Buy Ink or new Printer?

Ok.. so here is the issue.. I have an old i960 that I used all the time.. then stopped printing for awhile. Now, I need ink - like 4 carts. The ink cost about $10 a piece... I can get a new Canon printer for about $40 delivered from newegg... what do I do? Do folks just recycle these printers instead of spending the same $$ on ink? Thoughts?

That i960 is a great printer and most people couldn't tell it's output from any of the newer models Canon makes. The best feature about the i960 is that it takes the older "unchipped" carts and they are easy to refill cheaply with bulk ink. Instead of $10 per cart you could refill for about .40 per cart. Canons newer printers use chipped carts that are specifically designed to discourage people from refilling them. That's why you can find the new printers so cheap. They'll almost give you the printer if you'll buy their overpriced ink.

Thx you for that ... do you know a good source for GOOD non-oem ink to refill them? I saw some carts on Amazon for like $1.50 a piece.. but the reviews of them weren't all that glowing. Thx again!

fuego6 said:

Thx you for that ... do you know a good source for GOOD non-oem ink to refill them? I saw some carts on Amazon for like $1.50 a piece.. but the reviews of them weren't all that glowing. Thx again!

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Hi-

See http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/ for discussions on inks, cartridges, printers, and the "German" vs "American" refill methods.
HTH

fuego6 said:

Thx you for that ... do you know a good source for GOOD non-oem ink to refill them? I saw some carts on Amazon for like $1.50 a piece.. but the reviews of them weren't all that glowing. Thx again!

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Suggest you stay away from the cheap already refilled cartridges. You can select GOOD ink from a supplier such as MIS at inksupply.com or Cone Color Inks have good ratings by users. Then, refill your cartridges and you will know you are using good ink. It is NOT a difficult thing to refill -- the MIS site has details and probably others do also.
--
Vernon...

if you are interested, and if they are the right inks, I have 19 or so aftermarket cartridges (G&G) that i will sell really cheap. I warn you that they are old, but can't find a printed expiration date on them. Not sure if dye inks expiration is as critical as pigment, so fair warning. I used to use them for a canon s9000 but that had stopped printing due to waste tank issue.

I would not use them for anything important, but for everyday stuff, they seemed to work ok. If I remember correctly, the color was ok compared to OEM, but probably not as good. All depends on what your print use is.

Anyway, if you're interested, let me know.

--
Ringo

MowermanEd said:

Canons newer printers use chipped carts that are specifically designed to discourage people from refilling them.

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That is true, but the new Canon printers do allow you to continue using it printer are the chip declares the cart is empty. You only need to push the button and acknowledge that this may void your warranty.

Thank you everyone... I did head over to the nifty site and after reading the awesome posts there, ordered up an ink set from precisioncolor for $20! Will inject the ink into my OEM carts (once empty and purged) and see how it runs... for $20, if it gives me decent results (I only print for home purposes now and again) it will be great.

Thx again all... appreciate the help and responses!

Yes, you can continue to print but, and it's a BIG BUT, Canon will punish you by making the printer run countless cleaning cycles. Canons way of punishing you.

MowermanEd said:

Yes, you can continue to print but, and it's a BIG BUT, Canon will punish you by making the printer run countless cleaning cycles. Canons way of punishing you.

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I haven't found that to be the case with my iP4500. It will do a cleaning cycle if unused for a long time, but will otherwise start printing immediately, just like when it had original cartridges.

agree.. from all I've read (and it has been a lot) - the only thing you sacrifice is the ink cart display monitor - all other functions of the printer continue normally.

Do a google search on refilling ink tanks using the "German method".

I've been refilling tanks for years without problems. At first I refilled ysing plugs in the top of the tank and was concerned the German method might leak ink. After finally trying it I would never go back. It's much faster and much much less messy.

Only problem was finding the 2 inch long needles. I got these and large seringes from a vet. They only had one needle in stock so I asked them to order in a box for me. I didn't realise there were 100 in a box but even then it wasn't expensive.

I would suggest a size of 19G X 2" or in metric terms 1.1 X 50mm.

This printer doesn't use chips on the tanks so a resetter is not needed. I think you will find that the later chiped tanks Pgi5 abd Bci8 will also work. They only have to fit physically but I haven't tried one.

I ordered OCP inks from r-jetek. To get started I ordered their convenient kit package:

http://www.rjettek.com/catalog/index.php/cPath/58?osCsid=1cdde40335ba76981a51173b0b76a9f8

http://www.rjettek.com/catalog/product_info.php/cPath/58_106/products_id/485

but check which is the right kip for you. I ordered two kits plus four more syringes and sharps to get independent syringes. However I also order some blunts for the initial purging. It is easy enough to remove the fill cap after it is replaced so I intend to get some more blunts rather than inject through the cap with a sharp.

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1003&message=34999867
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1003&message=35000482

The only change in part two is I have a large bottlw with a pump and nozzle easier to fit the plastic tubing to for the initial flushing.

Whatever inks you choose the kits apply.

--
Ron Ginsberg
Minneapolis, MN
Land of 10,000 Puddles