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[I302]Ink For Refilling Cartridges

by Karl Smith, Kar

Many consumers are interested in refilling ink cartridges because it helps them save money and because it helps the environment. People realize that throwing away ink cartridges after one use can be pretty wasteful, especially when you go through them regularly. But even though they are interested in refilling their cartridges, some people are hesitant because they believe that by using an ink refill kit that they will void their printer's warranty. Well, we just want to make it clear that is not the case. Refilling your cartridge WILL NOT void your warranty. It is a common misconception because for a long time printer manufacturers issued vague (or sometimes not so vague) warnings to consumers about how they could not refill their cartridges without voiding the warranty. In reality, who could blame them? After all, printer manufacturers do not make their money selling the printers; they make it from the printer ink.

Luckily over the past few years people have become more aware of what their rights actually are. The specific legislation that addresses this issue is the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Improvement Act and also the Sherman & Clayton Antitrust Acts. What they basically say is that a manufacturer cannot force you to use a particular brand of products in their machine. It would be like an auto manufacturer telling you that you can only put a certain type of gas in your car. Or Sony telling you that if you own one of their DVD players that you will void the warranty if you play anything but movies from Sony Pictures.

Once you own a printer, you are free to use whatever products you want in it without having to worry about being denied service under your original warranty. You cannot be penalized simply because you choose to try an alternative to the highly expensive manufacturer's ink.

Magnuson-Moss Act Information at the FTC's site - http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/buspubs/warranty.htm#Magnuson-Moss

Refills

As consumers quietly grumbled about the prices of printer ink other manufacturers, of all kinds, began coming up with ways to refill an ink cartridge. Refill kits have become a hot commodity with a certain ?wink, wink? toward the patent lawyers. Individuals have also taken up the cause by performing plastic surgery on ink cartridges resembling Botox injections.

Plenty of newspaper

Whether a consumer is refilling hp ink cartridge or refilling canon ink cartridge the process is, for the most part, the same. Refill kits will get you half way home but you will need to provide quite a bit of newspaper for covering anything you value. You will also need cloths that can be wasted rather then washed.

Help boards are helpful

The difference that may be found when refilling hp ink cartridge and refilling canon ink cartridge is the location of the fill hole. On some canon cartridges the fill hole may be on the side or on the top of the cartridge. From the help boards it appears that either one will work ok. The idea is to refill the reservoir or sponge with just enough ink so that there is no air within the cartridge when the process is completed.

Tape

Obviously, ink cartridge manufacturers are not all that interested in providing ink cartridge refilling instructions so the process is a learn from others sort of thing. One item that pops up in this regard is the use of tape over the fill hole. Have some good quality tape for this aspect of the process. Also, you may need to use a few layers to make the seal. If there is a message, or several messages for that matter, after you have refilled and sealed, saying ?can't find printer? there may be an air hole where the tape is located. This means?start over and tape again.

Happy and sad

While the ink cartridge manufacturers are sad that others are finding ways to refill their cartridges (manufacturers indicate that the nozzles are not engineered for multiple use and Consumer Reports indicates color refill prints are only ok while black is good when refilling) others are warily excited. Research is beginning to show that consumers would pay to have somebody else refill their cartridges if the price were around half the originals cost.

Walgreens has been looking into this process for about 1,500 of its stores. It feels there may have room for refilling hp ink cartridge and refilling canon ink cartridge. The 10-15 minute process is relatively inexpensive and may be a somewhat palatable compromise with original cartridge manufacturers. The manufacturers, however, would need to convince consumers that refilling is only wise for a certain number of refills before they need a completely new cartridge.

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About Author

Both Karl Smith & James Kara Murat are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.

Karl Smith has sinced written about articles on various topics from Computers and The Internet, Photo Printing and computers and the internet. . Karl Smith's top article generates over 246000 views. to your Favourites.

James Kara Murat has sinced written about articles on various topics from Computers and The Internet, computers and the internet and Marine Corps. This Article is written by James Kara Murat from PrintCountry.com, the contributor of Epson Printer Ink Cartridges. A longer version of this article is located at. James Kara Murat's top article generates over 60500 views. to your Favourites.