through $100 worth of cartridges without printing 1 page. It's awaiting a 12 ga. slug.

Replaced with a Brother Laser for $100 including Scanner. Toner refill $5. New Drum $20.

I will never purchase HP again.

[bangerjim]

"Give them the razor......and sell them the blades....FOREVER!!!!!"

That is the sales ploy for ink jets. Yes the printers are very cheap, almost giveaways in some instances. But look at the "cost of ownership" when it comes to new ink carts for it! Not worth it.
Lexmark is notorious for that.

I have dumped ALL 8 ink jets in my company and have gone to laser plain paper printers, even fax machines. High speed output ( how about 20 pages/min!), low cost/copy, no "dry-out" of carts, long-term reliability.

Face it, who really needs color? I maybe print in color at most 2-3 times a year! If you do, get an HP color ink jet. They last much longer, do not waste 1/2 the cart cleaning on start-up as all others do. And....big important point......you get a new fresh print head every time you replace the cart. The HP carts last much longer.

Do NOT waste you time and money trying to refill ink carts! They are not made for that, especially HP....as stated above. I have tried that many times with 4 different brands and you never get quality printing afterwards....just messy hands and workspace!!!!

Go laser all the way for quality and low cost.

banger

[Oreo]

Go laser for sure.

Do NOT go HP.
I'm feeling hate rage again. Nice job.

[bangerjim]

Sorry to get your BP up!

I have had excellent luck with color HP ink jets......NOT color lasers. HP's use a true BLACK cart unlike others that use CMY to get a puckey black. And you can run most with just BIG black cart!


I have one in the office just for printing color presentations and it is used probably only 2-3 times a year. PDF's have replaced the printed word! Prints perfectly every time with no grinding warm-up that the other brands had. They all hit the garbage can years ago.

Your volumous rant above on HP is probably founded on your personal experience and I appreciate that. We all have feelings like that on certain products. Ford (Fix Or Repair Daily) cars are mine!

Buyer beware on most anything! Do your research.

banger

[xs11jack]

Bill, thanks, I am going to do the water in the sealable bag.
Oreo, you need not hide your anger from us, go ahead and let it all hang out. Good boy, Good boy!!!!
To tell you the truth, I use HP because we get them the most in the recycle business. I have at home, a 2050, an Envy114, a 8150, and a 8450 and a large bag full of cartridges for all of these. So far none of these have pulled the chip business on me. I did have some Lexmarks that did that. Thank all of you for your input, I learned a lot from you.
Ole Jack