An ink cartridge is a changeable component of an ink jet printer. It contains the ink that is spread on paper during printing and sometimes the print-head itself. Each ink cartridge contains one or more partitioned ink reservoirs and certain manufacturers also add electronic contacts and a chip that communicates with the printer.
Whenever you try to print something, make sure that your ink level is not to low. If it is low, the ink begins to dry on the print head and printing can be hindered. A smooth flow of ink means a high quality print. If dry ink is found on the cartridge print head, gently rubbing with isopropyl alcohol on a swab or paper towel is enough to fix the problem.
Often, ink cartridges are extremely expensive, so many people started to use compatible ink cartridges produced by a company other than the printer manufacturer. Depending on the company, compatible ink cartridges can sometimes be of the same quality as original cartridges and save you some money. Some people have made some modifications to the printer to allow the use of continuous ink systems. In these cases, the ink comes from external ink tanks. Another alternative is to use aftermarket inks to refill your own cartridge or take it to a local refiller.
Customers are often amazed of how much it costs to replace their printer cartridges compared with the price of a brand new printer. Major printer manufacturers such as Hewlett Packard, Lexmark, Dell, Canon, Epson and Brother often loose money selling cheap printers. To recover the losses and make a profit, they sell very expensive cartridges over the life span of the printer. Because many printer manufacturers rely on selling ink and toner cartridges, some of these companies have taken action against aftermarket cartridges. Some of them even took legal action against companies manufacturing aftermarket cartridges.
Recently, many printer owners prefer to refill their used cartridges or even buy remanufactured cartridges from third parties rather than buying expensive new cartridges. Since they only need to buy the ink and a few other small raw materials, it is much cheaper and quality is almost the same. Customers can find different qualities and types of refilling. However, some of them can damage the printer and lead to low quality prints. People take their empty cartridges to refillers or remanufacturers, or simply buy store branded ink.
There is one more thing the consumer can do: refill their own cartridges. Most cartridges have instructions on how to use and refill on the Internet. Bulk ink sellers can also be found on the Internet. They offer pints, quarts, and even gallons of ink. One single pint (473 ml) can refill between 15 and 17 large cartridges (of 27 ml capacity).
If you consider refilling your cartridge you should know that Brother, Canon, Dell, HP, and Lexmark cartridges are quite easy to refill. Some of the cartridges can even be refilled with a simple syringe. However, Epson cartridges are usually harder to refill as these cartridges need a chip resetter. This resetter resets the counter chip embedded in the cartridge. Because it requires you to handle ink directly, the refill process can be tricky and you will need some experience until you will do it clean.
Laser/toner cartridges sold as “compatible” are usually re-filled cartridges, although many third-party newly manufactured cartridges exist. Inkjet cartridges sold as “compatible” are newly manufactured cartridges. Inkjet cartridges sold as “remanufactured” are cartridges that have been used at least once by a consumer and then refilled by a third party. Note that used cartridges might not work as expected.