Although in this day and age, many activities can be performed online, it is often desirable to be able to print a hard copy of some information as well. If you love to print out your own photos, you know how much ink you can go through producing a top-notch quality picture.

 

Purchasing a printer to hook up to your computer isn’t very difficult and not that expensive any more. The ink, however, can be a different story. You will save money by refilling your own ink cartridge? How can you refill an ink cartridge? A brief tutorial on that subject is next.

 

1. If you want to refill ink cartridges, first purchase an ink refill kit. They can be found in a wide variety of stores and online.

 

2. Gather needed supplies. You will need some paper towels, scotch tape, disposable gloves, and a sharp pencil. You’re not exactly performing surgery, but it might be close. You need to be prepared.

 

3. Take your ink refill kit and your supplies to a large, flat working surface.

 

4. Take the empty ink cartridge out of your printer.

 

5. Now is the time to enlist the aid of your disposable plastic gloves. Use the paper towel to place the empty ink cartridges on. Fold or use multiple paper towels to keep from making a mess.

 

6. Read (and this is the step that many impatient people overlook) the instruction manual that came with your refill kit. Specific ink cartridges might have different requirements for refilling ink.

 

7. To find where the refill holes are, run your fingers on the top of the ink cartridge. Read the instruction manual to help you locate where the holes are exactly.

 

8. Take your pencil and poke through the refill holes on the top of the ink cartridge.

 

9. Make sure you refill the correct ink color into the corresponding holes (magenta, cyan and yellow). It would be best if you follow the example in the instruction manual to ensure the proper color is placed in the correct hole.

 

10. Insert the long needle from the kit into the hole of the correct ink color and slowly add the new ink.

 

11. Carefully watch the hole as you approach maximum capacity. Once you see a tiny bit of ink seeming to ooze from the hole, stop, but don’t let go of the bottle just yet. Slowly release any air remaining in the needle, trying not to spill any excess ink anywhere. Slowly withdraw the needle.

 

12. Dab the top of the cartridge with a paper towel until you get all of the ink around the hole wiped off. To cover up the hold, use scotch tape or an equivalent. There should be “seal dots” included with your ink refill kit to utilize for this same purpose, but some people have found scotch tape works better as a sealant.

 

This same process should be repeated for each color. Ensure the ink cartridges are in no way, shape, or form leaking before you return it to its place in your printer. You do not want ink to leak into the internal components of your printer. Try printing a test page and if it comes out nice and clean, congratulations – you’ve done an amazing job, along with saving some money!

 

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