Inkjet refill kits... any good?

[metroplex]

I have a Canon BJC-4000 that uses $33 BC-20 black ink cartridges. Since I'm in school, I print out loads and loads of assignments/essays/papers plus i'm in AFROTC so I have plenty of memorandums, ops orders, and other stuff to print out.

I found the InkTec refill kit - the one where you pop open your old cartridge and inject ink into it.

Are these any good? I don't need SUPERIOR quality - it just has to be black, legible, and won't smear off. I'd hate to have a USAF officer bite my head off becuase his or her hands and uniform got all smudged from my ink! thanks

 

[OpalFrost98GT]

Dont waste your money. Ive tried them twice and both times they clogged the printheads.

 

[metroplex]

How'd they clog the heads? Did the ink dry up?

What brand did you use?

What mods do you have on your GT?

 

[sciencewhiz]

refilling inkjet cartridges is generally messy, and only works a few times before either you screw up or the heads are.

I don't know if there is anything similar to this for canons, but the Continous Flow System for some epson printers at http://www.inksupply.com/index.cfm?source=html/cobra.html looks very interesting.

 

[metroplex]

Well I'm just looking for a 1-shot refill, I'm not expecting to use it for 15 years.

$10 for a refill is a lot better than $20 for a reman head or $33 for a new head.

I always set it to 180 dpi, draft quality, medium darkness to conserve ink.

 

[HermitGuy]

I can't speak for the cannon but I have used them with great success with my lexmark Z12. Quality wise my prints look just as good with the refills as with the original ink and I definitely safe money with the refills. One good suggestion is to not let your cartridge run completely dry before you do the refill, the one time I did the refill didn't work well. Good luck!!

 

[damngood]

I'm in the same boat as you! I'm a poor college student who can't afford $30 ink cartridges. So I started looking around online for some cheap sites. Actually, I think I made a post here on Anand!

I came to this place. I bought only 2 cartridges for my Canon BJC 2000, just to test them out. I don't do nearly as much printing as you, but I still print a lot (I took an English course with a lot of papers to write this quarter). One cartridge lasted me from late-April up until about a week ago. The ink is not too bad at all and the order came pretty quick.

http://www.megatoners.com/canbci2comco.html

Hope this'll work out for you.

 

[BillDKiller]

I have the same printer as you do, and hate paying the ridiculous prices for Canon cartridges. I have been using the refill kits from Staples and Fry's with good success. The print color doesn't seem to be quite as black, but it is quite acceptable. I do notice the problem with a slight drying of ink on the outside of the print head. I just wipe it off every couple months or so with a q-tip and rubbing alcohol. There is also a command in the printer config to clean the heads which I use after I refill. It also takes about a day for the ink to get to the print head. I think there's a sponge or something inside they use as a filter. Refilling isn't messy at all once you get used to it. Just don't try to fill it to full. One of the $20.00 refill kits lasts me through about 3 refills.

 

[crypticlogin]

If those Inktec kits come in a red box with two refills/box, then I'd recommend them since they're at a decent quality and price. The ink doesn't smear as long as you let it dry and keep it dry!

I used them on some BC-20 cartridges I had for about two years and do the job fine. I like how the kit comes with those plunger-style tanks (20mL each, IIRC) that are handy to reuse with the bulk packs if you ever change. IMO, it's a nice quality kit considering the price you pay for it.

 

[Shagga]

Nope. But it depends how fussy you are. If you want vivid colours then I would have to say no.

 

[Macro2]

Man, I can't belive I'm reading all this negative stuf. I fill Canon and HP cartridges all the time and they work fine. The Canons are the easiest. HPs take some trouble shooting.
I primarily use a S450, S630 and a S700 printer. These use the BCI-03 cartidges and I've filled a single cartridge in excess of 25 times and they still work fine. These printers do have head cleaning software.
I dunno about the BJC-4000. Maybe they are harder to fill. But there are plenty of secondary market cartriges out there for as little as $1.65 for black.
Try E-bay.
http://search.ebay.com/search/searc...&ht=1&SortProperty=MetaEndSort&query=bjc-4000Link
http://www.inkquik.com/canon_bci-21bc.html

or many places sell them.
I've used these generic ones and they worrk too. Just cheaper for me to fill myself.
Need more help, let me know...

MAcLink

 

[metroplex]

Reman'd BC-20 cartridges are $20 a piece, and new ones are $33

They're 44ml cartridges.

I just want something that prints in black ink

 

[pac1085]

I've tried refill kits a few times on my printers. They worked sometimes, but other times they didnt work. Guess everyone has different experiences with em.

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: ICSVortex
I've tried refill kits a few times on my printers. They worked sometimes, but other times they didnt work. Guess everyone has different experiences with em.

It is absolutely critical that the cartridges be refilled the instant they run out. If you wait, the ink will dry and you will clog the printheads.

 

[OpalFrost98GT]

I have a Lexmark Z52, and I used a refill kit from Walmart..$26.00:disgust:
It printed a few pages then locked up tight.
I probably didn't refill soon enough then. It may have been a week or so after the cartridges ran out.

I finally found the Costco's has the originall cartridges for the Z52 fot $45 for a 2 Pack!

The GT is Stock right now. Gonna do the headswap, exhaust, and gears in August.

 

[metroplex]

What kind of exhaust and gears are you getting?

Are you porting and polishing the PI heads?

 

[metroplex]

Yes that's the Intek refill kit I ordered.

Is each 20ml kit worth 1 refill?

The BC-20 is 44 mL, so I thought you'd need both tanks to refill it - yet they advertise that the kit is worth 2.3 refills

I plan on just dumping one 20mL cartridge as soon as I get it, becuase my cartridge is just about to run out.

 

[Natej]

I need a workcentre 940 refill kit. Were can I find. Thanks in advance!!!

 

[MWink]

I've found that if you look hard enough on Ebay you can get some really good deals on original ink carts. I buy HP original cartridges for my HP DJ 722C on Ebay for about $15-20 each. I don't really worry about ink as I use about 1 cartridge per year.

 

[Macro2]

AGAIN...
Canon cartridges fill real easy...or you can buy generic and do well because the printheads aren't on the cartridges.

HPs are a bit harder but you can fill them too.

Sometimes the heads get clogged. Often an soak overnight in a cleaning solution (a little soap in distilled water) will get the dry ink out and they work fine again. Even when you think they are finished.

If you don't want to fill Canos you can buy generic canons real cheap or refilled HPs for less than 1/2 HPs price.

If you do a lot of printing...get a Canon 750 and refill the BCI-03 cartriges...it's easy with a little practice.

Mac

PS: Winks right, try e-bay or just search google.