On Tue, 05 Apr 2005 13:10:41 -0400, Dan
wrote:

I had an HP inkjet for about 10 years, mostly used the black which I was
able to refill multiple times before the printer crapped out
mechanically (paper feed issues). If you need mostly black, these days
you can get a new mono laser printer for ~$200. I have a Brother HL5140
which is about a year old, had good reviews when I got it, goes for
about $200 now
http://www.brother.com/usa/printer/i...l5140_ove.html. At
these prices it doesn't make sense to fool with inkjets for B&W.
Inkjets sell cheap & they make their money peddling cartridges, not
printers, also some of the newer cartridges are dated and actually
EXPIRE (all to protect your printer and to maintain optimum print
quality, you understand. Uh-huh) so if you buy several to have on hand
when one runs out (since most are so damned SMALL) the last one(s) on
the shelf may not work even though it has never been out of the package,
not because it's defective, but because it's expired. This can also be
a factor if you refill the same cartridge repeatedly.

Dan


wrote in message
oups.com...

The problem is we don't use our color printers very often and in the
interim the color cartridges dry up. The black ones do too in record
time it seems also. This is frustrating and expensive as well. We
bought a refill kit for our specified cartridges, and tried refilling
the blacks first. We drilled the hole on top and refilled them and then
plugged the hole all with only marginal success. I have two black ones
sitting in front of me right now that are refilled but won't print. Is
there a trick to successfully doing this? And is there anything I can
do to try to prolong the life of these stupid things between long
periods of inactivity? Thanks, Lenny Stein, Barlen Electronics.

What we need in the consumer end of things is a inkjet printer with an
ink reservoir where all you have to do is just pour ink in and close
the lid.
I have a commercial inkjet plotter that has just that, ink tanks with
flip up lids.
Problem is the cost of such a printer is too high for someone who just
needs a low cost reliable printer for occasional use.(Mine cost me
2,300 bucks US. But then we do graphic pre-press and need a reliable
plotter for doing proofs.)
Back in the mid 90's we got bent over more than once by sales reps
from Epson buying their so called "professional" inkjet printers.(I
have a closet full of Epson high end printers just collecting dust. A
stylus pro XL, a 1500, a 3200 colorado and a couple of their
photo-printers. ALL junk!)
I've given some of the other brands a try for use around the office on
various stations and have gravitated to Canon BJC-100's since most of
the internal stuff is just B&W anyway.
I can pick these units up at garage sales or goodwill for a couple of
bucks and by buying new blank generic cartridge blanks and filling
them myself can get by for the least amount of outlay.(I usually get
3-5 refills out of each cartridge before they fry out.)
Not since the days of snake oil salesmen have we seen such blatant and
obscene crookery.
Inkjet salespersons should be required to slither up to you on their
bellies as you enter the store.