Last week was a quiet week here at the Ink Blog. I wish I could say I was away on vacation somewhere, but that was not the case. I was actually working in our warehouse. A jack of all trades I guess. Anyway, some help was needed to I jumped in. Interesting week. Definitely very different than sitting here in front of a computer typing.

Okay, back to the topic. This is a question we hear quite often. As customers gather information to make an informed purchasing decision, they almost always want to know how many times they can refill their ink cartridge. Refill in this case means using a refill kit or a refill service.

Unfortunately, there is no definite answer for this. The best we can give is an average. So, on average your printer ink cartridge can be refilled 3-4 times (and still print). In some cases you won’t be able to use your refilled cartridge at all, in other cases  you’ll be able to refill and reuse upwards of 10 times. Why so much variance?

The variance is caused by the cartridge’s print head, that shiny copper colored strip on the bottom of the cartridge. The print head facilitates communication between the printer and the cartridge. A damaged print head means no printing! Even a small scratch will cause your printer to be unable to recognize your refilled cartridge. If you think back to when you originally purchased your cartridge you should remember that the print head was covered (typically with tape) and had instructions that you should never touch it. Even finger prints on the print head could cause cartridge failure.

There are other parts of the cartridge that will wear out over time, but none cause as many failures as the print head.

Another factor that will determine the success or failure of a refilled printer cartridge is how often you used it, while it still had ink in it. The less often you use a cartridge, the more likely it is to fail when refilled. Ink dries inside the printer nozzles and impedes the amount of ink that can flow out of the cartridge. Once the clogging process starts, each successive print will cause more clogging.

So, to increase the odds of having your refilled cartridge successfully print, remember to treat the print head with the utmost care and to use your printer cartridges on a regular basis.

Do you have any cartridge refilling tips you would like to share? Take a minute to let me know. Thanks!