Save on Printer Ink and Toner Cartridges

Save on Printer Ink and Toner Cartridges

Are you getting tired of the high cost of printing? You’re not alone. Many consumers are up in arms. For example, they believe paying $22 per ounce for printer ink and $150 to $300 (or more) for a toner cartridge is way too much.

Most of the major printer manufacturers have adopted the same marketing model as the razor blade, TiVo and cell phone industry. Simply stated, they sell you the printer for cost or less in order to sell you printer ink and toner cartridges at huge markups. In many instances, they charge seven to ten times what it costs to manufacture these products.


In addition, these major companies spend thousands of dollars trying to convince you to purchase only their products. They strongly criticize printer ink and toner cartridges offered by third party companies. However, did you know that many of these major companies are now selling their own recycled cartridges… and you’re still paying full retail price for them! As someone once said, to get a real education, read the fine print on the label.

With the advent of online marketing, consumer have more choices than ever. There are a large number of reputable companies that sell printer ink and toner cartridges at significant savings. It is very common to save 50-85% when purchasing your printer supplies. In addition to substantial savings, you'll get a money back guarantee and your order is normally shipped the same day.

Ok, here’s ten ways (plus 1) to save on printer ink and toner cartridges:

1. Purchase a compatible inkjet cartridge. These are cartridges made from new parts and manufactured to meet or exceed the OEM specifications for you exact printer.2. Purchase a remanufactured inkjet cartridge. Third party companies collect empty printer ink cartridges. They refill them with ink and test them vigorously to make sure you get exactly the quality and quantity you expect from your inkjet cartridge.

3. Purchase an ink refill kit. You’ll get step-by-step instructions, the tools and printer ink you need to refill your ink cartridge in just a few minutes. On the average, you can refill an inkjet cartridge ten times.

4. Your inkjet cartridge will eventually wear out. Instead of purchasing a brand name cartridge, purchase a compatible or remanufactured cartridge. Then, when compatible cartridge is empty, refill it with printer ink just as you did your original.5. When you’re printing, always use draft mode until you’re ready for your final print.

6. Whenever possible, select black and white print. If you’re final product is to be in color, your draft can be done in black and white until you’ve double-checked everything. Then, print your final copies in color.

7. Purchase a compatible toner cartridge. Third party companies make these toner cartridges from brand new parts. They are manufactured to be equal to or better than your original toner cartridge.

8. Purchase a remanufactured cartridge. Many companies collect empty toner cartridges. They empty any toner waste and then refill the cartridge. They quality check the drum and other parts of the cartridge to insure maximum performance for the consumer.

9. Purchase a toner refill kit. These kits include the tools and instructions necessary to refill your own toner cartridge. On the average, you can refill a toner cartridge about three times.

10. When you toner cartridge is not producing the quality of print you expect, check to see if you can replace the drum, instead of the entire cartridge. This will keep money in your pocket.

11. Purchase multiple ink and toner cartridges if you can. You will save substantially over the already discounted cost, plus you will probably get Free shipping.

By ordering your printer ink, toner or ink cartridge online, you’ll experience the best service, the best warranty, and the best products available, for all your printing needs

What Everybody Should Know about an Inkjet Printer

What Everybody Should Know about an Inkjet Printer

You can purchase an inkjet printer for as little as $39. With a rebate, it may even be less. Not many people would argue about the good deal they got when they purchased their printer. However, the purchase price of an inkjet printer really doesn’t tell you much about your cost of printing. After all, you do need paper and inkjet cartridges to keep your printer printing.


If you go to a local car lot and look at the sticker price of a car, you’d see some of the following items: the base price of the car, the cost for each additional feature or package, the number of miles per gallon for both city and road, and the cost of gasoline for one year under normal driving conditions.

What if you got this same type of information for your printer? Would you still buy the same inkjet printer? How would you feel if you knew you would pay more for gas and oil, in the first year you owned your car, than you paid for the car?

Well the fact is, unless you do very little printing, you will pay more for your paper and inkjet cartridges in the first year than you will pay for your inkjet printer. This is especially true for the low cost inkjet printers. In some cases, the cost of one inkjet cartridge is more than the entire purchase price of an inkjet printer.

If you look at an inkjet printer advertisement, you’d learn about some of the following items: the number of pages printed per minute in text and color, the time to print a certain size photo in black and white or color, the number of inkjet cartridges or tanks the printer holds, the near perfect quality of the photo reproduction, the outstanding resolution you’ll get from (so many) inkjet nozzles and a packaging list of items that come in the box when you purchase it.

However, in most inkjet printer advertisements, you will not see the cost of the premium paper needed to achieve that outstanding photo reproduction. The replacement cost for a black or color inkjet cartridge is nowhere to be found. About the only thing you will see with a dollar sign is the low purchase price of the printer and possibly the rebate. (They also don’t tell you all the steps you have to follow to get your rebate and how it may prevent you from returning the printer to the store if something unexpected happened… but that’s another story.)

Now, if you look at some of the most popular inkjet printers, here’s what you will find about their inkjet cartridges. On the average, a black inkjet cartridge costs between $22 and $30 to replace. A color printer cartridge normally runs between $35 and $60, depending on size.

To get your inkjet printer to print out those outstanding photos that will last for years, you will need to purchase some premium quality paper. Depending on the size, weight and quantity of the premium paper, you can expect to pay from 60 cents to a dollar per page.

As a consumer, you need to know that the major printer manufacturers are selling their inkjet printers at or below cost. They have adopted the marketing practice used in other industries, like the cell phone or razor blade. That is, they sell their initial product at cost or below and expect to make their real profits on the high mark up of their consumable supplies or services.

Now, don’t get me wrong. The quality of the inkjet printer photo reproductions is approaching that of traditional photo processing. The speed of the inkjet printer is constantly rising. The crisp and clear text from the inkjet printer is nearly equal to the quality of laser print. All these are wonderful and welcomed features.

The main point I want to make is this: The real cost of printing is not the purchase price of the inkjet printer. You, the consumer, should be informed of the on-going or real cost of printing. Then, you can decide how much you really want to pay for your printing needs

If major printer manufacturers were to charge a reasonable price (with profit) for their inkjet printer and reduce the cost of their inkjet cartridges and premium paper, you would realize a substantial savings.A well-informed consumer is a wiser consumer. If you had a way to estimate the one year cost of printing, depending upon your needs, you’d be able to make a much better informed decision on what inkjet printer would best meet your needs.

Until the major manufacturers change their marketing practices, you can do something about the high cost of printing. There are many reputable online merchants that provide compatible inkjet cartridges and inkjet refill kits that can save you up to 85% on the cost of printing. Five minutes of your time reviewing some of these companies could save you hundreds and even thousands of dollars. That would definitely help you reduce your one-year cost of printing. I thought you needed to know

Service Manual for Epson 890/1280/1290

Service Manual for Epson 890/1280/1290

This service manual describes basic functions, theory of electrical and mechanical operations, maintenance and repair procedures of EPSON Stylus PHOTO 890/1280/1290. The instructions and procedures included herein are intended for the experienced repair technicians, and attention should be given to the precautions on the preceding page.


The chapters are organized as follows:

CHAPTER 1. PRODUCT DESCRIPTIONS. Provides a general overview and specifications of the product.
CHAPTER 2. OPERATING PRINCIPLES. Describes the theory of electrical and mechanical operations of the product.
CHAPTER 3. TROUBLESHOOTING.Provides the step-by-step procedures for troubleshooting.
CHAPTER 4. DISASSEMBLY AND ASSEMBLY.Describes the step-by-step procedures for disassembling and assembling the product.
CHAPTER 5. ADJUSTMENTS. Provides Epson-approved methods for adjustment.
CHAPTER 6. MAINTENANCE.Provides preventive maintenance procedures and the lists of Epson-approved lubricants and adhesives required for servicing the product.
APPENDIX. Provides the following additional information for reference:
EEPROM Address Map
Connector Pin Assignments
Component Layout
Exploded Diagrams
Electrical Board Circuit Diagrams


Download Service Manual for Epson Stylus Photo 890/1280/1290

Epson Adjustment Program Info

Epson Adjustment Program Info

Since your printer consumes ink not only for printing but also for other operations like cleaning, a certain amount of ink is wasted and it is collected by the waste ink pad. Therefore, the printer counts the amount of waste ink.


Once the amount of waste ink reaches the predefined limit, the printer indicates "MAINTENANCE REQUEST" and the waste ink pad should be replaced. Also, you must reset the maintenance error condition and the waste ink counter value stored in EEPROM on the mainbord of the printer.

The adjustment program enables you to perform maintenance and adjustment functions such as:

* EEPROM initial setting
* Ink Pad Counter reset
* Initial Ink Charge
* Head ID Setting
* Top margin Adjustment
* Bi-D Adjustment
* USB ID Input

Note: The above list is related to models Epson C20 and C40 only. Other printer models may have different set of functions, and you must doublecheck the service manual for a specific printer that you are going to troubleshoot.

Warning: misuse of a program may damage printer's EEPROM! Under Window 98 only.

This service program can be downloaded FREE!

Epson Stylus Color C41, C42 printer service program (under Windows 98 only) download (462kB) FREE!
Epson Stylus Color C60 printer service program (under Windows 98 only) download (609) FREE!
Epson Stylus Photo 900 printer service program (under Windows XP, 2000) download (571kB) FREE!

Epson C110/CX-7300/CX-8300/CX-9300 Adjustment Program

Epson C110/CX-7300/CX-8300/CX-9300 Adjustment Program

Epson CX-8300 adjustment program reset waste ink pad counter.

- For head clean

- Reset waste ink pad counter

- All features
Download Epson C110 Adjustment Program
Download Epson CX-7300 Adjustment Program
Download Epson CX-8300 Adjustment Program
Download Epson CX-9300 Adjustment Program

How to Refill and Reuse a Printer Cartridge

How to Refill and Reuse a Printer Cartridge

Printer ink cartridge is one of the most expensive things that you'll run into when you set up your home office. You start out taking dozens of pictures with your new digital camera, download them onto your computer, print a few and then suddenly: the printer ink cartridge runs out of ink.


If you follow this how-to guide and refill your printer ink cartridge instead of buying a new one, you can save literally hundreds of dollars in printer ink.

Purchase an ink refill kit at an office supply store. (Staples, Walmart, and Costco all carry this inexpensive kit. It usually costs about half the price of an average printer cartridge.)
Gather your kit, a roll of paper towels, and some clear scotch tape together on a large flat working surface, a table or desk.
Remove the empty cartridge from your printer. (Remember to close your printer lid or door while you are working.)
Cover your hands with a pair of disposable plastic gloves while you work with the messy ink.
Take a paper towel and fold it in half twice. Work over the paper towel to catch any leaking ink.
Place the empty cartridge on it.
Read the instruction manual included with the refill kit to learn how to refill your particular type of cartridge. (The following instructions are just a general guide).
Locate the fill holes on the top of the cartridge. The depressions can be felt by rubbing your finger across the label.
Use a sharp pencil to pierce the refill holes in the top of the ink cartridge. (Correct places can also be found in the kit instructions).
In addition to black, there are three colors of ink: magenta, cyan, and yellow. Follow the kit instructions on which hole to insert each color.
Insert the long needle on the refill ink bottle into the correct hole.
Slowly, add the ink. Carefully watch to be sure that you do not over-fill.
Stop quickly as soon as you see a bit of ink oozing out of the hole. Without letting go of the bottle, slowly release the air, sucking a little ink back out of the ink cartridge, before you remove the needle completely.
Carefully daub the cartridge contacts on the paper towel, you should see a splotch of the ink leaking out onto the paper towel.
Cover the hole with a small piece of clear scotch tape. (This works better than the seal dots included in the kit.) Make sure that no ink is leaking out of the top holes. (That's where the clear tape comes in handy.) Be careful not to cross contaminate the colors.
Repeat steps 11-15 for each ink color.
After you have refilled all three colors, carefully blot (don't wipe or rub) the cartridge printhead on a folded piece of paper towel. You may need to do this several times. Do this until it stops bleeding and you see an even stripe of three colors showing up on the towel.
Replace the ink cartridge into the printer. Never, ever install a leaking print cartridge.
Immediately print something, anything, just to get the ink flowing. Print several test pages, preferable photos with a lot of different colors.
Follow the cleaning or priming cycles for your specific printer.


Tips

After refilling a print cartridge 5 or 6 times, the print head will eventually wear out. It can't last forever. Then you'll just have to buy a new cartridge and replace it.
After you refill an ink cartridge, it should weigh the same as a new cartridges. Overfilling a cartridge will cause the cartridge to prematurely quit on you. Cartridges use a sponge to hold ink, by overfilling you wet the upper portion of the sponge causing the ink to want to flow upwards, away from the print nozzles.
New ink cartridges come with a postage-paid envelope requesting you to send your old ink cartridge in for recycling! The major manufacturers do not reuse the cartridges you return. Instead, they are either destroyed or disposed of as refuse. Many times in 3rd world countries. Search the Basal Action Network if you want more info on this nightmare.
Avoid letting your ink cartridge run dry. Check and refill it periodically to keep it maintained. Try not to leave it unused for a long period of time. Try to print something at least once a week. This will help it last longer.
Be sure to inject the ink slowly to avoid any air bubbles that can cause poor printing results.
If one color is having difficulty printing after you insert the print cartridge, remove from printer and recheck the tape covering the fill holes. Lift it and reposition, letting off any suction that may be preventing it from flowing properly.
Don't worry about testing and retesting. It's worth the effort. If you do ruin the cartridge... You can always go buy a new one. You would have had to do that anyway.
If the color still refuses to come out of the cartridge when you print, use the syringe to inject just one or two small drops of isopropyl (rubbing) alcohol as far down into the cartridge as you can, so it will be near the print head. This can help dissolve any clots in the almost-microscopic nozzles.
As a last resort before buying a new cartridge, take the (clean) syringe, remove the plunger, and insert the syringe deeply into the cartridge. Put your mouth over the now-open top of the syringe and blow reasonably forcefully. This can help force the semi-loosened clogs from the previous step out of the way of the liquid ink. Be careful not to let the ink bubble out of the top of the inkjet cartridge as you blow into the syringe. Then dab the nozzle end of the cartridge on a paper towel. Repeat 3-4 times, if necessary. This method can extend the usability of a refilled cartridge from perhaps 5 or 6 refills to 8 or 10. For the cost of a new cartridge, it's worth the extra effort if you're on a tight budget.
Finally, you can use this method if all else fails: Find a printer on sale for less than the cost of a new cartridge. It will include one new cartridge (and sometimes two - black and color), so you now have a new printer with 1 or 2 cartridges for less than the cost of one new cartridge (printer companies sell these printers inexpensively, planning to make their money on future cartridge purchases - unless you know their game). Refill those cartridges until they won't work anymore, and then do it all over again.
Donate the used printer to a local charity, church, or school. Just be sure to let them know it needs a new cartridge, so they can decide if they want it

How to Repair a HP Series 600 Printer

How to Repair a HP Series 600 Printer With a Malfunctioning Paper Feed Mechanism

Most HP Series 600 Printers use the Print Head (where the ink cartridges go) to start the paper pick - up process. The printer uses what is known as a clutch actuator (HP Part No. C4549-40027).

This is the intermediary link between the print head and the actual paper drive system.


In normal use the print head goes to the extreme left to push against the clutch actuator which engages the main drive gear with the paper loading gear assembly. The printers' paper drive rollers pick up the paper till it reaches the top of the roller assembly where the "paper is in place sensor" (located behind the paper drive assembly) activates and the print head then goes into normal printing mode.

When this clutch actuator is damaged the paper drive ceases to function.

Steps

Determine if the clutch actuator is broken or just jammed. HP's website ([1] should be utilized as they have some good parts layout drawings that will help you in this. It will also show you one of the reasons that the clutch actuator is getting jammed is because the cartridges were put in wrong and occasionally gets misaligned. It is a big problem with this series of printers, but it is the first step in determining if this is indeed the problem.
If it is, then carefully and gently lift the clutch actuator assembly up and move it to the right till it sits next to the main drive gear. We will show a case where the clutch actuator was accidentally broken off by the user.
After this you must figure out a way to get the broken part (clutch actuator) that is left in the printer out for repair and re-installation. One way that you can do this is to take all the covers off the printer. Then take apart the print head assembly and associated parts until you are down to the top hold down rail that holds down the paper pick-up assembly and where the clutch actuator is located. Once that was done, take the broken part and using EXTRA STRENGTH Krazy Glue glued the broken pieces back together.
Once the part had cured sufficiently (30 Minutes Min.) You then place the clutch actuator back into it's area and reassembled the rest of the printer.

How to Extend the Life of Your Ink Cartridge

How to Extend the Life of Your Ink Cartridge

Sometimes, you can extend the life of your ink cartridge by just changing the print settings on your computer.

Steps


Open the Control Panel on your computer and click on "Printers and Faxes."
Right click on the default printer and left click on "Print Preferences." Click on "Advanced" and select "Draft."
Click "OK."


Tips

It would sometimes be cheaper to buy a new printer than it would be to buy a new ink cartridge.
Don't print test pages unless you have to. They are designed to use as much ink as possible. Try printing a few lines of simple text instead.
Quite often you can extend the cartridges life by simply shaking the cartridge.

Before You Buy a Multifunction Printer

Before You Buy a Multifunction Printer

Multifunction printers are a great way to save desk space by combining several peripherals into one package. There are a wide variety of multifunction printers on the market today and you need to ask yourself a few questions before you buy a multifunction printer.


What printer resolution is best?
The higher the resolution of the printer, the better images and documents printed will look. Resolution is especially important when the printer will be used to print photographs. Many of the new multifunction printers can print photos that look as good as professionally developed photographs. If you will not be printing photographs, the highest resolution printer is not required.

What scanner resolution is needed?
Scan resolution is really important if you will be using the scanner to scan photos or images into your computer for editing or inclusion in print materials. The higher the scanner resolution the better the scanned images will look. Images scanned for use on the web don't require super high resolutions, however, if you are scanning images for print get the highest resolution scanner you can afford.

Do you need a fax function?
It is hard to conduct business without a fax machine these days. If you are not using your printer in an office or business environment, a fax function may not be needed. It is also important to note that I would not recommend using an ink jet fax machine for important or legal document receiving. Documents printed by ink jet printers tend to be damaged easily if they get damp.

Are the ink cartridges easy to find?
Some manufacturers, such as Dell, make the ink cartridges specific to their printers and generic replacements are not available. Before you buy your printer, be sure ink cartridges are available in your area or be prepared to wait for delivery if you have to order them online.

How fast does it print?
You will want to check the print and copy speed before you buy your printer. You can save yourself lots of time during the work week by having a printer that prints and copies fast. Get the fastest printer you can afford that meets your other needs.

HP Color LaserJet 1500 Series Printer Service Manual

HP Color LaserJet 1500 Series Printer Service Manual

The HP entry Color LaserJet printer series delivers high quality, professional color laser documents for a great price. These easy-to-use printers are designed for home offices, small businesses, and workgroups that want a compact, networkable color laser solution for their business communication and small print run needs.

The HP entry Color LaserJet printer series provides the high quality color laser output you have come to expect from the industry leader. The 600-dpi engine, HP ImageREt 2400 color layering technology, and new toner formulation ensure great print quality for your business documents. With ease-of-use, real-time status, and supplies management features, these printers are designed to quickly bring high quality color capabilities to users - while lowering your total cost of ownership by minimizing printer downtime.

The HP Color LaserJet 1500 series is a host-based printer, meaning it relies on the host computer to render the print job before it is sent to the printer. The benefit of host-based printers is usually lower acquisition costs - since the processing occurs on the host computer the printer requires less processor power and memory than conventional PDL-based printers.

These lower requirements allow HP to provide a color laser printer at an incredible low price. To achieve the lower acquisition price there are trade-offs to be considered. Since host-based printers rely on the computer's processor they require a specific driver for each supported host and these drivers are unique to each operating system. Host-based printers are compatible with select Mac OS and Windows operating systems. A host-based printer is ideal for one or two users working within one of the supported operating systems.

The HP color LaserJet 1500 series printer is a four-color laser printer that prints at 16 pages per minute (ppm) in black, and 4 ppm in color.

Trays—The printer comes with a multipurpose tray (tray 1) that holds up to 125 sheets ofvarious print media or 10 envelopes. The HP color LaserJet 1500L printer is compatible witha 250-sheet tray (optional tray 2) for standard sizes of paper. HP color LaserJet 1500 printercomes with both tray 1 and tray 2.
Connectivity—The printer provides a HI-SPEED universal serial bus (USB) port for connectivity.
Memory—The printer contains 16 MB RAM, which cannot be expanded.


HP color LaserJet 1500L printer
The HP color LaserJet 1500L printer comes with tray 1 (multipurpose tray), and accepts the
optional tray 2.

HP color LaserJet 1500 printer
The HP color LaserJet 1500 printer comes with tray 1 and tray 2.


Download HP Color LaserJet 1500 Series Printer Manual

Epson Stylus Photo C-92 Adjustment Program

Epson Stylus Photo C-92 Adjustment Program

Here's Adjustment Program for Epson Stylus Photo C-92. See the manual instruction Resetter Printer Epson C92.
Manual instruction for resetting printer

Switch on printer
Open autorun.bat to set the date to 13 july 2007
Run adjprog.exe from the extracted folder
Click accept
Click particular adjustment mode
Go to maintenance then Select waste ink pad counter then click ok
Click on “check button till its done then click on initialization button then click on finish button
Switch off printer for 5 secs then switch on again
If you have done, you can change the date back to normal

Download Epson Stylus Photo C-92 Adjustment Program