Buying Ink Cartridges Online

Inkjet printers helped to revolutionize desktop printing by providing near-laser quality at a much lower cost basis. Inkjets are non-impact and utilize nozzles to transfer ink onto the printing medium.

The dots created a minuscule, so small that several fit on each millimeter of printing material (the dots themselves are more narrow than a human hair) and are multi-colored, which allows for sharp images to be created.

Inkjet Cartridge Components

Inside of an ink jet, the print head contains the core of the mechanical technology which controls the nozzles. When you install the ink cartridge, the stepper motor is used to control the movement of the cartridge across the printing medium, creating the mechanical process that develops the image. A standard belt is utilized to connect the print head to the step motor, while a stabilizer ensures a predictable, steady motion. The printing medium, most commonly paper, is controlled by a paper feeder and a series of rollers which ensures that the printing process moves in coordination with the output.

From that point, there are two primary technologies used by inkjets to transfer ink.

Lexmark Z640 Thermal Printer

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The process of remanufacturing ink cartridges can seem complicated, but if done properly, the ink cartridge will be as good as new. Simply put, the remanufacturing process just refills the cartridge with ink purchased in bulk. Remanufacturing firms have also been known to disassemble, clean/inspect, than reassemble the cartridge.

But how can you refill an ink cartridge or laser toner from the comfort of your own home or office?

Canon Inkjet Cartridge Refilling Kits

Refilling Inkjet Cartridges

There are many ways to refill an ink cartridge; some are more dangerous than others. For the average user, the best solution is to purchase a DIY ink refill kit from a retailer like 123Refills or 4Inkjets. These are available for both inkjet and laser printers. The content of each kit varies depending on the manufacturer, but the process is the same.

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So you're seeing one or more of these performance issues with your printer output:

• Horizontal white lines
• Inconsistent ink coverage (areas in paper where ink is faded)
• "Ghost" images - image that has already been printed shows up again, but much more faded
• Splotches of ink appear on the printed page

Canon PIXUS Printhead

What can be done to try to remedy these issues?

1. Clean the cartridge print head nozzles using alcohol and a cotton swab. The nozzles could be clogged, which leads to uneven dispension of ink. It's also possible to clean the print head via your printer's software (if there is a "Head Cleaning" or equivalent option).
2. Verify that the paper type in the printer matches the paper type listed in the printer's setup.
3. Check that the print head ribbon is securely attached, as it could have come loose.
4. Disconnect the printer from its electrical outlet, and clean the print head electrical contacts with alcohol to remove any paper dust that may have accumulated.
5. Restart both the PC and the printer, and then make sure that all connections are tightly secured.

If the above tips are not successful in solving your printer problems, then I would look at possibly replacing the ink cartridge altogether, as it may be an issue with the print head itself.

Today I'm going to go a bit into the more numerical side of determining what kind of performance you can get out of a given inkjet cartridge. I'll cover some of the basic terms that you'll encounter when purchasing and comparing inkjet cartridges, and hopefully give you a better idea of what exactly they mean so you can make more educated buying decisions.

Defining Page Yield

The straightforward and short definition of page yield is that it is the number of pages that can be printed out of a given cartridge. However, you may ask - wouldn't this number differ based on the type of printing that was done? For example, if "Draft" printer settings were used throughout the life of a printer cartridge, that cartridge would certainly produce more pages than a ink cartridge used on the "High Quality" setting.

The answer is that page yield is measured using a standard called 5% page coverage. The definition of 5% page coverage is approximately the amount of ink used to print a 8.5 inch x 11 inch page with a light heading and title, and three paragraphs of double spaced text.

Therefore, the amount of printed pages you'll be able to get out of your printer varies on how the average amount you print compares to this 5% page coverage. If you regularly print photos from your printer, your page yield will be significantly lower than the manufacturer's quoted page yield, and vice versa if you usually print on "Draft" settings with only a few lines of text on average.

How Is Page Yield Officially Determined?

If you're really interested in how exactly this figure is obtained, then check out the official International Organization for Standardization writeups for page yield, titled "Method for the determination of ink cartridge yield for colour inkjet printers".

Or you could just take our word for it...