My wife insists off-brand ink cartridges can harm the printer. Is the ink quality the same as the brand inks?

Question

She's had problems with the output of her Canon Pixma IP3000 until I changed the print head. She believes the mfrs warnings and says the off-brand cartridges ruined the print head.

Answer 1

Your wife's right. And not right too.

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backgournd

Inkjets work by squirting ink through very very small holes in a print head. Canon and HP and several others do that by heating the ink in a chamber just behind the hole, which 'boils' a small bit of it creating a bubble, increasing the pressure and forcing out a microdrop of ink. Epson has done it a different way, with piezoelectric pulsing of the chamber behind the tiny hole.

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possible failure modes

The holes are relatively easily clogged, so the fineness and uniformity of the particles in it (dyes and such) are important. So is reasonable behavior when partially dried out (not being used for two weeks during a vacation, say) and when heated or subjected to considerable pressure. Hence the cleaning cycles built into many printers (see your owner's manual for some vague and normally not very intelligible instructions).

Inks made by a knock off artist in some backroom counterfeit lab somewhere aren't likely to have uniformly ground particles, nor probably the required witches' brew of chemicals to behave well under stress. On the other hand, some third party ink producer might indeed take sufficient care to get it right for a particular type of printer / cartridge / etc. The problem in practice to how to distinguish amongst them.

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experimental test

Some printers have the 'print head' built into the cartridge. You get a new set of teeny tiny holes with every cartridge. With other printers, the print head is in the printer and the cartridge carries only ink. Obviously, in the latter case, a poorly made ink can be rather more expensive.

I had a long policy of buying only print head type cartridge printers for exactly this reason. And I was willing to experiment with cartridges and ink from apparently trustworthy vendors because important parts of the printer wouldn't be at risk. I cannot suggest the at home refill policy unless you can do it wearing latex gloves over a slop sink. A couple of cubic centimeters of ink can go a very very long way; you don't want to find out, but the refill kit I used did work, and the cartridges could be refilled three times at least. The very cheapest way to feed the ink monster that I discovered. Not counting the ink spilled on just about everytihint that one time... But, with printers costing less than US$100 nowadays, the cost of an experiemnt gone bad is limited, except for the time and trouble of replacing the printer damaged by the bad ink.

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DRM measures

Some printer vendors have attempted to force their users to do the right thing (ie, buy their expensive ink -- fo rtheir own quality printing good, of course) by including in their printer measures which try to detect improper cartridges and punish the user by locking the printer to some lower performance level or some other punishment. I heard of a printer which self-destructed under when it detected fake ink cartridges., but never managed to figure out which one it was. You many find that your printer won't print any better than some draft quality if you use a third party cartridge.

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alternatives

With the street price of laser printers below US$150 for low end black and white, and under US$350 for low end color (shop around, at least in the US and you'll find them), there are lots of reasons to avoid inkjets, and their expensive thirst for those .cartridges. Unless, of course you need photographic quality with special archival inks, in which case you might have to use an inkjet.

Answer 2

Very good possibility. Some boot leg ink providers cannot accommodate for the wide range of printer cartridges cost effectively. So instead of having 25 types of ink, they use 10 that are "close enough".

Each printer has a specific way of getting ink on the paper. Some manufacturers may have designed their printer around a specific chemical mixture of ink. This becomes a problem when you use a different mixture because it might have a higher or lower flash point (evaporation). Ink jets work by sending a specific voltage to the cartridge which in turn heats a tiny droplet at the print head and causes it to "steam" off onto the paper. If the flash point for the boot leg ink is different, it might not fully evaporate the ink droplet, or it might evaporate too soon as the cartridge is building to the manufacturers specified flash point.

Most models will work fine with 3rd party ink. Though some picture quality and/or printer life may be affected (on a small level), it's usually better than buying premium priced manufacturers ink. You can buy a good quality printer now days for less than the cost of a Brand name Ink refill. So if using boot leg ink ruins your printer in 2 years instead of 3, go buy another one and feel good about it. Just think of all the money you saved on ink.

Answer 3

Your wife is right. I know that the Manufactures Inks are more expensive...but the truth of the matter is, they are because of Quality Control...and if the manufactures cartridges to ruin the print head, they will be more likely to warranty the parts. I have never had any good luck with the cheap cartridges on any ink-jet printer, and the recycled cartridges are the worst. If you want to be cheap about printing, by the manufactures cartridges, in the long run it will save you time, money, and best of all aggravation.

Laser toners however are not so bad, a lot of the third-party laser toner suppliers (including recycled products) can work out alright. Just remember though, only buy the ones willing to guarantee their product by willingness to replace parts destroyed by their product in the printer. If they can't back it up...it isn't worth it.

By the way...Ink is not Ink, and they are all different, the third party stuff can at times be of similar and possibly better quality, but the printer was designed to use the manufactures rated ink.

Answer 4

Ruin the print head... no. The quality of the ink is not as good, and your pictures may not turn out as good (especially with Canon and Epson) but no... not ruin the print head. Now what IS true about Canons (in my experience) is that when they are working, they produce the highest quality print of any consumer inkjet on the market. However, they are an absolute monster to try to maintain. They have a mind of their own (after the first couple of cartridges is through them) and it is nigh impossible to figure out what has... ah... upset them to this degree.
For example, they may work seamlessly for about a month a half... maybe... and then, out of the clear blue sky, will give you a maintenance code and shut down... probably to never run again. Then again, they might run perfectly forever (probably not).
My experience with printers is that I work in graphic arts and at one point had a desktop publishing business which was based on small fees for custom designed and inkjet printed jobs. I have worked with all kinds of inkjet printers. Canons would have put the color laser printer into an industrial only catagory, if they always worked as good as they did the day you take them home.
No, not the off-brand ink. It's a Canon.

Answer 5

I'm more of a computer guy, not a printer guy. However, there is almost no way the cartridges hurt the printer, unless they didn't fit right and we're jammed in.

The ink quality may or may not be the same, but that should only affect the print on the paper, not the print head. Printers of all kinds are notorius for breaking for no reason (one of mine are borken right now and I just got done fixing the one at work. I use brand name cartridges on one and off brand on the other. It makes no difference, these things just break).

Answer 6

this can be true,

sometimes the generic ink do clog the print head, but also sometimes, some kind of generic inks can be better than the originals, the main problem is the ink's drop size, and the solvent or thinner used to prevent the ink from drying inside the cartridge, the bad quality will let the ink dry inside the print head thus closing its small nozzles used to spray the ink,
if your print head was damaged, it means for sure it was from using that generic ink, you can try to buy the original ink, and use the cleaning software utility that comes with the printer, repeat the cleaning process several times, this MAY unclog the head.

Answer 7

Printer ink cartridges are generally of the same general quality across the board.

Much like food items which are canned or bottled and then labled for sale as a specific brand, many ink cartridges are filled with generic ink, and then labels are applied making them different brands.

There are exceptions, of course, as there are a few manufacturers who want to control the process more closely - but generally, the answer is yes, off brand is the same stuff as brand name.

Answer 8

Reused ink cartridges are statistically 33 times more likely to fail than original manufactured ink cartridges. Many find that the ink actually leaks out of the cartridges or that the quality is unacceptable. Also, with brands such as HP or Canon, every time you buy new cartridges, you are buying new printheads. With reused cartridges, you are getting printheads that have been used who knows how many times. And also, ink is not the same everywhere. Top brands such as HP actually process their own inks giving the consumer the best quality ink for their machine.

Answer 9

Print heads fail. Its just a fact of life. The ink used in the off brands is the same used in the premium cartridges. Its been tested and proven.

Answer 10

Preferably same. The incompatibility may damage your printers. Also some printer manufacturers insist on the same make's cartridge otherwise the warranty is not valid.See the printers documentations for details.