Printer Inkjet Refill kits

the watchman

Hi All,
Have ongoing problems with Lexmark Printer (see posts elsewhere).

After some thought and reseach I have decided to refill cartridges myself.

Staying within Ireland can anyone direct me preferably to an on-line company that will supply all that I need. Alternatively a shop between Cork and Waterford would do.

Thanks for reading.

the watchman

You can do it…


After seeing other advice on boards I thought “I’ve nothing to loose” so I decided to have a go at this ‘open heart surgery stuff’ lol as I saw it. I went out and purchased a refill kit from Tescos at €8.

Inside is 3 small 30ml bottles of ink and 1 bottle of cleaning fluid. 1syringe with nozzle applicator, instructions, mini drill for making holes if required and some small plugs for holes (none of which fitted my particular cartridges Lexmark X2470).

I had two cartridges to restore to good health. I refilled the first one and it worked perfectly first time.

The second one was a little more problematic. At first I just couldn’t get it to print properly, different colours at different attempts, just wouldn’t flow on to the page. After much thought I decided that there must be some form of blockage or intermitant blockages occourring . So following instructions in booklet I soaked the head in the cleaning fluid for 2/3 hours. Hey presto! One working ink cartridge.

Here are my tips.
1. Disposable latex gloves a must.
2. Cover and protect your working surface well as there will surely be a spillage.
3. Plenty of Kitchen Roll paper at the ready.
4. When putting in the ink use a very very ‘light and slow pressure’ on the syringe. Can’t stress this enough…this is not for heavy handed block layers lol. And is advisable to cover other ink inlet holes so spillage does not enter other colours.
5. Do this work on kitchen table near a sink and water.

As you can imagine I did ‘a lot’ of test printing and cleaning cycles and I still have about 70% of ink left in bottles.
I am over the moon. Two fully working cartridges and a load more ink still. All for a little time, effort and ……..€8.: Every little helps lol. Thank you Tesco. Life will never be the same again lol.

Its sounds a bit daunting but believe me…
YOU CAN DO IT.
And thank you boards for this great fascility.



A

Kristopherus

What model of Lexmark printer do you have? I have spent hours trawling the internet to get a fix for my X5495. Have tried 3/4 different brands of compatible cartridges, but got " Not a genuine Lexmark product" message after every attempt.:mad:

the watchman

Hi Kristopherous, my printer is Lexmark X2470. 4years old.

I had same problem as you before I started refilling. I dealt with this on another post entitled 'Lexmark Printer Help'.

However will try to help here.
My cartridge only has 3 colours, no black. I found that cleaning the area of electrical contact on the cartridge helped and in particular cleaning the area marked in attached pic definitely helped. Why I am not sure. Perhaps behind that sticker is the chip that needs to be read. Note, I am using 'original Lexmark cartridges, just refilled). I used Isopropyl Alchohol to clean. It comes in a spray canister,(like wd40 etc) generally used in electronic part cleaning..I think, I'm not an expert by the way.

Having said all that I have used 'non Lexmark original cartridges before'. Sometimes they worked, sometimes they didn't but as it was 'professional';) refill people involved each time they just kept changing them untill one worked.

Thats all I can think of at the moment except to say that if you refill yourself do it on a kitchen table near a sink and water. I forgot to mention that tip in previous post and hope to go back and change it now if still allowed.
Good Luck:pac:

steamengine

I bought a refill kit in Aldi's about 1 or 2 months back and did a refill on the colour cartridge today. My printer is a Lexmark X1180. As the colour cartridge had been empty for some time, I had a problem getting the Magenta (red) colour to work after refilling. I tried soaking the head in solvent (using a small quantity of solvent in the bottom of a saucer) as per the instructions, but had to go one further in the end. Removing the magenta sponge, I filled that compartment with solvent along with re-soaking the head, and eventually the reddish colour appeared in the saucer, indicating the blockage was released. I then replaced the sponge, first clearing any residual solvent and ran a colour print test - which was successful.

On the underside of the cartridge there are tiny pores and when the cartridge is refilled, if you fold a piece of kitchen towel paper in two or four and gently press the print head on the paper, ink is drawn on to the paper by capillary action and you should see 3 distinct dots of colour, cyan, magenta and yellow. If one or two dots are missing, it is most likely the relevant pores are blocked due to dry ink.

Hope that someone finds this info useful !!!

colm21

i have tried refilling my old Espon ink cartridges but it is very messy and the print quality wasn't very good i think its a waste of money. i am now using remanufactured cartridges for my Epson printer, they are much cheaper than the originals and are just as good.

Try– http://www.printerinkcartridges.ie/ thats were i buy my remanufactured ink cartridges from, the Epson cartridges are cheap as chips. i have used other sites before but i think these guys are the cheapest that i have seen so far. if anyone has got other cheap suppliers plz feel free to post them.