How can I get more life from color printer ink cartridges?

For those that do a lot of color printing, it may be worth it to spend a few extra bucks on a printer that has separate color printer ink cartridges. As opposed to the traditional color printer ink cartridge which holds all the colors in a single, smaller cartridge, these new models can hold much more of each color in their own, dedicated cartridges. Many have separate cartridges for Cyan, Magenta, and Yellow, which combined with Black, form the every color that can be printed.

The advantage of having separate printer ink cartridges is clear. When you have several prints that will require less use of one color, that color of toner or ink can be saved for when it will be needed. If you tend to print the same colors often, such as when printing letterhead, you may only have to replace or refill one printer ink cartridge at a time. These printers can be slightly more expensive to purchase. You will save that money in no time by not having to replace your color printer ink cartridge when only one color runs empty.

Conserving Your Printer Ink

Nothing is more frustrating than starting an important print job only to find that you run out of printer ink half way through. Of course, printer ink will always eventually run dry. However, you can conserve your ink cartridge over time and stretch the life of your printer ink for that one last job. Here are a few ways you can help yourself conserve.

• Quality – By this, I mean to only print in the quality that you need for each job. If you do mostly draft work, be sure to set you printer to print at a fast and lower quality setting. The quality setting directly relates to the amount of printer ink that is used for the job. The lower the quality, the less ink used.
• Quantity – With the benefits of electronic communication, printing in quantity is often unnecessary. Be sure to double check your print job before you begin each print so that you do what you can to not waste printer ink on bad prints. Also, do not print more copies of your work than are necessary.

Again, printer ink cartridges all run out at some point, so there is no guarantee that you will never find yourself stuck in printing limbo. What you can do is follow these conservation tips and keep an extra printer ink cartridge around in case it happens.

Buying Printer Ink Cartridges in Bulk

The savvy business operator knows that the real secret to shaving costs of supplies is by purchasing from a wholesaler in bulk quantity. This applies to everything from paper clips to light bulbs. Printer ink cartridges are also available in bulk quantities and, for as expensive as printing can get, are the smart solution for any business. The thing about office supplies is that they will always, eventually, get used. Paper clips do not go bad. If properly stored, neither will printer ink cartridges. Why not save money and stock up? Too many people are scared off by the initial expense in buying in bulk.

If you are still hesitant, here is what you should do. Take a few minutes and calculate how much you have spent in the last year on printer ink cartridges, or printer supplies in general. If you itemize your purchases, this should not be too difficult. It should also be mentioned that buying in bulk makes such expense tracking far easier as well.

Once you have a number for that yearly expense, find a wholesale source online or locally. Ask them for a quote on the same quantity of printer ink cartridges you purchased in that same year, but all at once in bulk. L For most who take this little test, they immediately see that they have been wasting money, in the long run, for what they perceive as savings in the short run. Don't make this mistake yourself. Buy your printer ink cartridges in bulk.

Benefits of a Remanufactured Ink Cartridge

Since the advent of the computer age, remanufacturing has become a booming industry. Today, you can buy almost anything as remanufactured and save without sacrificing quality. Remanufactured ink cartridges are now sold by many companies, and here are some of their benefits.

• Cost – A remanufactured ink cartridge costs the maker far less than the original manufacturing process. This is because the remanufacturer is simply refilling the original cartridge and not producing the casing. This saving is passed on to the consumer through far lower prices than brand new inkjet cartridges.
• Environment – Ink cartridges are not made out of the most environmentally-friendly materials. With a remanufactured ink cartridge, you know that you are not contributing to the waste that becomes of discarded plastic ink cartridges.
• Quality – You will not sacrifice any quality with a remanufactured ink cartridge. Most of these are sold with 100% guarantees that the cartridge will provide prints as high quality as the original cartridge.

For these reasons and many more, you should look into getting a remanufactured ink cartridge the next time the little red light on the printer starts blinking.

Printer Ink Smeared? You Need a Cleaning

Sometimes a printer will go for hundreds of prints with no problems only to all of a sudden begin smearing and misprinting. If you are faced with poor print quality with smudges and the like, chances are you need to clean your printer ink cartridge. Most printers have a built in cleaning system or the ability to clean the printer ink through your computer.

If you are running Windows, go to your control panel and select Printers. Once there, choose the printer that you have installed and view the properties or settings. There should be a tab for ‘maintenance'. There are a few options there, but you are looking for ‘clean printer ink cartridges'. This will print out a test page and ask you to confirm that it was correctly printed. If not, repeat the process. If it fails to work again, you may need to replace your printer ink cartridge.

Finding Discount Ink Cartridges

For the frugal person, shopping around for the best discounts is a way of life. If you fall into this category, you will be happy to know that finding discount ink cartridges is simple. With the growth of ecommerce has come a wide variety of websites that provide discount ink cartridges… and I mean huge discounts. When you think that a set of ink cartridges for a typical printer at a retail store can cost over $75 for color and black and white, savings shouldn't be so hard to find, right? Well they aren't.

Many people are saving up to 50% by finding discount ink cartridges online. There are too many websites to list here, but you can easily search for yourself and find a plethora of selections. Stop spending far too much on your printing supplies. Buy discount ink cartridges online and save up to half on your costs.

Components of an Ink Refill Kit

Different manufacturers have different parts to their ink refill kits. However, as the ink cartridge is a pretty universal mechanism, the ink refill kit has some fairly universal components as well. Here is a quick rundown of what should come in any ink refill kit.

• Ink – Obviously, you will need the bottles of ink for your refill. For black ink cartridges, you will need only the black ink bottle. For color cartridges, you will need each of the three pigments.
• Injector – Most ink refill kits come with a syringe or other type of injection device. Proper use of these will make for the cleanest and easiest job.
• Plug Extractor – The hardest part of refilling an ink cartridge is often opening it up.

A good ink refill kit will include a tool for getting the plug off of the cartridge. These can take many forms. If your ink refill kit doesn't have one, you can use pair of needlenose pliers. These three things are essential pieces to any ink refill kit. Be sure that the ink refill kit that you purchase has all of them and look out for other handy tools that are also available.

Our Cleaning Inkjet Cartridge Guide

• Go to your printer control panel or printer utilities.
• Select the clean printer head function.
• Follow the screen instructions to clean your printer head.
• Do a test at the end of the cleaning to make sure all the ink colors are clean.
• For best results on cleaning inkjet cartridge units, clean the printer head several times in a row and then perform the test to check whether the cleaning is effective.