Archive for the ‘Ink Cartridge Tips’ Category

One thing people always want to know is how much ink is left in their cartridges. Although some units make it very obvious when they are running low, some don’t. HP has created a multitude of inkjet printers, and although some are very easy to figure out there are some that you may have to do a little more work on. Below is a general explanation of how to check the amount of ink in your cartridges. Though this won’t work for every HP inkjet printer, it will work for most.

Check and make sure that your computer and printer are connected together via USB, ethernet or parallel port.

Click on the “Start” menu button at the bottom left corner of your computer screen. When that pops up, click on the “Settings” option. A list of different functions should pop up on the left side of the settings button. Click on the option called “Control Panel”.

Now, you will need to double click on the “printer/fax” icon on your window. Now you will need to click on the right icon for your specific printer, followed by the “Preferences” tab.

Once you have made it to this step, choose “Service this device”. You should find a button on the menu just activated.

There will be an “Estimated ink level” tab and a graphic that comes up telling you exactly how much ink or toner you have left in your cartridge.

If you are using a Deskjet in particular, you will need to follow the same instructions, but instead of hitting “Control Panel” on the third step you will need to choose “Print Settings” then “Printer Toolbox”.  You will here have the same chance to choose “Estimated Ink Level”.

Though not all HP inkjet printers can be tested this way, most can. If following these instructions does not give you the correct ink levels, you may need to consult your user’s manual for more instructions.

The Lexmark P915 is a popular unit among Lexmark users. It offers photo printing at an affordable price and with high quality. Like most machines out there, though, you don’t get to simply take the printer home and begin using it. There is an installation process and software you must download to get the machine up and running.

When you buy the P915, an installation CD comes standard. In order to download that, close any open applications on your computer and insert the software CD for your printer. An icon should appear on your desktop that reads “P915 Series Installer”. Click on the icon. When the series installer starts up, you should see a “Help” icon and an “Install” icon. Double click on the “Install” option.

There should be an authentication notice that appears next, click “Ok”. Now an introduction window will open. From here, click “Continue”. The computer will guide you through both “Readme” files and a license agreement. A pop-up will appear, and here you much choose a language you want your printer to operate in, and then choose “Continue”, followed by “Agree”. Next, you need to choose the operating system that you are running and click “Continue” again. After that just simply click “Install”.

Once the installation is completed, you should print a test page to verifty that your installation is complete and working correctly. You may also want to register your printer on the internet or check the Lexmark website for fun offers or updates.  Once you’ve completed the additional options, click “Finished”, followed by “Ok”. To close the dialog box, choose “Close”. This should create a Lexmark P915 folder on your desktop. Once this is created, you are ready to print.

If you have misplaced or lost your installation CD, don’t worry. Lexmark does provide its drivers and downloads, as well as many updates online for Lexmark customers.

A common problem that users of Dell printers experience is having the “Low Ink” warning come on when ink, such as Dell M4646 ink, is actually not low. Dell printers for some reason will display ink levels incorrectly quite often. Though it might seem like an annoyance, it is an easy thing to fix if you follow these few simple rules if you are using Windows operating systems.

First, chose “Start” on your menu. Once you do this, you want to open the “Control Panel”, and then choose the “Printers and Faxes” folder. For some versions of Windows, you can choose the “Printers and Faxes” instantly without going through “Control Panel”.  You will not have this issue with other brands of printer, such as those which use Canon CLI-8BK ink.

Inside the “Printers and Faxes” folder, find your printer’s icon, and click on it. If your printer does not appear in the window, make sure your printer is turned on and try these steps again.

Next, chose the folder marked “File” at the top until a drop down menu appears. From that, choose “Printing Preferences”.

Under “Printing Preferences,” you will find a lot of options and tabs for you to choose. The tab that says “Advanced Options” is the one you want to choose. Next you need to choose the “More Options” box. This is how you can make adjustments to your printer.

When  you reach the “More Options” box, you will be given two choices—to either display a minimized print status in the task bar or to not display the print status at all. Make the decision you think will be best for your home or office environment. If you choose to never show the task bar, you will not have to worry about ever seeing the message about low Dell T0529 ink.

Once you have chosen, press the “Exit” option to get out of the box. You will have to press “Ok” to get out of the next box, and then you are done. Just close out of any remaining tabs, and your problem should be fixed.

You may not know this, but depending on what you are printing, you should change the setting of your inkjet printer. A lot of people use their printer the same way for every type of document they print in daily life; however, there are multiple settings specially made for your printer depending on what types of documents are being printed. What does this mean exactly? Well, if you are printing black-and-white text documents, you probably don’t need the same type of printing that you would need if you were printing photos or heavy graphic documents. When printing with an inkjet printer that uses HP 546XL Black ink, for instance, you have a choice in the settings of your printer, and changing the settings is actually quite simple to do.

Whenever you print a document, your print dialog box comes up asking you what pages you would like to print, how many pages you’d like to print and what paper size you would like to print on. What you might not have noticed, though, is the little button on the far right corner labeled “Properties”.  In this box, you will find so many different ways to customize your prints, such as choosing paper size and type, setting print quality and selecting between black-and-white or color prints. You can also set the print orientation—either landscape or portrait.

Your printer has a various settings, and each one will use different amounts of Canon BCI-6M ink, for instance. With most you have the choice of normal, best and draft. However, some printers offer a maximum dpi setting that will give you the highest quality documents possible—best for photos or intense graphics. How to do you choose your print quality? Go to “Print”, “Properties” and then “Print Quality”. The best quality mode will give you the most saturated amount of Brother LC61C ink, for example, and will leave documents looking sharp and professional. It works well with any type of document. Normal mode doesn’t use much ink and results in lighter output. It is perfect for text and okay for graphics. Draft quality will use the least amount of ink, but won’t look as sharp as the others. However, it will create documents the fastest.

Many things can go wrong with your printer, and in most cases, fixing those problems can be quick and easy to do. Below are some common questions associate with inkjet troubleshooting and the responses on how to fix them.

What if my printer acts like it’s printing, but it doesn’t put any HP 97 ink on the paper?  If that’s the case, there isn’t an ink cartridge installed.

What does it mean if my printer is printing gibberish and garbage?  Most likely, the wrong printer driver has been installed.

What does it mean when the Canon PGI-5BK ink is smeared?  Well, this shows that the paper setting on your printer and type of paper you are trying to print on are different.  If using photo paper, you shouldn’t have your printer on the plain paper setting.

What should I do if my printer isn’t responding?  You should probably check your cables and make sure each one is properly installed and connected.  Look for a Select or Online button that you can press on the printer and do so.  Chances are, you are somehow unplugged or something could be wrong with the cable.

What should I do if parts or entire characters are missing?  Try running the software cleaning utility—your Brother LC51BK ink cartridge is probably clogged.  If that doesn’t work, it could just be out of ink.

What does it mean if my printer is printing everything with the wrong text attributes?  (For example, if your printer is printing in bold when you have plain selected.) In this instance, this usually means the wrong printer driver has been installed.

What should I do if my printhead isn’t traveling the entire horizontal distance of its print job? First, open up the cover of the printer and check to see if anything is obstructing the printhead’s movement.  This may happen if there’s a paper jam or maybe a product still is in its packaging inside the printer. For brand new printers, it is probably due to the safety tape.  It is safe to remove that, however, because it is only used to prevent printheads and HP 78 ink from becoming damaged during shipping.

Do you use a lot of HP 96 ink cartridges in your daily life? Work at a school or business that is constantly pumping through tanks of ink day after day? Ever thought about what’s happening to your ink cartridges after you throw them out? If you haven’t, you probably should.

Every second, around 13 cartridges are thrown away in the US.  These cartridges, more often than not, usually find themselves in a landfill soon after. Every year, about seven hundred million inkjet cartridges are thrown out—very few of those are actually recycled.

How long do Canon PGI-220BK ink cartridges take to decompose?  The estimate is 1,000 years. And I bet you didn’t know that in order to make one inkjet tank about three quarts of oil is required.  What is really alarming is that only 1 out of every 500 ink cartridges produced actually get recycled.  That means 499 of those 500 end up in our landfills affecting our green earth.

If you aren’t worried, you should be. Ink tanks aren’t going to end the world or anything, but they definitely aren’t going to keep our natural resources flowing if discarded at such frivolous numbers. Landfills are being overcrowded with these ink cartridges every day, and chances are, many of them are leaking into our earth.

So now that you know throwing out your HP 74XL ink cartridges can be harmful to the environment, what can you do?  One thing you can do is find an ink cartridge recycling station.  Many even pay you money for them. These stations are becoming harder to find, so you may have to look for a company that will take the cartridge for you. Sometimes churches or schools will take these cartridges from you for fundraisers. Honestly, it is easy to recycle your ink tanks if you want to. For Ink Technologies, just get on the website and click on the recycle icon. Fill out the form, and return tags will be sent to you!

Other than recycling, there is another way you can help. Next time you buy Brother LC61BK ink cartridges, don’t buy the new or OEM version. Instead, buy remanufactured ink cartridges that have been recycled.  When it comes to ink recycling, it’s easy to do your part!

When it comes to using inkjet refill kits, sometimes there is fear that comes with it.  Not only is that fear normal, but that fear is logical.  Though refilled ink tanks can save users money, they can also become a real problem to your printer.

One thing that makes people flock to the idea of these refill kits is their low price.  The reason this is possible is that the ink itself is relatively inexpensive, it’s the cartridge that’s expensive.  By refilling your own tanks, you are essentially taking out the cost of the tank.

These kits tend to be pretty messy though because most ink tanks aren’t meant to be “drilled and filled”. Most likely whether or not the tank is meant to be refilled, a mess will probably be the result of using a kit.

Low quality is one of the major problems associated with refill kits. The ink won’t have the same high quality, nor will it produce the same results. Instead, it will most likely leave images grainy.

Another problem is that the refilled Epson ink, for instance, has the tendency to clog printheads and nozzles. The clogs can then lead to severe damage of the printer itself. Using the printheads over and over instead of replacing the cartridges can also cause some detrimental wear and tear to your unit. 

Other problems include the fact that sometimes printers can recognize the full cartridges and that smudges and streaks will become unavoidable.  Another major problem is that it cuts the life span of your printer.  If you are have a Xerox printer, it is impossible to recycle the Xerox printer ink because it does not come in cartridges.

Printer ink can be expensive, there’s no doubt about that.  However, there are ways to cut costs without damaging your printer.  Try buying remanufactured ink tanks from third party vendors.  These will not only save your printer’s life, but will offer the same great quality as OEM products for a fraction of the price.

Many inkjet printers use multiple ink cartridges and with some of those, the ink tanks must be changed depending on what type of printing is taking place.  For instance, many HP inkjets have normal printer ink cartridges and photo cartridges.  When photo printing is happening, the tanks must be switched and then switched back when the photo printing is done.  While many switch back and forth every day, some may only switch to photo printing very rarely.  It’s important to know what to do with your ink cartridge when not in use so that it still works properly when it’s time to print again.  Ink cartridges can dry up if stored improperly, and no one wants to waste money.

There are two easy ways you can store these Epson ink cartridges.

For the first and easiest way, you will need a zip-sealed sandwich bag and a sponge or towel.  Place the ink cartridge into the sandwich bag.  If you have multiple cartridges, then you need multiple bags and sponges.  Each cartridge must be kept separately.  Take the towel or sponge and wet it, then wring out the water so it is damp and not dripping.  Now, place the sponge into the sandwich bag with the ink cartridge. Seal the bag and then place it in a dark and cool place until it’s time to reuse it again.

The second way is a little more detailed than sticking the cartridge in a bag. For the most part, every step is the same, but instead of using a zip-tie bag, you should use a plastic food container with a lid. Here’s the difference—if storing a color cartridge, store it with metal contents facing down.  If storing black, store it with metal facing up. 

Make sure all cartridges are stored in a cool place, and check the moisture of the sponge or towel everyday—if it isn’t wet, remoisten it for best results.

When selling a printer, manufacturers tend to focus on many features and aspects of the unit.  One that is almost always discussed as a selling point is its resolution—which is measured by dpi.  Most buyers know they want a high resolution, and the average buyer may know that “the higher the resolution, the better the quality”.  But do most understand dpi and know what it means? Probably not.

So what is dpi? And what does this mystery abbreviation have to do with your current or soon-to-be printer? 

First, let’s understand what dpi stands for.  Dpi is the abbreviated version of dots per inch. This means, for every inch of the image, that’s how many dots of ink toner will hit the page. It’s important to know that all images created by a printer are made by thousands of tiny dots being exerted from the inkjet nozzles or laser printer toner.  Essentially every printed image is the makeup of droplets upon droplets of ink or toner.  Unless you are dealing with Xerox printers that have Phaser solid ink.

Now that we know what a dpi is, let’s figure out how to measure it.  Basically, the measurement dpi defines how finely spaced the ink dots are on the printed page, in regards to one inch. Dpi is the physical density of the dots when printed on paper. If your printer has a high dpi, generally speaking, it exerts at a higher quality than a printer with a lower dpi.  Often times, units with a lower resolution print images that appear grainy.

  Let’s say your printer has a resolution of 1200 dpi.  This means there are 1200 dots of Brother ink or Canon toner per every inch of your image!  Often times, a resolution will look like this—1200×1200 dpi.  That means there are 1200 by 1200 dots per inch in your one image. If you have a 3×5 inch photo, that’s a lot of dots on one page and somehow, they all come together perfectly to make the high-quality image look professionally made.

When buying a printer, dpi isn’t everything, but it is pretty important in regards to high quality or professional looking documents.

The Canon BJC-55 and BJC-85 are compatible printers that use the same BCI-11 ink cartridges. Weighing 2.1 pounds and 3.1 pounds, respectively, these two are very portable and easy to move. The convenient little machine can be used on the go.

No matter the small size, just like every other photo printer, ink is required to print—and a certain type of ink must be used. For these printers, different uses need different ink tanks to be used. For instance, if printing with color, a BCI-11 Color Ink tank and a BCI-11 Black Ink Tank are both needed. Having these two ink tanks will allow the printer to print all colors, including black. For black and white printing only, however, you your best option is to remove the BCI-11 Color and BCI-11 Black Ink tanks. You will want to then replace these with a BCI-10 Ink Tank. The BCI-10 is relatively larger than the others and will actually take up the same amount of space as two BCI-11 tanks. When printing photos a BCI-12 Color Ink tank and a BCI-12 Black Ink tank are both needed. Unlike Xerox solid ink, the Canon ink is liquid and will give the photos the best quality possible when used on photo paper.

Though changing these Canon ink cartridges might seem like a grueling task, doing this is imperative with such a small machine—and it really is very simple to do. First, you need to remove the new cartridge from its package, as well as all of its protective materials which are the orange cap and orange tape.  Lift the top cover and press the “power” button. This will turn the printer on. Open the cartridge cover button on the printer and press the “cartridge” button and move the cartridge holder to the center of the printer. Next, align the triangular marks on the cartridge holder and the cartridge. At a slight angle, set the cartridge in the holder. Press down gently on the raised left side of the tank until it locks into place. When you have done all the steps, you can close the ink cartridge cover and press the “cartridge” button.

These cartridges need to be changed according to what printing you will be doing. Going back and forth between these cartridges if they are continuously installed and removed (like from color to monochromatic) can reduce the tank’s life. With the BJC-55 and BJC-85, multiple types of printing can become tricky, but the portability makes up for switching of inks—and the finished product is worth the switch.