How to Make Printer Ink Last Longer
Households and business are on a seemingly constant quest to make printer ink last longer. However, your ink-supply problems may be by design, and not caused by you. Sam Grobart suggests in a July 2011 article in "The New York Times" that consumers and business customers are in a buy-or-die battle with printer makers that also produce the ink. Suppliers want you to generously use ink and pay a hefty price for replacement cartridges. You can keep these price wars at bay by employing a few strategies that can stretch out your valuable ink.
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Instructions
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Purchase quality, brand-name ink cartridges on sale or buy compatible generic cartridges. Match the brand of ink with the name of the company that built the printer. Brand-name ink generally lasts longer because it is produced to function well with your printer. Alternately, use generic ink cartridges in place of regularly-priced brand name cartridges, but scrutinize the maker and the quality.
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Reduce the quality and intensity of the ink during printing operations. Most applications and programs on a computer have a clickable "Print" icon or menu option that opens a dialog box before sending the document to the printer. Click the "Preferences" or similar option in the dialog box. Select the tab titled "Quality" or similar. Choose an intensity that is below the "Normal" setting, such as "Lower Quality."
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Print unimportant color documents in black-and-white. After clicking on "Print" and opening the dialog box, look for a "Black and White-Only" option. Also, click on the "Preferences" button in the box and click on the "Color" tab to find options for switching to black and white.
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Perform manual and automatic maintenance procedures on the printer that specifically clean the inkjet nozzles. One manual cleaning technique involves removing the cartridge from its receptacle in the printer and cleaning the nozzle with a cotton swab dipped in distilled water. Printer manufacturers also include ink absorbers and brushes inside the machine that you can automatically activate, or run on a schedule, to clean dried ink and debris from the nozzle. Read your printer's user manual for maintenance instructions.
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Shop carefully to avoid deceptive labeling and advertising. The "yield" is the estimated number of printed pages you can get from the cartridge. Read the specifications on the front or back of the box. If shopping online, read the product description on the retailer's website or visit the manufacturer's website. The size of the ink cartridge is the same, but the amount of solution in the tank can vary based on the maker's decision. If you notice a $30-brand-name cartridge advertised for less than $10, then there is a chance that it will yield only about $10 worth of printouts -- or less.
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Tips & Warnings
Generic ink cartridges are conveniently available from online marketplaces, including Amazon.com, eBay and Buy.com. The benefit of using these shopping outlets is that you can view comments of previous buyers to gauge the product's quality. Avoid generic cartridges with too many complaints.
Use caution with ink cartridge refill kits.This process commonly involves drilling a new hole in the top of the cartridge and injecting replacement ink into the empty tank. If the materials or the process are of poor quality, you might damage or impair your printer, and possibly void its warranty.
References
- The New York Times; Getting By Without a Computer Printer; Sam Grobart; July 2011
- State of California: Green California - Office Machines -- Toner and Inkjet Cartridges; May 2009
- Microsoft: Windows 7 - Choosing Print Options
- Mozilla: Firefox Help - How To: Printing a Web Page
- HP Technical Support: Cleaning the Printer and the Cartridges
- Reuters: Five Smart Printer Shopping Tips; Melissa Riofrio; June 2010
Resources
- Photo Credit Patrick Ryan/Lifesize/Getty Images
