[comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware] Anyone with experience refilling HP Deskjet ink cartridges.

cyee@argon.berkeley.edu (Clayton Yee) (11/24/90)

I'm considering purchasing the Deskjet 500.  The only concern i have
is the $17-$20 price tag for the ink cartridges which last only 200-250
pages of letter quality printing.

I have seen refill kits, one in a Lyben Computer Systems catalog
for $9/refill, and another elsewhere for $20, good for 4 refills.
Has anyone tried these or similar kits with success?
Is the ink the same waterproofness?
How many refills can a cartridge take before a new one is necessary?
Or maybe you know of sources for new cartridges, cheap.

Thanks for your help.
Clayton

tj@anaconda.cis.ohio-state.edu (Todd R Johnson) (11/25/90)

In article <9176@pasteur.Berkeley.EDU> cyee@argon.berkeley.edu (Clayton Yee) writes:
>>
>>I'm considering purchasing the Deskjet 500.  The only concern i have
>>is the $17-$20 price tag for the ink cartridges which last only 200-250
>>pages of letter quality printing.
>>
>>I have seen refill kits, one in a Lyben Computer Systems catalog
>>for $9/refill, and another elsewhere for $20, good for 4 refills.
>>Has anyone tried these or similar kits with success?
>>Is the ink the same waterproofness?

	For an even cheaper solution, go to a kitchen/cooking store
and buy an instant marinate device (about $5.00).  This is basically
an oversized syringe used to inject juice into meats.  The one I
bought is called Zap!.  Then pick up a bottle of Shaeffer jet black
skrip for about $2.00.  I've only tried the non-waterproof type, but
the permanent is also supposed to work.  To refill the cartridge, suck
up some ink with the syringe and insert it into the hole on top of
the cartridge.  You have to work it down into the foam block,
otherwise the ink will just squirt back out the hole.  Next, just move
the syringe back and forth (or up and down) and slowly squirt the ink
in.  Stop when ink starts to come back out the hole.

	---Todd


--
Todd R. Johnson
tj@cis.ohio-state.edu
Laboratory for AI Research
The Ohio State University

akm@cs.uoregon.edu (Anant Kartik Mithal) (11/27/90)

In article <9176@pasteur.Berkeley.EDU> cyee@argon.berkeley.edu (Clayton Yee) writes:
>
>I'm considering purchasing the Deskjet 500.  The only concern i have
>is the $17-$20 price tag for the ink cartridges which last only 200-250
>pages of letter quality printing.
>
>I have seen refill kits, one in a Lyben Computer Systems catalog
>for $9/refill, and another elsewhere for $20, good for 4 refills.
>Has anyone tried these or similar kits with success?
>Is the ink the same waterproofness?

I've been refilling deskjet carts for a while now... I first learnt
about it from a very short text file that I found on Simtel20 (and
wuarchive.wustl.edu, which is a simtel mirror). There is a directory
called deskjet, which has this file (don't remember the name) All you
need is a syringe, needle, and good fountain pen ink. The inside of
the cart is sponge, so push the needle into the sponge and fill it
with ink. 

The major problem I face(d) is getting a syringe. These days, what
with IV drug use and so on, I didn't know how to get a syringe.
Fortunately found one in an old vinyl repair kit I had...

kartik

--
Anant Kartik Mithal                                     akm@cs.uoregon.edu
Network Manager, 					(503)346-4408 (msgs)
Department of Computer Science,                         (503)346-4156 (direct)
University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403-1202