old aftermarket ink

[TJ]

I have an old Inkube refill kit that I bought some 4 years ago at a
garage sale. I bought the kit to use to refill an HP 672C printer that
has long since been retired, but I never got to the point where I used
it. Since I bought it at a garage sale ($4!), I have no idea of it's
true age. It appears that the original owner tried to fill a black cart
and didn't try again. The 4 oz. color ink bottles are full. The kit is
labeled as being specifically for the HP 600 series printers.

I now use a PSC 2110, and it uses the HP #56 and 57 carts. Would this
ink be OK to use in the tricolor cart, or should I just throw the ink
away? For the things I'm going to use it for, a bit of color imbalance
wouldn't be a problem. I'm more concerned about the potential of head
clogging with the old ink. While clogging the heads on these carts isn't
a disaster, it is annoying.

TJ

 

[Jan Alter]

A couple of considerations. I do realize this is ink for an HP; but it is
inkjet ink, though not specifically the same as other brands. My experience
is mostly with Epson. Epson cartridges are vacuum sealed in plastic and have
a shelf life of two years in the cartridge . Once the vaccum packaging is
broken the cartridge is suggested to be used within 6 months.
A realize that we may be talking about two different animals, but at
least by Epson's standards the ink, even in the vacuum sealed container,
doesn't last for more than a couple of years before degredation. However,
that deterioration may not be related to head clogging or thickening of the
carrier. If this were me I would use it if I knew it was compatible with the
current ink formula and coloration. For luck I might even put two drops of
alcohol in each color to reduce any possibility of thickening over that 4
years of just sitting around.
However, the biggest issue you face is if this ink is compatible for
your PSC 2110. Without knowing that information I would toss the ink away.
Not only would I be considerate of its viscosity for a printer that most
likely has smaller picoliter nozzles, because it's newer, but for its color
balance. Unless you can verify that HP is still using the same ink
formulation, then even if it didn't clog when it printed you might be
risking photo printing that is way off balance and a royal pain to clear
with the "right" ink once you realize this old ink is not worth the hassle.

 

[Gary Tait]

I have an old Inkube refill kit that I bought some 4 years ago at a
garage sale. I bought the kit to use to refill an HP 672C printer that
has long since been retired, but I never got to the point where I used
it. Since I bought it at a garage sale ($4!), I have no idea of it's
true age. It appears that the original owner tried to fill a black cart
and didn't try again. The 4 oz. color ink bottles are full. The kit is
labeled as being specifically for the HP 600 series printers.

I now use a PSC 2110, and it uses the HP #56 and 57 carts. Would this
ink be OK to use in the tricolor cart, or should I just throw the ink
away? For the things I'm going to use it for, a bit of color imbalance
wouldn't be a problem. I'm more concerned about the potential of head
clogging with the old ink. While clogging the heads on these carts isn't
a disaster, it is annoying.

TJ

You can try. I'd run through a couple refills of recent ink first, to
get your value from the carts, then try the old ink.

 

[TJ]

You can try. I'd run through a couple refills of recent ink first, to
get your value from the carts, then try the old ink.

I've already refilled the current carts some 15 or 16 times. They don't
owe me much.

TJ