How to Refill and Reuse a Printer Cartridge at 12:02 AM

Printer ink is one of the most expensive things that you'll run into when you set up your home office. You start out taking dozens of pictures with your new digital camera, download them onto your computer, print a few and suddenly... the print cartridge runs out of ink.
If you follow this how-to guide and refill your print cartridge instead of buying a new one, you can save literally hundreds of dollars in printer ink.

Steps:
1. Purchase an ink refill kit at an office supply store. (Staples, Walmart, and Costco all carry this inexpensive   kit. It usually costs about half the price of an average printer cartridge.)
2. Gather your kit, a roll of paper towels, and some clear scotch tape together on a large flat working surface, a table or desk.
3. Remove the empty cartridge from your printer. (Remember to close your printer lid or door while you are working.)
4. Cover your hands with a pair of disposable plastic gloves while you work with the messy ink.
5. Take a paper towel and fold it in half twice. Work over the paper towel to catch any leaking ink.
6. Place the empty cartridge on it.
7. Read the instruction manual included with the refill kit to learn how to refill your particular type of cartridge. (The following instructions are just a general guide).
8. Locate the fill holes on the top of the cartridge. The depressions can be felt by rubbing your finger across the label.
9. Use a sharp pencil to pierce the refill holes in the top of the ink cartridge. (Correct places can also be found in the kit instructions).
10. There are three colors of ink: magenta, cyan, and yellow. Follow the kit instructions on which hole to insert each color.
11. Insert the long needle on the refill ink bottle into the correct hole.
12. Slowly, add the ink. Carefully watch to be sure that you do not over-fill.
13. Stop quickly as soon as you see a bit of ink oozing out of the hole. Without letting go of the bottle, slowly release the air, sucking a little ink back out of the ink cartridge, before you remove the needle completely.
14. Carefully daub the cartridge contacts on the paper towel, you should see a splotch of the ink leaking out onto the paper towel.
15. Cover the hole with a small piece of clear scotch tape. (This works better than the seal dots included in the kit.) Make sure that no ink is leaking out of the top holes. (That's where the clear tape comes in handy.) Be careful not to cross contaminate the colors.
16. Repeat steps 11-15 for each ink color.
17. After you have refilled all three colors, carefully blot (don't wipe or rub) the cartridge printhead on a folded piece of paper towel. You may need to do this several times. Do this until it stops bleeding and you see an even stripe of three colors showing up on the towel.
18. Replace the ink cartridge into the printer. Never, ever install a leaking print cartridge.
19. Immediately print something, anything, just to get the ink flowing. Print several test pages, preferable photos with a lot of different colors.
20. Follow the cleaning or priming cycles for your specific printer.

Tips:
1. After refilling a print cartridge 5 or 6 times, the print head will eventually wear out. It can't last forever. Then you'll just have to buy a new cartridge and replace it.
2. After you refill an ink cartridge, notice how much heavier it is than a brand new one. Surprise, surprise... it will print more projects than a new one, too, showing that the new cartridges really don't have very much ink in them. They want you to buy more cartridges, see?
3. New ink cartridges come with a postage-paid envelope requesting you to send your old ink cartridge in for recycling! They probably check them over, refill them and resell them to you again for the same price, huh?
4. Avoid letting your ink cartridge run dry. Check and refill it periodically to keep it maintained. Try not to leave it unused for a long period of time. Try to print something at least once a week. This will help it last longer.
5. Be sure to inject the ink slowly to avoid any air bubbles that can cause poor printing results.
6. If one color is having difficulty printing after you insert the print cartridge, remove from printer and recheck the tape covering the fill holes. Lift it and reposition, letting off any suction that may be preventing it from flowing properly.
7. Don't worry about testing and retesting. It's worth the effort. If you do ruin the cartridge... You can always go buy a new one. You would have had to do that anyway.

Warnings:
1. The ink is permanent, in that it can only be removed by the special ink solvent. Be careful not to get it on your clothing. It will leave stains on your hands, too, if you don't wear gloves.
2. Be careful not to touch the metal parts on the bottom of the cartridge. Oil from your fingers can disrupt contact with the printer.
3. You may need to print quite a few test pages to get the ink flowing properly.
4. Never add a leaking ink cartridge into your printer.