Once upon a time my printer ran out of ink.
It was a sad, sad day and I cried very hard. I pulled myself together and walked down to the corner so I could rob a bank. When I got to the bank, I thought better of it and turned around and walked home. I was sure to get caught on camera, and I was wearing a horrible outfit. Plus I had "crying" face.
What to do. I NEEDED to print stuff!
At home I flipped every cushion in the house, checked in every pocket and sold my cat. The one who was weaned too early and kneads on me every night while I watch television.
Money in hand, I drove myself to the store and ... bought myself a new printer.
Yeah. It was cheaper to do that than buy a new printer cartridge. Wasteful? Probably? My fault? No. Not really. I *did* need a new printer, but had the ink not cost more than an entire printer with scanner, I would have just bought more ink.
The funny part about all of this is for years I've been filling my own printer cartridges. I bought a kit at Costco years ago and it's lasted forever.
And the best part? It works. I'm not sure why I didn't use the kit during my "I NEED PRINTER INK" fit, but my best guess is I'd gone temporarily insane. Maybe not so temporary actually.
Since the process is SO easy, and basically the same for every single printer cartridge out there I thought I'd share. 'Cause that's what I'm all about. Sharing and caring. And robbing banks.
What You'll Need
Bottles of Printer Ink. (various stores sell this, as well as Costco occasionally, and all kinds of places on-line)
Paper Towels
A used up printer cartridge (One that's just run out of ink)
Instruction Recap
1. Measure out 1 Tablespoon (15ml) of ink into your bottle. If your bottle has lines on the side to tell you how much ink you're using, make sure you only use 1 Tablespoon. Most printer cartridges hold 1 Tablespoon. Measuring is important, because otherwise you are bound to under or overfill your cartridge.
2. Remove your printer cartridge then remove the sticker.
3. Place cartridge on a few layers of paper towel on a surface you will be able to wipe any spills up from.
3. Insert needle into one of the holes in the cartridge. If it hits sponge, you're in the right hole.
4. S-l-o-w-l-y fill the sponge with ink. If it starts to come out the hole you're filling too fast. Let it sink in, then start again.
5. Attach your sticker to the SIDE of the cartridge, not the top where you originally took it off. The cartridge will need to suck air to work so you can't cover up the holes again.
6. Insert your cartridge back into your printer.
7. WAIT 8 hours. You need to allow the sponge time to absorb all the ink evenly.
8. Print to your heart's content.
Refilling Colour Ink cartridges
Refilling a colour cartridge is a bit different, in that you put one colour in each of the holes. It's still the same method otherwise and still very easy. If you need help with filling a specific cartridge, Refill Instructions is a great website, plus they're sponsored by a site that sells ink so you can get some of that there if you need to as well.
My printer cartridge is actually pretty cheap. $14 for one black cartridge. A refill kit costs around $20, which will fill your cartridge 6 times, averaging the cost to $3.33 per one black cartridge.
Now I have a bit of bad news. I need to replace my water filter. So once I get myself gussied up for the cameras, I'll be making my way to the bank.
Questions & Answers
Can you do this with colour ink as well? YES!
I refill but my printer still thinks the ink is low. There are chips on each ink cartridge, if you still can't print with a refilled cartridge you might need to reset the chip or trick the printer. Here's how to do that for an HP deskjet printer. If you know you've refilled your ink cartridge and it won't print because the printer insists there isn't any ink in it, you need to reset your printer's ink cartridge. That's something you'll have to Google, because there are as many ways to do it as there are printer ink cartridges.
Evalyn
I have never done the cartridge refill thing at home, but I have worked with them in the workplace. I must urge caution as many inks and toners are very toxic and some are carcinogenic - so if the packaging contains cautions and says wear gloves or a mask, it's best to follow those instructions.
Traci
HOLY COW!!! I am so excited about this! As I am typing, my printer is getting a fax and I am cringing at the amount of ink being used. I am gonna definitely order this kit. BTW, I looked up my particular brand, Epson, and found that the company sells cartridges for refilling that do not have the "chip" in them so they can be refilled without worrying about that annoying message showing up. Thanks Karen!!!
Lynne
Would this work with laser printers as well ? Here's hoping !!
Karen
Lynne - Laser printer cartridges *can* be refilled as well, with a similar technique from what I understand, but I've never done it myself so can't guarantee anything. Google your printer make and cartridge # and you'll find some info! ~ karen!
Gayla T
You are one classy chick mama. I got my beautiful towel in the mail on Saturday. I've been buying Barbie and Ken clothes on Ebay for the kids to play so thought that was what would be in the pkg w/o ever seeing it was from Canada. I pulled out the beautifully wrapped item and found......the TOWEL! Beautifully printed. pressed, folded so the hatchet was perfectly centered on the folded fabric and tied with the most elegant ribbon with The Art of Doing Stuff printed in gold! I was so surprised and thrilled not to mentioned terribly impressed with the quality of the gift. I was going to frame it in a black frame and hang it in my kitchen but now, I don't know. That gold print might look really nice in a gold frame maybe matted in black. I'm going to take it to Hobby Lobby and play around with a few looks just to see what works best. I took it outside as everyone in the neighborhood waa out doing lawn work and showed it around. As I expected it was just so far over everyone's head that they totally didn't get it but I adore it and that's what counts. Never mind the questions about why someone I met on the internet was sending me a hatchet. I did say it was really a meat cleaver but then they wanted to know if you know where I live. Of course you do since you sent it to me! Then the subject of the meat cleaver Jack Nickelson used to chop down some door came up and now my kids have had an extra lock put on the doors. They programmed in the 911 on speed dial on my phone, too and had a man out today for an estimate on having special outside lighting on all four corners of the house. I guess I won't mentioned anything about you robbing banks. They are already talking about 8 ft. chain link fence aound the front and razor wire on the wood fence around the back yard. I already have door alarms but they are talking about window alarms for Mother's Day. Well, anyway, I haven't had this much attention since I came home from the hospital after my 89 day stay from a bout of Sepsis and I'm kind of enjoying it and I love my towel. Talk about a great gift! Thank you from the bottom of my weak old heart.
Liz
I used to do this all the time with my old printer, but since the cartridges on my "new" printer have a computer chip on them I didn't think it would work. Doesn't the chip tell the printer that the cartridge is empty and wouldn't you have to reprogram the chip before it would believe that it was full again? If that's not true then I threw out a perfectly good 1/2 used refill kit about a year ago :(
Jo
My printer has 5 cartridges & if I were to replace them all at the same time the combined cost would be more than I paid for the printer! They also have that damn microchip so that if I refill one I get The Message plus my printer refuses to print. However, there is a tiny little place up the street where the woman has the code to the chip on my cartridges and she refills them for half the price of buying new. AND it gives me satisfaction because I think the cheap printer with hugely expensive cartridges is such a ripoff!
Heather
This might not be the best thing to do if you have a new printer still under warranty. If you've bought an extended warranty, you might want to check with Staples or Future Shop before you use a refilled cartridge.
I'm sure going to try it out when my current printer's warranty expires!!
Amy in StL
Crying face! Why is it men don't get that? No-one can tell you've been crying, he says. Yeah, except every woman out there!
Oh, this was about printer ink wasn't it?
Anastasia
I've been refilling our ink cartidges for about a year now and...there's only one problem. I'm convinced the printers are programmed to LIE, telling me that my ink cartridge is out of ink, when in fact, it's not. This is a clever way to get you to buy more ink.
I've learned to ignore these notices when they appear on my screen. I just wait until my pages start printing out with missing or deformed letters. When I see it with my own peepers, THEN I know I'm really out of ink.
But Karen, if you can figure out how to disable that annoying, LYING message, that would be awesome! :-D
Karen
Anastasia - There's no real way to get rid of it. Once it register's it's out of ink or close to it, refilling it won't fix the message. You just have to ignore it. I'm sure there's some super-complicated way to get rid of it, but basically the printer isn't recognizing the fact that you've refilled the cruddy old cartridge with new ink. Just ignore it. ~ karen!
Kate S.
It must be noted that this only works on newer printers if you're careful not to let the cartridge actually "run out" of ink. The cartridges now come with a microchip that tells the printer and its drivers how much ink is in each cartridge. Once that chip says the cartridge is empty, it's a royal PITA to fix it and despite being newly refilled with ink, the printer will continue to insist it is empty and, quite possibly, refuse to print anything.
This story from firsthand experience, all technical information ad-libbed from my husband, who is far more knowledgeable about printers than me. Any inaccuracies are his fault: )
Karen
Kate S. - True. You can't let the cartridge run out *entirely*. I was pretty close though. The cartridge was b-a-r-e-l-y printing when I refilled it. ~ k!
Diane
This is terrific information! What an awesome blogger you are! :D I've never tried this...and never realized it could be done with non-refillable ones. Where were you when I needed you?? LOL
However, I buy my print cartridges on ebay for about $1-$2 each...they are not a brand name, I've been using them forever and they never clog my printer. I do feel bad for destroying the environment one printer cartridge at a time, though. But I counter that with all the blue bags I put on the curb every week! lol
Kerry Piader
You are a genious!!!!!!!!! Thanks so much for sharing this information. Just ordered a kit for my printer and it looks like a wonderful company to do business with. What a fantastic savings.
Kristin
I just found you! Wow! I seem a lot less crazy to myself right now. I am a freak for making things myself--business cards, brie cheese, rosewater, a wood-fired pizza oven in my back yard--but I bought a pre-made chicken coop and am about to hire a handyman to hang a porch swing (we can't find the studs.) You are awesome, and I love this blog!
Karen
LOL. Thanks Kristin! Glad you found my site. :) ~ karen p.s. I probably wouldn't recommend anyone build their own chicken coop anyway. Turns out ... it's a bit of an ordeal.
Patti
You rule.
Jillian
Missed the paragraph on color. Thanks Karen!
Nancy Blue Moon
Thank You..Thank You..Thank You..I hate buying ink because I am very cheap..
Laura Bee
It's like magic! Must attempt this, I thank you.
Sharm's Outlet
Thank you so much for this this karen now, where is the instructions to robbing a bank...
Tracie
Crap, I just spent 25 bucks to have my cartridges re-filled and thought I was doing good! Wonder why they don't require 8 hours of rest time when the ink guy does it, and they put the sticker back on too, I think....I'm not really sure, and I'm too lazy to check right now, but I believe I will check out the kits to do it myself next time. This is amazing, thanks Karen!
Ginger
Thank you so much for sharing, I also use alot of toner and I hate paying for them, so expensive. I did have a cartridge refill kit many years ago, before blogs etc... it was always so messy, I stopped using it, but now with your tips, I think I'm going to give it another try.