Why does ink dry up on HP92 refills so easy.

[ltsang]

I have this problem in refilling the HP92 cartridges, it seems the ink dries up very fast. Right after I refilled the hp92, the printer printed with no problem. But after I left the cartridge in the printer for a day of so, the cartridge will not print, I took it out and press the print head on a tissue, there was no ink come out. Sometimes if I soak the cartridge in ammonia for 10 minutes, it would clear the clog, but not always. The problem was not as serious if I use the same ink on hp56 cartridges. I wonder if this is because of my technique or I did not use the right ink or is the HP92 a harder cartridge to refill? Any help will be appreciated. My printer is hp psc 3180.

 

[bemaponline]

I think only 2ml of ink in hp92.

 

[ltsang]

It says 5 mils in the outside OEM box, but seems the amount I inject into the 92 does not cause the nozzles dry up. The old hp 45 holds 40 mils, the hp 56 holds 19 mils, the 92 holds 5mils, and the hp02 holds 2mils! I think HP is trying to make us harder to refill their cartridges, they drop the price on their cartridges also according to the among of ink each cartridges hold, but I think by doing this, they just stop me from using HP printers instead of buying their OEM cartridges every time. And I think there will be less and less people buying their printers also.

 

[mikling]

My guess is that Canon will soon be following in their footsteps. HP is still the leading printer manufacturer even after they've been doing this for a few years. Maybe they know what they're doing and Canon will have to do the same to maintain Canon share prices. I really don't know.

 

[ltsang]

Hi, mikling, looks like members in this forum talk mostly on canon printers, I have the HP7350 too, and this ink dry up has always made me wonder how does that happened. It is not as serious on the HP56 cartridge but also happens a lot. If I left the HP not printing for a few days, the print head dries up. How do you fix that, or has the cartridge been filled too many times and ink not flowing out as easy? Another reason might be the nozzles are smaller on the 92 than the 56. The hp92 holds 1/4 the ink of the hp56 and yet hp claims they print 1/2 the amount of pages so it must use less ink to print a page, any idea? Also this doesn't happen if I use genuine HP cartridges.

 

[InkMon]

Hi, mikling, looks like members in this forum talk mostly on canon printers

This is a good point, why do so many people talk about Canon printers.
Is it because there are more Canon users or do they cause the most trouble?

Having an Epson I find it hard to find a forum that discuses them, just the occational head clog. nothing about short lifetimes print head replacement etc or in fact any major defects. I feel one of the few people on the planet that uses Epson.

 

[mikling]

I am not professing to know everything so if someone disagrees with me don't start saying that I come to this forum to talk nonsense. Ok, that is out of the way now.

I don't have reference to the claims but in each claim, one should read the fine print carefully as to exactly what is printed and what quality level, you might be surprised to find that they are not printing the same documents that you think they are. Certainly when comparing manufacturer claims, do this homework. Their tests are valid, it's just that they are outputting different documents sometimes.
There is progress made by using finer drops with the newer cartridges and that allows more efficient use of the ink especially in black, so be aware of that.

I refill my niece's hp 92s and always bug her about getting that cheap printer and get something with a larger tank so it's less bother. She knows to always come back and I'll refill it for her anyways. Smart girl. She doesn't have any of this dry out problem as well.

My HP7350 I consider to be the most reliable of the bunch even with my refilled cartidges. I can leave it for weeks and come back and it still prints perfectly. Are you using a decent pigment ink for the black text cartridges? If you are then, I will have to ask about your technique. Do you refill the 56 before it runs out? I always refill mine when it shows 3/4 empty and no more. By rotating the three cartridges I get around the resetting of the ink monitors on the printer so I always have working ink level monitors. Also when I refill at 3/4 empty, I am always injecting ink below the remaining ink level in the cartridge thus minimizing the possibility trapping air within the cartridge. Also when I inject ink in, I always do it as slowly as I can.

Here's the last part. If I do get air trapped in the sponge or printhead channels I have a deep vacuum chamber to expel that bubble. I haven't had the need for that for the 56 but I've had to do it once on the 57 as I only have one of those. The HP is my high quality text & spot color printer.

Maybe you are doing one of the above points in an improper fashion.

Inkmon, you will find that some consumers purchase Epsons when they really shouldn't have because of their usage habits and some purchase Canon when that may have been unsuitable and that's understandable given information that all companies print. The reality is that there is no perfect printer that does it all within the constraints of a price sensitive market. A used car market for near new cars exists for the same reasons. My Canons and Epsons have been reliable to me. Perhaps the aspect that the Canon is so easy to refill attracts many customers and they don't pay attention to the fine points of refilling that causes them to have problems. With Epsons, refilling is more work and a little more complex. It is likely this very aspect that segregate the Epson and Canon refiller. Experienced Epson refillers like yourself indeed have very little trouble with their printers. The same can be said for Canon. This could explain the discrepancy you have encountered.

 

[ltsang]

Thanks Mikling,
I checked the specs on both cartridges they both have 416 nozzles, but the dot size on the hp56 is 14 pl and the hp92 is 17 pl, wonder what pl stands for. I just find the 92 is much more difficult to fix than the 56. they used the same housing except the hp92 have a sponge about 1/3 of the 56 and left a big space behind. I sometimes want to put a sponge of the 56 into the 92 case to see if it would extend its life. Do you use the same ink to fill both cartridgess? For me to be able to fill this cartridge is a challenge. Can you let me know what brand of ink you are using and where can you get them?

 

[mikling]

Inserting a sponge from the 56 into a 92 is an interesting and imaginative solution indeed. I have personally not taken a 56 or 92 apart as I didn't have the need to. What I have been told however is that the 92 sponge material is different from that of the 56 and the reason for the change was to make it more difficult to refill. With the small sponge inside the cartridge, it made refilling them more difficult for a person without a precise digital scale in that many would over fill the cartridge then the ink would leak out the head and the person would give up. What I would think of doing with the black is to refill until the ink does leak out and then extract ink from the top of the sponge until the leaking stops. You cannot do the same for a color cartridge because of cross contamination issues.

Yes the ink that I use for the 92 and 56 is the same if it is text black.

pl stands for picoliter. http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci927661,00.html

 

[Grandad35]

Hi, mikling, looks like members in this forum talk mostly on canon printers

This is a good point, why do so many people talk about Canon printers.
Is it because there are more Canon users or do they cause the most trouble?

This forum was started by Neil Slade (http://www.neilslade.com/Papers/inkjetstuff1.html), then taken over and expanded by Nifty-stuff (http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=9). Since Neil uses Canon printers, it is obvious why the forum leaned toward Canon, especially at its start. This doesn't mean that questions about other printers aren't welcome, but a forum that addresses refilling Canon printers will obviously tend to attract other people interested in refilling Canon printers. Unfortunately for people who want to refill other printers, there aren't a lot of good forums that address their issues.

The best answer is "If you build it, they will come". In the same way that the membership in this forum started small and has grown rapidly (http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=463), questions on other printers will be picked up by Google and more people will be directed to this forum http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=170).

Having an Epson I find it hard to find a forum that discuses them, just the occasional head clog. nothing about short lifetimes print head replacement etc or in fact any major defects. I feel one of the few people on the planet that uses Epson.

Lots of people use Epson printers, including many professionals who sell their prints (where Epson is the dominant supplier). I have a friend who is in the business, and he has 3 of the large format Epson pigment printers that see heavy use. He never has a clog because of the heavy use and the ink cost is just part of his "cost of doing business". When you are printing medium format art reproductions for a museum that charges several hundred dollars/print, spending $8/print for the ink isn't a big concern.

Epson also makes consumer grade dye based ink printers, but HP is the "big gorilla" in this market. This link gives the US market share for inkjet printers (http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=496184).