Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Cut Printing Costs In Half With Refilled Printer Cartridges

By Donald Bressellford

Inkjet printers contain detachable cartridges, which are where the ink is stored and dispensed from. This is the "inkjet cartridge" and, in addition to the ink it also usually functions as the printing head.

Every inkjet cartridge is made up from one or more individual color ink reservoirs and some producers also insert electronic contacts and a chip that provides information to the printer.

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.

If you do have dried ink on an inkjet cartridge, it is important to clean it off gently with a soft rag or cotton swab dampened with isopropyl alcohol.

You can get charged an arm and a leg for original manufacturer inkjet cartridges, so most users, particularly high volume users such as businesses, started to seek alternative solutions.

The main printer manufacturing companies like Hewlett Packard, Lexmark, Dell, Canon, Epson and Brother have a strategy of little or no profit from the printer sale so they can make ongoing profits from the back end sale of inkjet cartridges from uninformed consumers.

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.

Many printer owners choose have their cartridges refilled or buy remanufactured cartridges from third parties over buying new cartridges.

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.

Never settle for less than a 100% Satisfaction Guarantee!

Mostly, Brother, Canon, Dell, HP, and Lexmark cartridges can be refilled, with at worst a microchip re-set.

You CAN have it all. You can do all the printing you want - get high quality prints and photos - while being ecologically prudent, and best of all, save big money. Happy Printing! - 16651

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