Re-filling inkjet cartridges

[Charles Freeborn]

So I've got an ancient (15 y.o.) HP wide format (24") plotter. I only need it every 2 or 3 months, but when I do, I do. The ink cartridges, as well as the printer are rapidly going obsolete and getting ridiculously expensive. When a cartridge is empty, or the printer thinks it's empty it throws a warning and won't print. At this point I don't need color. B& W only would be fine for my purposes. Commercial re-filler companies no longer fill them. So 2 part question:
Can I re-fill myself, and or can I hack the 4 color cartridges to make the printer think they're full and print in B& W only?
Print cartridges are HP # 84 (large ones) and #11 (small ones)
Thanks!

[WPOZZZ]

Have you tried Costco's refill service?

[Evans, Marv]

Don't know about those specific cartridges, but the wife & I tried the Costco refill service. We found out you have to take the cartridges in soon after they become empty, otherwise they become too dried out to be refilled. We tried the cheap aftermarket cartridges on Amazon, but they didn't last that long and the ink smelled weird.

[Charles Freeborn]

Looked at the costco website and my cartridges aren't listed as available for re-fill. Will stop by in person and inquire...

[gchappel]

These cartridges are still available- easiest.
I do not have any experience with this model printer/plotter. I have refilled cartridges on photo printers for years, epson, canon, hp. Just drill a hole (in the right spot), fill with the correct type of ink, plug hole with a little rubber stopper. Easy. Goggle is your friend.
If google does not help you- you can disassemble a cartridge to see its layout and figure out where the ink needs to go. Getting the correct ink is important- pigment vs dye, etc.
The one hoop you may need to jump through- in some printers if a cartridge is read as empty by the printer- the printer will not print with it even if you refill it. You then need to reset the chip in the cartridge. I have chip resetters for several printers. One way around this-- refill the cartridge before the printer says it is empty. Then the chip never comes into play.
For occasional use it is a mess and not worth it- just buy the $50 cartridges. I at times go through 100ml of ink in a day. Then refilling is worth it.
gary

[stomachmonkey]

If it's the HP I'm thinking of one of the issues with those cartridges is they have a hard coded expiration date.

Meaning after a set date they'll produce banded / poor quality prints.

[Por_sha911]

Have refilled HP cartridges for 20 years.
AFAIK, HP cartridges as old as yours don't have a time trigger but when the cartridge is totally empty there is a mechanical trigger to the tell the printer. Tri-color are the worst since when one color is gone, you got nothing.

- Run (or clean) the cartridge at least once a month minimum. When the nozzles dry out they are toast.

- If possible, don't wait until the cartridge is totally empty. It causes an alert. At the first sign of less quality refill them. Again, if you run them till no ink is left they are toast.

- Don't buy extra cartridges. They will dry out just sitting in the box brand new.

- As of lately, I don't use enough ink to fool with refill so I just keep the ones in the printer clean and buy refilled online for cheap.

[stomachmonkey]

Originally Posted by Por_sha911

AFAIK, HP cartridges as old as yours don't have a time trigger but when the cartridge is totally empty there is a mechanical trigger to the tell the printer.

Actually some of them do, mostly the larger format devices.

Check the box, it's stamped on it.

[Por_sha911]

HP home use printers have dates on the box but those are "sell by" date for purposes of the jets not being dried out. There is no power source to run a timer.

Bump-anyone else want to weigh in?

[stomachmonkey]

Originally Posted by Por_sha911

Bump-anyone else want to weigh in?

How about HP?

They probably might know something.

HP Inkjet Supplies - Ink Expiration | HP® Customer Support

What is ink expiration?
Basically ink expiration is a built-in date on which certain HP ink cartridges will stop working. Air ingestion and water evaporation can cause ink to change over time. In printing systems where the printhead and ink supply are separate, older ink can adversely impact the printhead and the ink delivery components within the printer. With ink expiration, however, HP can prevent this from happening.

[VW_NUTT]

you can buy a lit on ebay. I got them for an old printer. refill yourself. my kits was $60 for 4 cartridges with the bottles of ink. This is an easy job to do. Wear gloves!!!

[Charles Freeborn]

I've found replacement cartridges for now. So far the rest of the cartridges show enough ink to not trigger the warning light, so the printer will run. I seldom use color so they should last as long as they don't dry out. The two that are "empty" are the newest ones, so I assume HP has done an expiration thing since I bought them last. They both still have ink, the black one has lots, but still throws the warning light. If there was any way to hack the firmware in the software to convert it to a monochrome (black only) printer I'd do it in a minute. I'm not a coder, so I wouldn't know where to begin... The next time I'm near a costco I'll see if they can do a re-fill...

[Por_sha911]

Originally Posted by stomachmonkey

How about HP?
They probably might know something.
HP Inkjet Supplies - Ink Expiration | HP® Customer Support

Good thinking.

If you look at the chart in that link you will see that all the printers that expire are business printers or newer ones. His is much older than the ones listed.

[stomachmonkey]

Originally Posted by Por_sha911

Good thinking.

If you look at the chart in that link you will see that all the printers that expire are business printers or newer ones. His is much older than the ones listed.

Ughh, I brought up the expiration date because I owned older HP plotters that used expiring ink. I was not talking out my ass. It was from first hand experience.

I actually owned one of the very first 650C's on the market. It was given to us by HP to do real world testing. I can dig out the VHS that HP made as a sales tool to market the device. The one with a half hour of me being interviewed about my experience with it and opinion of it.

Companies end of life stuff and when they do they often stop listing them on their support sites. That the chart shows only newer stuff is not evidence that older stuff is not affected.

I guessed you missed this line form the link, "This issue affects only a small percentage of older HP ink supplies."

Can we move on now?

[dad911]

I don't know which printer you have, but I trashed a designjet 600(C2847A) and bought a designjet 500 on craigslist because it uses separate printheads and ink cartridges. Can go a few months between uses w/o problems, and lower ink costs. The old cartridges were drying up and clogging all the time.

[69 Soft Targa]

Never had a problem using cartridges from Peachtree.

May be worth checking out their site.

Peachtree Ink // HP84 compatible - HP84 (Black)