Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!clyde.concordia.ca!mcgill-vision!snorkelwacker!apple!bionet!arisia!ebert From: ebert@arisia.Xerox.COM (Robert Ebert) Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.hardware Subject: Re: Refilling DeskWriter ink cartridges--a failure. Message-ID: <12366@arisia.Xerox.COM> Date: 12 Sep 90 18:16:34 GMT References: <12343@arisia.Xerox.COM> <9009120508.AA04589@gnu.AI.MIT.EDU> Reply-To: ebert@arisia.UUCP (Robert Ebert) Organization: Xerox Sunnyvale System Software Unit Lines: 39 In article <9009120508.AA04589@gnu.AI.MIT.EDU> dmwr@GNU.AI.MIT.EDU (Standing On The Verge Of Getting It On) writes: > >I can't really comment on the red ink, but my HP service guy here in >Boston tells me that those refills dry out more quickly than the ink >that HP uses. Because of this, my HP guy told me not to use the ink >or it would void my warrenty. Any comments on this from netland? The >service rep said that the refill ink can ruin the printing mechanism >if used repeatedly. Regarding "can ruin the printing mechanism." That's probably true, but then, you THROW THE PRINTING MECHANISM AWAY every time you change cartridges. The ink never touches any part of the printer itself, except possibly the wiper station at the far right. Can anyone comment on the wiper station construction? Even when my failed cartridge was leaking at (relatively) enormous volumes, nothing appeared to happen to the wiper station. I suggest that it must be capable of handling large amouts of ink, since priming the cartridge is supposed to flush a lot of ink through the cartridge. (Also, knowing the way HP builds things, I would suspect that you could pour an entire bottle through the wiper station and not damage it.) So, your service rep is most likely telling you about the damage in order to get you to buy refill cartridges at $18 each instead of just ink at $1.00/refill. HP probably suggest replacing the cartridge each time to keep up their (really amazing) time between failure numbers. That is, if they said you could refilly the cartridges, or even sold the ink in bulk, the "printing mechanism" (aka ink cartridge) would eventually fail and people would start to bitch about poor print quality. We know that we can refill it until it starts to go bad, THEN throw it away and replace the "printing mechanism" (for $18.00). Anyway, I got a bunch of email about better ways to fill the cartridges, all of them said I should just use a syringe and squirt the ink through the "air hole" at the top. No one said anything about colored ink, though. What is it, isn't anyone else interested in very-low-volume highlight color printing? --Bob