Home | Site Map

Can I Use My Old Ink With My New Printer?

The quick answer is...yes and no.

Consider this. How many printer models do you think there are out there right now? 1000? 2000? Who knows. But one thing I do know is nobody is going to spend the time testing the wrong inks in the wrong cartridges all day long to see if it works.

All printer manufacturers do things a little different. Without getting technical, there are basically three different technologies for inkjet printers. Epson uses Piezoelectric, Canon uses Bubblejet and HP and Lexmark use thermal inkjet technology.

An ink designed for Canon, for instance, has a much lower convection rate than an ink made for HP or Lexmark. The reason is HP's cartridge print heads fire at thousands of degrees. The ink must be made to withstand that kind of heat or your resulting output will be unpredictable.

Also there are basically two kinds of ink. Dye based and Pigmented. Pigmented ink particles are much larger than dye based particles so using a pigmented ink in a cartridge designed to use dye based ink will result in a clogged print head every time. Also, pigmented inks are waterfast on any surface. Notice I said waterfast and not waterproof. Pigmented inks can made waterproof if they are used with the proper media. The same goes with dye based inks.

Pay attention to this because it will apply to any ink on the market. Any dye based ink can be used in ANY inkjet printer. The color output may not be what you expected but it will work.

Not so with pigmented inks. Pigmented inks are used in most black inkjet cartridges today. Epson has a version of color pigmented inks they call DuraBrite inks. They are very expensive to make and there is quite a hefty premium on the bulk inks from any manufacturer that I have contacted.

DO NOT use pigmented inks in any cartridge that was designed to use dye based ink.

Generally speaking, HP and Lexmark inks are interchangeable because their process' are similar. Watch for color variations though.

The newer Canon cartridges, BCI-3e and BCI-6 colors are so close that most people cannot tell them apart. Ironically the cartridges are physically identical except for the BCI-3e black which is slightly larger. The BCI-3e black takes pigmented ink while the BCI-6 takes dye based. Be careful here. Some of the new Canon printers take both BCI-3e and BCI-6 black cartridges.

To wrap it up I'll say that you can use most inks in most printers with the exceptions that I already mentioned. Color variations, if they occur, might be compensated for in the printer driver settings. Be prepared to fiddle with it. Physical damage to the printer is unlikely in any case, unless the cartridge is leaking when you put it into your printer. But you wouldn't do that. Would you?

Barry Shultz is the author of Atlascopy News, and President of Atlascopy, Inc. Atlascopy specializes in affordable alternatives to the high cost of printer supplies.

Sign up for the Atlascopy Newsletter for more tips and get 10% coupons every week in your email: http://atlascopy.com/signup_new.htm

Go to Atlascopy to save a bundle on your printer and refilling supplies: http://atlascopy.com

MORE RESOURCES:

Yahoo! News Search Results for hardware
Yahoo! News Search Results for hardware

• DEACOM ERP Software To Integrate Building Component, Lumber And Hardware Busi...
Deacom, Inc. today announced Allensville Planing Mill, Inc. will implement the DEACOM Integrated Accounting and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Software System to manage its truss and wall panel manufacturing business and lumber and hardware stores.
• Rich Forbes, Home & Hardware Unit Leader at Fortune Brands, to Retire (Buildi...
DEERFIELD, IL -- Rich Forbes, president and chief executive officer of Fortune Brands Home & Hardware, announced that he plans to retire at the end of 2009. Effective April 1, 2009, Christopher J. Klein, currently senior vice president - strategy and corporate development of Fortune Brands, will become president and chief operating officer - home products, and report to Forbes.
• Dell hopes business realignment, new offerings help it go beyond commercial h...
Dell Inc. likes the consumer market just fine, thank you, but it sure didn't waste any time shifting the focus from holiday shopping to commercial technology.
• New Apple Mac Mini Hardware To Be Supported By Revolutionary SeeFile Web Shar...
Announcement at MacWorld SanFrancisco - Bundles available to include SeeFile 4.6 software and new Mac hardware; Web hosted version to offer affordable monthly startup (PRWeb Jan 5, 2009) Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/macworld/DAM/prweb1824054.htm
• New Apple Mac Mini Hardware To Be Supported By Revolutionary SeeFile Web Shar...
Announcement at MacWorld SanFrancisco - Bundles available to include SeeFile 4.6 software and new Mac hardware; Web hosted version to offer affordable monthly startup

RELATED ARTICLES

JunxionBox -- WiFi Access Everywhere
Now you can more easily access the Internet wherever mobile phone carriers offer high-speed data service coverage.The JunxionBox enables multiple computing devices with Ethernet or Wi-Fi (like laptops, desktops, handhelds and remote computers) to connect with the web through your mobile phone service provider's wireless PC Card modem.

A Guide To Bar Code Reader Downloads
Bar code readers have proven themselves to be essential tools in modern day business. Establishments, both big and small, have started to rely on bar code readers to make their operations quicker, more convenient, and more efficient.

Rackmount Computer Keyboards
The other piece of vital equipment to accompany the rack mount computers and the monitors are the rack mount computer keyboards. Rackmount computer keyboards are built with durability and reliability in mind.

Adding USB 2.0
The process of adding USB 2.0 ports took no time and the backup system is mighty fast.

Give Your PC a Monitor Makeover
Whether you are crunching figures at a front office job or crouched over a blood and gore video game in some deep recess of your room, there is the right kind of screen available to suit your needs.Monitors are one segment where you are truly spoilt for choice.

LCD Monitors: A Catching-On Technology
If you've been in the market for a new computer monitor fairly recently, you might have noticed just how many more LCD monitors you see in the stores now.It's obvious that the main benefit that's being pushed about computer LCD monitors is that they're flat, and you can put them almost anywhere, but you might be curious about just what you're giving up by going LCD.

A Technical Introduction to Audio Cables
What is so important about cables anyway?One of the most common questions asked by consumers faced with purchasing cables for their audio or home theater system is, "What is so important about cables anyway?" They can cost as much or more than some of the hardware in the system and to many it is difficult to understand why wire isn't just wire.To begin to understand how audio cables work, we have to start with the two fundamentally different types of audio cables you are likely to have in your system.

Ink Cartridges & Printing - Poor Print Quality Solutions
Why are there faint areas or gaps in my print out?* Unlikely, but your paper may need changing due to its deterioration due to its age.* Check that the type of paper you are using in your printer matches ('Media Type') the setting in the printer software 'Main Menu' or 'Print' dialog box.

LCD Vs. CRT
When buying a new computer, or upgrading your monitor, you may be in somewhat of a conundrum deciding between an LCD or CRT monitor. That's understandable because for most people the difference is just size.

A Look Inside The Elusive Inkjet Industry
The Inkjet printer industry is booming. Office supply companies report they make more money on ink sales alone than on printer sales overall.

Alternatives to Tape Backup
You may ask, isn't tape an anachronism in the age of optical disks, removable hard drives and a plethora of whiz-bang, random-access storage media? In many ways it is, but because of the nature of backup it doesn't really matter that tape is slow and sequential-access. Remember, tape is cheap.

Motherboard Basics
A recent Tech Tip covered the basics of selecting a computer case and made mention of the various sizes that correspond to motherboards of different form factors. A few people wrote in expressing interest in understanding more about the basics of motherboards, and that's exactly what this Tech Tip intends to address.

Printer Cartridge Economics -- Four Ways To Make Your Ink Last Longer
Printer cartridge overheads can be a major expense for any busy office -- and even if you're working at home, it's important to factor in the amount you spend on your printer ink when assessing the cost of running a home-based business. And what you spent on that bargain-priced printer may turn out to be only a fraction of what you pay annually in printer supplies.

Tips To Select Proper Hard drive
Day by day computers are getting advanced. Capacity and performance are increasing with every passing year.

What Everybody Should Know About An Inkjet Printer: The One-Year Cost Of Printing
You can purchase an inkjet printer for as little as $39. With a rebate, it may even be less.

DVD Recorders: Getting Started
IMO, these sd work 'like a VCR' as far as recording and playback. There are models w/ harddrives, VHS players, etc.

Emergency Response VSAT Internet Communications
As 2005 begins, there are a number of products on the market which enable Emergency Response Units to have internet connectivity at remote disaster locations. The products marketed this year mount on vehicles from Fire Rescue units to most any type of truck or van, on specially designed trailers utilizing portable generators and in transportable boxes which can be shipped by UPS or Fed X overnight to most any location in the U.

RAID Disk Recovery
RAID is short for Redundant Array of Independent (or Inexpensive) Disks, a category of disk drives that employ two or more drives in combination for fault tolerance and performance. RAID disk drives are used frequently on servers and increasingly being employed on personal computers.

Quality Recovery and Rework - When It All Goes Wrong
When Quality is the Target, but not the Result, what do you do?While Quality may be the overarching goal of all production, stuff happens, resulting in non-conforming parts. This results in failure verification, rework, recalls, sorting, kitting, retest, relabeling and pipeline management, which are facts of life in the manufacturing, assembly and production world we live in.

Can I Use My Old Ink With My New Printer?
The quick answer is..