What 3rd Party Ink?

[hpnetserver]

You can buy the 2nd set after you use the 1st and decide that it has the quality you need. I kept all my orange caps and use those caps to cover the exit hole then wrap a rubber band to hold it in place. I don't really bother to cover the vent hole. I don't think the vent hole will allow ink to dry from there. I use a thick sandwitch bag to keep all my cartridges. I normally refill once no more than twice a month. Each time I top off all the carts including the ones still in the printer. My morning newspaper always comes in a plastic bag wrapped by a rubber band. So my supply of rubber band is more than enough and free. I got two syringes from two refill kits. I also have a set of bottles with syringe needles on them. Those were from the IMS ink kit bought from Costco. I end up using the syringe only. Washing syringe is fairly quick. After so many refills I found no need to be extremely careful in wahsing the syringes. Just do it quick and go. Always work. BTW, Hobbicolors had a larger syringe before. They gave a smaller one in my 2nd kit. The smaller one turns out to be more useful than the larger one. The smaller one can reach the bottom of the ink bottle. The larger one can't.

 

[Osage]

I note one of mccoady questions was not answered--namely how many refills one of the empty cartridges included in a hobbicolor kit can be expected to last--before it shows ink feeding problems and inplies a need to be flushed out with water to rejevenate the cartridge---as I also ordered a hobbicolor kit but have not yet tried it yet------the other question is how long the screw threads last before stripping out.

I see some users have used a hobbicolors kit for a year at least-- its those experienced users I am interested in hearing from.

 

[drc023]

HobbiColors cartridges should easily last for at least 8 refills and probably more, but that's almost a moot point since the refill kits include new cartridges. Even the price of extra cartridges is so low that purchasing more shouldn't be a problem. The screw threads should last for the life of the cartridge unless excess force is applied while tightening the screws. If for some reason they did strip out, just use a screw which is a little bit larger. The only suggestion I've given to David about the empty cartridges is that I'd like to see a larger screw for sealing the fill opening. The one supplied with the cartridge is a little small if you are ham fisted like me. That's why I like to use larger 10-32 nylon screws.

 

[mccoady]

I don't know if you're suggesting this but shouldn't you use the new carts (that come with a kit) everytime you buy a new kit and maybe just keep the old carts for spares if needed? Wouldn't this reduce the chance of having problems with carts not feeding right since you would be using new carts for every new bottle of ink?

Does anyone know the shelf life of HobbiColors ink? If I bought an extra set of carts and filled them as spares I assume as long as you sealed the exist port and maybe air vent then you should be able to store them (until needed) with no problems right?

 

[Osage]

I asked Dave at Hobbicolors those very same question. Dave claimed a shelf life of two years for hobbicolor inks---and a selling point is that every kit comes with fresh ink. And Dave also recommends having a spare set of refills ---with the old Canon OEM cartridges as a likely candidate.--but then you have to decide how you will seal the ink inlet--be it rubber plug, a self tapping sheet metal screw with rubber O-ring, or hot melt glue as possible choices.

Or alternately you could order extra empty virgin cartridge from Hobbicolors ar $1.65 per BCI-6 and $2.50 for a BCI-3eblk blank. But don't want to put words in Dave's mouth----but it might save him replying by e-mail which he seems very
conscienious about.------it might be in Dave's interest to get his web site up and current as I am sure most of these questions could be answered there.--he must be tired of answering the same questions over and over.

And by the way----------Dave's list a price of $9.50 for an 8 ounce bottle of of the Canon pigmented black ink---which is a lot cheaper than MIS in the same quantity.

But any mail order vendor has somewhat the same problem------shipping costs make any unit cost prohibitively expensive when ordered in small quanities,. That one dollar Canon cartridge isn't such a bargain when it costs $6.00 to ship.

 

[mccoady]

My last post for awhile, you've convinced me to try refilling so just got done ordering a HobbiColors kit, an extra set of virgin carts and some clips from CompuBiz. Hopefully the questions asked and answered in this thread will help others trying to decide whether to refill or not, and I'll let you know how I make out with refilling. Thanks!