How many times can you NORMALLY refill Dell ink cartridges before they start failing?

Answer 1

Dell does not make printers. What you are looking at is the same factory type of Lexmark or HP printer carts, with the gold foil on the bottom, which is the actual print head. I like these the best, as, if you are careful ( CAREFUL ) not to press, deform, or mechanically abrade the gold or chrome print hole surface itself, you can use for YEARS, -- I have one that is 10 years old. There are a few situations though, that might give you problems such as a few types of BLACK ink that are incompatible with many standard refills, and if you put in black ink, the cart immediately quits. If you soak the cart in water about 3/4 the height of the cart overnight, you can print a page or 2, and then it quits again. I have not heard any explanation for this behaviour, but a typical cart is the dark green capped black cart in a LEXMARK printer 5XX or 6XX printer with the 16/17 26/27 carts. The color, on the other hand, can be refilled for years. The best carts just have various compositions of ordinary FOAM in them, sometimes with a layer of fiber on the top or bottom, but the foam is the holding mechanism. NEVER drill an existing vent hole on a cart if it contains micro-baffles that allow a tiny amount of air in, without allowing dry air outside to dry out the foam. HP uses a dual bladder air charged black, on a few models, and a few other ones do as well. These require more time and care in loading and taping.
If you purchase an ink refill kit, there is usually online instructions
and/or a manual that explains where to drill holes and tape etc.
They may even explain about the bladders or foam, although they usually do not. I have learned where to drill holes " my " way, which does not always agree with the typical instructions, and even different ink refill instructions have different methods.
If you are serious about refilling, COSCO has an awesome refill kit with 3 huge bottles of black, 3 huge bottles of the 3 colors, and 2 bottles of the photo ink, the drills, beads, tape, manual etc. for $20. I would go to many kitchen stores or such in the malls and look for digital scales - they are everywhere, about $25 and will tell you how much the full or empty carts weigh, and you can tell EXACTLY how much ink is in all the carts, regardless of the estimators.
Try not to push in or abrade the actual print surface, although it can be wiped gently with a damp soft cloth in the direction of the print movement. I put old carts that are sitting too long unused and drying out , in a glass of water 3/4 the way to the top overnight.
In filling, each cart for each type is slightly different, but for foam
carts, I drill a hole for each color about 3/4 the way up the side in an area that I put a piece of black electrical tape over when I am done. I try to avoid altering the micro-air ducting that is used by the manufacturer. After soaking, and filling to the 3/4 mark, I sit the cart on 2 or 3 folded kleenex gently in a glass for a few minutes and then check to see if the print surface is still dripping - if it wipes clean, then you are ready to do a couple of test prints.
When refilling, it is probably best to fill ALL the colors, and keep them this way.
Letting the print head go to completely empty IS REALLY BAD - because the print head is 1/2 to 3/4 away from the foam, separated by a microfilter and a long tube. If this tube EVER gets empty, the fast drying ink dries inside the tube, and on TOP of the print holes, and you will never fully regain the use of the cart after that. (( I do, by tying a string to a filled cart and spinning it at about 10 G to force air bubbles out of the tube, and by melting holes into the tube and using hypodermic needles to rinse with water, and them fill with new ink, and then epoxy the holes shut - most people would be unable to do these proceedures, and as far as I know, I am the only one who has done so. But then, I have over 200 printers, so that I have to be creative... ))
Keeping the print heads used on a daily basis ( I recommend a print of all 4 colors at least every three days ) and NEVER letting the heads dry out, would enable you to use the carts for years...
Lets face it, you can buy a brand new printer WITH carts for less than the carts, do that if try to use the old ones, you have nothing to lose,- if you screw up, well, you buy a new one - if you drill it properly, then you just saved the price of either a cart , or a new printer. I have seen, in an industrial park, a pile of brand new identical printers, in the boxes, with all the software disks and packaging, untouched, except for the box top opened and the
ink carts removed ie, the entire box, software, printer, packaging, and even free bonus CD's and sample paper, was less than the ink carts, so they just bough a pile of new printers, and threw them all out-- for the ink. Go figure.
Hope this helps.

Dell changes options and marketing constantly, so I am GUESSING what printer you probably have. If you post the exact carts and description of them and the printer, I could help better.

Also, I note from two of the other answers provided since I posted this, that people are stating that you can ruin your printer and void your warranty and damage things by using " NON DELL " ink..
Please.... give it a break. I have never, in a quarter of a century heard of an ink refill damaging a foam cartridge type of printer - people can damage a printer and do really strange things, but if the ink, which everyone states is poorer quality, is not giving you the TRUE, DELL, look,
then just get another DELL cartridge. Your printer has no idea what ink is hitting the paper that you are printing on!
Someone mentioned that LEXMARK has a bad reputation of poor ink cartridges, which is debateable - which make model and year and refill cart is the person talking about? Where are the statistics? Out of the hundreds of printers I work with, I can list the models from HP, Canon, Epson, etc. that had horrible problems, and for that matter, I can list horrible problems with almost any " Brand name" computer component over the years. With new techniques and products and modifications being sold daily, it would be difficult to imagine that every single thing sold by one specific company was perfect, all the time - they arent, and people do get stuck with lemons occasionally - from ALL manufacturers.. All you can do is hope for the best. But the SALES and MARKETING and LEGAL bs of doom and gloom in using a NON DELL ink, is actually funny! I cant help but wonder how many HUNDREDS of printers these people have actually used in their lifetime....
Another addendum, as people provide other answers.... Reading over the answers is quite funny since the logic they present is " DONT use refills, since it will destroy the machine and warranty , AND, throw out the printer anyway, since it not a good one in the first place ! " So ... I ask, why worry about a warranty if you are going to throw out the printer and buy a " good" one ? Also, below an ANSWER states that you CAN refill, but never use a generic kit... but they don't state what you CAN use if you arent using a generic kit? And they highlight the word " NEVER ". As though HP or DELL put out name-brand specific refill kits !!! Unheard of -- they give away printers at cost just to make money on the carts, so providing " NAME BRAND " refills would destroy their greedy marketing plans...

You can check my ANSWERS for information on other printers, ink and refills as well.

good luck


robin

Answer 2

IN order to get one refill the cartridge has to be printing well in the first place.


How many refills you will actually get out of a cartridge depends highly upon usage, maintenance and of course just dumb luck.

To get the most out of the cartridge run regular print head cleanings and refill only when the cartridge is low and still printing well. If you keep going that way you may get many refills out of it before the electronic go or the print head begins to fail.

The most important thing to maintenance. Keep up with print head cleaning. One every two-three weeks and watch your print quality. Never use a universal kit. NEVER. and you should have reasonably good luck

Answer 3

Really, it's not advisable to refill ink cartridges at all. The ink is always a poorer quality, it's 33 times more likely to fail, and may even mess up your printer. Since you have a Dell printer (made by Lexmark who are known for poor cartridge/ink reliabilty) your chances of actually losing money through ruined cartridges/ink and maybe even the printer, you may want to reconsider ink refills. However, if you must, generally the limit is three refills before you need to purchase new cartridges.

Dell printers are really inconvenient. People generally toss theirs in the trash, and buy a printer whose ink can be found in retail stores. I prefer HP myself.

Answer 4

It's really not worth your while to refill Dell cartridges. Using a refilled cartridge in your Dell printer means the warranty on your printer isn't valid anymore. (Although if your warranty's up, it really doesn't matter.)

Yes, you can only get Dell cartridges direct from them, but that also means you don't pay a 'markup' because you're buying them from a store - and the cartridge has a warranty too. If it fails for some reason other than your running out of ink, they'll replace it (within reason).

Answer 5

id say 2-3 times refilling it then you need to buy a new cartridge

Answer 6

about five times, but it also depend on the way you refill it and the type of ink.

Answer 7

When it fails you will know it!