Is self-filling your printer cartridges economical?
Posted by on Tuesday Jun 23, 2009 Under technologyRefilling printer ink cartridges yourself can no doubt save money. You can buy bottles of ink from a number of retail outlets and all you have to do is drill a hole in the ink cartridge and refill it with ink. What are the any downsides? Like everything there are downsides to refilling ink cartridges. The main one is the mess it creates; you have to be very careful not to get ink on your hands because it can take weeks to fully remove it and if you get any on carpet it will have to be removed by a professional carpet cleaner. Another disadvantage of refilling is that its not guaranteed that the cartridge will work after its been refilled. When the cartridge is empty the sponge inside dries out and this stops any ink from coming through to the cartridge print head. To limit the chances of this happening it is best to refill the cartridge when it is half empty and still has some ink left in it. These inconveniences will seams bigger to some and coupled with the fact that you can buy a set of compatible Epson printer inks for not much more than the cost of a refill kit. A set of compatible ink cartridges for an Epson SX405 costs 75% less than the originals and they have no such inconveniences. When choosing which option is best for you it comes down to how much money you really want to save.