Bad refill quality

[Number21]

I have an HP Deskjet 460 printer with HP 94 black cartridges. I have refilled two cartridges, right after they were empty and before anything had a chance to dry out. Print quality is terrible, I print a lot of barcodes and they are almost unreadable with a barcode scanner. I tried HP's software to clean the nozzles but it didn't help.

So, being a newbie to refilling...what did I do wrong? Or is this just what to expect when refilling? Is it because I used cheap ink from a local store? (It doesn't even say if it is dye or pigment)

What I'm really wondering is, if I refill some photo cartridges, am I going to get the same bad results?

 

[tigerwan]

Being that you refilled right away, I would suspect the ink quality is not good. There is alot of low quality ink refill kits out there, and not alot of people know enough not to buy them. If you list area you reside, then I am sure someone on here will point you in the direction of a High Quality ink refill kit.

 

[Number21]

Thanks...can I get good ink on ebay? Is pigmented vs dyed better? All I need is a big bottle of good ink, I've already got all the "kit" stuff.

BTW - when I say "terrible print" I mean bleeding outside the lines, kinda like writing with a magic marker.

 

[tigerwan]

I can recommend Atlantic Inkjet for online orders. There is a place on Ebay called PrecisionColors, that sells bulk OCP ink, which is one of the tops in quality, I am not sure if they sell HP inks. I have heard Hobby Colors is good. There are others on this forum besides me that can recommend places to purchase high quality ink for your needs. Also the grade of printer paper you use makes a difference.

Can anyone add to this to help this person out?

 

[fotofreek]

Tigerwan - PrecisionColors advertises that they sell Imaging Specialist inks. I'm not sure they can advertise IS inks if they also sell other brands. IS inks are very good quality. I don't know the current availability of Formulabs inks from Alotofthings as there has been a change in their ownership which I think is due to illness. Grandad can chime in on that one. MIS also sells IS inks but can't advertise as such because they also sell other brands as well. I don't know if they sell ink for HP carts, but a quick look at their web site will answer that question. We don't know the source of Hobbicolors inks, but their Canon inks have a very good reputation here as well. These are the inks we have good reports on for Canon printers and are available in the US. I would guess that their quality for other printers would also be good. I wouldn't trust just any ink from an ebay vendor as there are junk inks out there as well as good ones. I'd stay with inks that have a good reputation on this forum as well as other printer newsgroups. OCP inks, made in Germany, are reputed to be very good also, and I've seen good reports from Inktek inks but have no experience with these two.

 

[tigerwan]

Fotofreek- I sit corrected about the PrecisionColors ink, I mistakenly listed the wrong manufacture, thank you for the catch.

 

[billkunert]

I've had excellent resultw with ink form www.alotofthings.com amd also from www.inksupply.com (MIS). Alotofthings ink is TruColor and has worked quite well in my Canon MP600. I used a lot of MIS ink when I had a HP printer with excellent results. Both companies have provided excellent customer service.

 

[Number21]

Wow, thanks for all the info everyone. I had no idea the ink was so printer specific.

One more question - can I refill an old dried out cartridge?

 

[billkunert]

If it's an HP cartridge with integral print head I doubt you will ever be able to remove dried ink from the print head. I used to use HP 56-57-58 cartridges which preceded the 90 series carts and was never able to reclaim a dried out cart.

 

[Number21]

If it's an HP cartridge with integral print head I doubt you will ever be able to remove dried ink from the print head. I used to use HP 56-57-58 cartridges which preceded the 90 series carts and was never able to reclaim a dried out cart.

Fooey. I'm just curious, what do the commercial refill places do if someone brings in a dried cartridge? (must happen all the time!)