How to Measure Ink in a Permanent Marker

Measuring ink in permanent markers let you know how much is left.

When you have an arts-and-crafts project to do involving a permanent marker, you might not know whether you'll have enough remaining ink to do the job. Whether you need to know how many markers it will take to complete your project or you're just curious at how much ink a project took to complete, measuring ink in a permanent marker is simple and can be accomplished in several ways.

Things You'll Need

• Permanent marker to measure
• New permanent marker
• Scale

Instructions

1. Open the marker. By unscrewing the top of the marker (usually by pulling out the stopper at the flat end of the marker), you can turn the marker upside down and either slide out or pull out the ink reservoir.

2. Study the ink reservoir. Here, you can see a good approximation of how much ink is left, based on where you started from. However, the ink might have left traces on the sides of the ink reservoir, making it difficult to figure out how much is left. Or the reservoir could be opaque, making it difficult to see how much ink remains.

3. Weigh the ink reservoir. If you cannot remove the reservoir from the marker, you can weigh the entire marker.

4. Weigh the ink reservoir of a new marker. Similarly, if you cannot remove the reservoir from this type of permanent marker, weigh the marker itself.

5. Subtract the weight of your used ink reservoir or marker from the weight of the new ink reservoir or marker. The difference is how much you've used.

References

• Cockeyed: How Much is Inside a Sharpie?