Suppliers of New & Remanufactured Ink & Toner Cartridges 3/95 Bedford Road, Ringwood East, Victoria, Australia 3135 Ph: (61) 03 9879 2500, Fax: (61) 03 9879 2800, ABN: 58 565 060 541 Copyright Spitfire Toner Rechargers © 2005

Tips and Tricks

The following tips are put together to help you with refilling and prolong the life of your cartridge.
 

Read the Instructions

It may sound simple, however, the instructions are simple to follow so long as you read them carefully. Many problems are overcome by reference to these instructions.
 

Keep Cartridges (with printheads as part of the cartridge) Topped Up

Cartridges with printheads as part of the cartridge will normally have there life extended by regularly topping up rather than letting them run dry before refilling. This is because the resistors that direct the printhead to fire ink through the printhead become exposed to the air when the cartridge is near empty causing them to heat up and this will reduce their efficiency.

Dried Out Cartridges

Cartridges should not be allowed to dry out as this may cause a blockage due to dried ink in the printhead resulting in streaky printing. Cartridges should always be topped up and if stored out of printer, the printhead (where it is part of the cartridge) should be kept moist such as occurs when stored in the manufacturers storage box.
 

Recovering Blocked Cartridges (with built in printheads)

It is sometimes possible to unblock a cartridge which has a printhead that has blocked up. By placing the printhead part of the cartridge in a saucer containing 50% hot water and 50% ammonia for up to thirty minutes this may hydrate dried ink to allow the ink to flow through the printhead. It is preferable to do this when the cartridge is empty and then put a small volume of ink into the cartridge to test the print quality. This should be followed by inserting the cartridge into the printer and running the printer through its printhead cleaning cycle.
You should also be aware that cartridges do eventually wear out and when you get a severe blockage you will need to get a new cartridge.
 

Pressure Equalization

When a cartridge is refilled it changes the equilibrium inside and may need time to adjust. It is a good practice to stand a refilled cartridge on some newspaper for 15 minutes to allow equalization. With Epson cartridges, they should be filled, then placed back into the printer and let stand for at least an hour, but preferably overnight before printing, to allow any dissolved air to dissipate.
 

Leaking Cartridges

NEVER put a leaking cartridge into your printer!
Refer back to your refill instructions and check you have used the correct procedure. You can take some ink out of the cartridge or wait until it stops leaking. Overfilling is the main cause for leakage.