Epson CX3810 ink refill (noob questions)

[Burt]

(snip)

On another note - I went to buy replacement carts for my Canon MP360 the
other day, and found I could buy a whole new printer (admittedly a cheapy)
for less than the cost of putting new carts in mine. Go figure!!! Maybe
the next thing the companies try will be a printer that cannot be
re-carted - when it runs out of ink you just throw the whole thing away.

Peter - lots of compatables available for this printer. Unfortunately, you
got cought by the old rule of thumb - the cheaper the printer, the more
expensive the ink replacements! The little tri-color bci-24 carts only have
about 5 ml. of ink per color and 1 ml. is retained in the sponge when you
need to replace it. There are refill inks available and the cost would be
minimal to refill them. These are not as easy to refill as the bci-6 and
bci-3ebk carts but they are refillable. Here is a link for refill
instructions. Although it looks complicated, once you refill a few times it
becomes routing. Pay no attention to our very own troll who will tell you
that your printer will go up in a mushroom cloud if it even sniffs
aftermarket inks. I've been refilling my Canon printers for well over two
years and could have purchased half a dozen printers with the money I've
saved over buying CAnon OEM inks.
http://www.alotofthings.com/viartshop/article.php?category_id=8&article_id=68&page=

 

[Burt]

(snip)

Yeah. New replacement cartridges for this Epson CX3810 would be about
$80 for a full set of 4, much more than the original cost ($50, but I
got it for free after a rebate). And that's just ridiculous, because
the machine itself is quite nice: scans well, copies well, prints well,
and much more solidly constructed than my previous cheapo printer.

It seems like there are about 1,000 sites selling ink cartridges, but
very little objective information on ink and cartridges is available.
Anybody know of a good comprehensive site with information on different
ink sellers and such?

Dan

Dan - To repeat what I wrote in my previous post on this thread, the cheaper
the printer the more expensive the ink. To my knowledge, there is no site
that lists objective info on aftermarket carts or inks. The aftermarket
bulk refill inks for Canon printers that have received high marks from
actual users on this NG and the Nifty Stuff Forum are pretty well known. I
think the best you can do for Epson prefilled carts is state where you live
(US, UK, OZ, etc) and ask the question of the participants in the NG. You
might also check into the Nifty Stuff Forum and ask the question there.
Mostly Canon users there as many of the participants refill their carts and
the Canons are the easiest to refill. Inksupply.com has a good reputation
for Canon and Epson refill inks - check out their site and see what they
have for your printer.

 

[Dan Lenski]

http://www.alotofthings.com/viartshop/article.php?category_id=8&article_id=68&page=

Very nice! I've found a similar page explaining how to refill Epson
cartridges! It is geared towards a different model but my T060x20
cartridges look virtually identical.

Dan

 

[measekite]

Dan Lenski wrote:

[email protected] wrote:



Measekite is a well known troll who haunts this group. Ignore him.



Thanks for the heads up. I browsed the group before posting, and kind of got this impression from his other posts on threads about ink refills.


Maybe if you read them with some understanding you might make good choices.






My advice is, every time you buy an ink refill, bank the difference between its price and the OEM refill. When you have banked the price of the next printer you want to own, stop. After that time, you're coasting. Simple.



Sounds good to me!


If you really thought about it you would not say that so quickly.


The printer I have is a cheap model, but it works very well for me and I enjoy tinkering with things, so I'll try to keep it going for a while with this strategy.


Cheap is not low in cost much of the time.


Thanks, Dan

 

[measekite]

[email protected] wrote:

Dan Lenski wrote:



Sounds good to me! The printer I have is a cheap model, but it works very well for me and I enjoy tinkering with things, so I'll try to keep it going for a while with this strategy.



If you counter his "cheap ink blocks heads" argument, as I seem to have done,


I do not make any statemnents about colour fading.  I do make statements about color fading.


Measekite resorts to warning about colour (or "color") fading, etc. These may or may not be fair points,


read www.wilhelmlabs.com reports


depending on your usage. If I were depending on my printer for professional purposes, well, maybe, (the ink would be a business expense) but my inkjet tends to get used for home/hobby type purposes, printing out labels and jackets for my pirated CDs & DVDs, web pages, course work, shopping lists, film reviews for stuff I've downloaded etc. If they fade, big deal!

 

[measekite]

Yep, my uses are similar... printing mailing labels, letters, quick
reference guides to programs that will be obsolete in 6 months. If I
need to print my resumé or something like that, I'll use a better
printer.

I imagine that there could be some seriously crappy ink out there that
will block inkjet print heads, but I doubt it's a widespread problem
given that a lot of people seem to have success with generic ink and
cartridges. One thing I read in Consumer Reports is that generic ink
cartridges often contain a lot less ink than original OEM cartridges,
and consequently don't last as long... is there any truth to that?

What many do not understand is the fact that the relabelers will not
tell you what they are selling you. Even if you place 2 orders several
months apart you may not get relabeled and repackaged ink that was
produced from the same mfg. Most of the relabelers are small garage
shop type of places that can be here today and gone tommorrow and they
do not care what happens to your printer as long as they make sales.
Many of their associates are disguised in this ng and will say anthing
to defend them I caught many in a lie and exposed them and they
certainly went apeshit.

 

[Peter in New Zealand]

Hi Burt. Thank you for your very helpful reply. I used to refill the things
all the time, but I actually managed to secure a dealership for a compatible
brand that seems to work really well. Usually that's what I use to save the
refilling hassle. I found that after a couple of refills a cartridge would
no longer take enough to make it worth while, and so I ended up having to
buy new ones anyway. It was just that I had let myself run out of spares
(silly me) and needed to print quickly, so had to look for what I could get
across the counter. I certainly agree with you about the colour cartridge -
it's a pretty miserable quantity of ink. A few good 6x4 photos and it's cut.
I am thinking of looking around for a new printer, and one of the top
priorities will be decent sized cartridges. I have been told that some
Brothers are pretty good like that, feeding the print head through
capilleries, rather than having the reservoir directly connected to the
head. I certainly like their compact design, and the fact that the paper
feed is from the front in many, doing away with the need for groping around
at the rear every time I want to change print medium. Have you had any
experience with them?

 

[Burt]

Hi Burt. Thank you for your very helpful reply. I used to refill the
things all the time, but I actually managed to secure a dealership for a
compatible brand that seems to work really well. Usually that's what I use
to save the refilling hassle. I found that after a couple of refills a
cartridge would no longer take enough to make it worth while, and so I
ended up having to buy new ones anyway. It was just that I had let myself
run out of spares (silly me) and needed to print quickly, so had to look
for what I could get across the counter. I certainly agree with you about
the colour cartridge - it's a pretty miserable quantity of ink. A few good
6x4 photos and it's cut. I am thinking of looking around for a new
printer, and one of the top priorities will be decent sized cartridges. I
have been told that some Brothers are pretty good like that, feeding the
print head through capilleries, rather than having the reservoir directly
connected to the head. I certainly like their compact design, and the fact
that the paper feed is from the front in many, doing away with the need
for groping around at the rear every time I want to change print medium.
Have you had any experience with them?

Peter - The sum total of my experience with inkjets is one Epson printer and
the Canon printers that I purchased to replace it. I was exploring the
possibility of refilling and started refilling the Epson. It was not easy
as I had to use a large syringe to vacuum out the air/ink foam from the
sponge before filling and had to use a bottom fill adaptor - quite a mess.
The colors weren't terrific either. I read Neil Slade's web site and
followed his advice in buying the Canon i960. VERY easy to refill, very
little mess if any, and good inks available online. I replaced the first
i960 ($100 US on closeout), bought my wife an ip5000 and bought an extra
ip5000 to keep on the shelf as a spare (both also on closeout at $100 US) so
I can keep refilling. The new Canons can be refilled, but you lose the ink
level monitor and void your warranty. No problem as two sets of refills
more than pays for the next printer if the first printer dies. I've paid
for the four Canon printers I have many times over by refilling my carts.

You might see what a Canon ip6000D would cost you if shipped to NZ. I
googled that printer and found some new ones available from $100 US up.
Alternatively, the IP4200 and its newer model, the ip4300 are selling for
less than $100 US. These are chipped cart models and there are no
compatable carts for them that include the chip. They are, however, easily
refilled. There is also a technique for purging them after they have been
refilled several times and they work like new again. In the long run this
may be the cheapest way to go rather than being stuck with the bci-24 carts.
Instead of the usable 4 cc. of color inks in the bci-24 you will have
approximately 10 to 12 cc available in the bci-6 carts. They nominally hold
about 13cc. but some stays in the sponge area when the ink monitor shows
them empty. Using them til they are bone dry risks ruining the printhead.
When I refill I usually add about 7 to 10 cc. For more info go onto the
Nifty-Stuff Forum.
http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/

 

[Dan Lenski]

read www.wilhelmlabs.com reports

That url doesn't even load.

 

[Burt]

That url doesn't even load.

Dan - you've just met our resident troll. He's never tried aftermarket inks
but tells eveyone they will clog your printhead. Not my experience in over
two years of refilling. Altough his posts appear to be sane now, this
newsgroup suffered over a year of his diatribe which included libelous
comments about the ink vendors, vile insults to anyone (and their mothers
and sisters) who used aftermarket ink products, and baby-talk babbling when
anyone caught him spewing his usual misinformation. He essentially hijacked
this newsgroup. After many complaints by participants of this newsgroup to
his ISP he toned down his posts. Nonetheless, the message is still the
same.

Wilhelm evaluated fading characteristics of various OEM inks and came up
with the findings that Epson pigmented inks created the longest lasting
images and Canon OEM inks were the worst. (so why does Measekite continue
to use his Canon ip4000 printer while directing people to the Wilhelm site?)
Wilhelm recently evaluated some aftermarket inks and found them to be less
fade resistant than the OEM inks. It happens that he didn't test any that
the people I know use to refill Canon bci-6 carts. The Nifty-Stuff Forum
has some very talented participants who conducted a less scientific study
than Wilhelm in which they subjected images produced by various inks,
including Epson and Canon OEM inks, to the same UV light source for measured
periods of time. The results indicate that Canon OEM inks do have better
fade resistance than the non OEM inks.

You pay your money and make your choice. If archival prints are what you
want you need to use Epson pigment-based printers or send your work out to a
custom photo processing lab. On the other hand, if you pictures are going
to be in albums or framed with glass, dye-based prints may last as long as
you care to display them. I have prints on the wall in frames that look
great after two plus years. Day-to-day printing or photos that are
interesting or fun to see but do not need great permanance (20 to 100
years???) don't require the use of expensive OEM inks in my estimation.
Our troll doesn't differentiate between the various needs but puts down any
use of aftermarket inks.

 

[mike.j.harvey]

I do not make any statemnents about colour fading. I do make statements about color fading.

No. You make statements about "color" fading. To an English person such
as me "color" is a foreign spelling. You knew that of course, and now
you have resorted to plain trolling. True "colors" time, troll boy.

 

[measekite]

Hi Burt. Thank you for your very helpful reply. I used to refill the things
all the time, but I actually managed to secure a dealership for a compatible
brand that seems to work really well. Usually that's what I use to save the
refilling hassle.

Another one in da business just like I said

 

[measekite]

How about Google for Wilhemn Labs

Dan Lenski wrote:

measekite wrote:



read www.wilhelmlabs.com reports



That url doesn't even load.