printer to be recognized. I then threw some paper in the printer and printed a test page. It came out mostly white with a few colored lines here and there. HP 21 and 22 cartridges can be refilled but I was too lazy to go out and get some. I'm also too cheap as I don't want to spend $40 on a piece of trash I found than might not work at all. I went to the kitchen and got a glass of filtered water and went to my toolbox to get a syringe.I always have a syringe in my toolbox as they come in handy from time to time.
I sucked up about 2cc of water and gently injected it deep into the the sponge in the cartridges.
Once the cartridges were back in the printer I tried printing to see how it did.
Success! The printer prints well enough to do my homework on till it goes dry. Then when I'm feeling not so lazy I can go pick up some more ink.
The inks in these printers are miscible with water and I don't really need all that photo quality I just want to print something sometimes.
I tried this once and it didn't work.
ReplyDeleteSuccess probably depends on ink amount before filling water.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if it can work with other liquid like alcohol or another one.
ReplyDeleteWould this work for the printer I have? I have black ink in the printer but the color cartridges are empty. The printer keeps complaining that it needs ink in the color cartridges to print in black.
ReplyDeleteRE: AC post at August 16, 2010 11:01 AM
ReplyDelete>>The printer keeps complaining that it needs ink in the color cartridges to print in black.
A lot factors into it. Some printers have computer chips which limit the amount of prints. Some printers have physical sensors to check the ink levels. Some use a page counter.
It really depends on the make and model of your printer.
I have tried extending all the colors with water and they all work. Sometimes you have to print a couple of blank pages to get the heads to clear. Also some ink cartridges give up based on the number of pages printed.
ReplyDelete