Ink Jet refills

[Brainchild]

I have been refilling the ink cartridges on my printer,but it doesn't hold as much as it did when it was new.I mean it only prints 7-10 pages of text and it is out of black again.Shouldn't it hold more than that?
It is a lot cheaper to refill,but the mess and aggrivation is really making me get ready to buy new ones

I'm using a Canon BJC-5100 printer.Am I just doing something wrong,or is it the nature of the beast?

Thanks

[rpertusio]

Something is definitely not right there! You should be getting hundreds (around 800 pages) for your black cartridge (asuming it is new)

Is the ink 'running out' visibly, or is it your computer telling you that the cartridge is empty?

- rp

[nochay]

does your ink cartridge have a big old hunk of cotton in it? I have a BJC-6000 Printer, and the cotton swabs inside of them are notorious for not absorbing ink anymore. This makes it hard to refill. I even bought a whole new set of ink cartridges, and only the black one worked. They are offical canon cartridges, not a knockoff version. I never used a aftermarket cartridge in it either also. Design flaw? purposefully designed like that so people can't refill them? I'm going with answer #2

Dane

[RayH]

Try a different cartridge. Try a different brand.

[osprey4]

Some cartridges have sponges inside and they dry out so you can no longer refill them.

[FreakyOCR]

I send my Epson t007 & t008's out to be refilled. They have the sponge inside as well, so When I get it back it's in a new cartridge as well. The sponge mustr make it impossible to fill back up.

[SeanC]

I've read that printer companies are making it harder and harder to refill their cartridges. That's the only way they make money. On the supplies for their printers.

It's definitely possible that the cartridge won't be properly refilled.

Sean

[Starfury_2260]

whats a good place to get refill kits (specifically ones that aren't messy and can refill alot before running out).

i've heard that lexmark puts a thing in their cartridges that causes them to say they are out of ink after a certain time period even if they still have ink.

[rpertusio]

A number of major printer brands will say they are out of ink, even if they are not! The printer will simply calculate how many pages it *should* get out of a cartridge. (For example, it will tell you the cartridge is getting low on ink after it has printed 600 pages with that cartridge.. regardless if the cartridge is empty or not.)

There are ways to make the printer 'forget' how many pages it printed.

Instead of refill kits, I usually buy from re-manufactured cartridges, such as from Iowa Ink. I'd gladly pay a little more if I can forget about the mess of refilling a cartridge. (I don't have to worry about making the printer 'forget' either.)

You might be able to reset the waste counter by pressing some magic buttons.

- rp