HP 60 Ink Cartridge Refill

Ink Refill Stations are everywhere nowadays and they are somewhat cheaper when compared to buying genuine inks. But HP and Epson challenged these refill stations with cheaper ink cartridges. Brand New  Black HP 60 ink cartridges (value/economy pack) costs around 400-500 pesos only and can compete with stations that charge around 300-400 pesos per refill. But what works for me (and is very very cheap) is refilling cartridges myself. 

Printer inks are very cheap (way cheaper) and refilling cartridges is not that hard. Here's how to do it :)

Cd-r King offers the cheapest inks in the market (as far as I know). Big bottles (100ML) cost 80 pesos while smaller ones (30ML) cost only 30 pesos. You just have to find a branch that has stocks (they often run out of these). For the average user, the bigger bottles could last quite a while (believe me) :)

First thing to do is to clean the cartridges' heads.

Ink refill kits usually come with a cleaning solution. I highly recommend first time "ink refillers" to buy complete ink refill kits first since they come with all the necessary tools needed.

 

Put a couple of drops of the cleaning solution in the cartridge's head. Notice how the ink kind of dissolves?

 

Place a couple of drops on some table napkins and let the cartridge sit on it for a while. The napkins/tissue will absorb some of the old ink and clean up your cartridges' heads nicely.

Now on to the refilling part. We're going to need a couple of syringes - syringes that come with ink refill kits usually have blunt needles but medical grade syringes will do just fine. You just have to be careful since they have sharp needles!

Peel off the HP sticker/label and you'll see three small holes.

For black cartridges - simply refill every hole with enough ink - be careful not to overfill as things will really get messy :)

You have to be careful with the colored ink cartridge because there is a specific color for each hole/chamber (Please refer to the image above). Filling up the chamber for yellow ink with magenta ink will mess up your cartridge! :) As you can see, it is highly advisable that you wear gloves when handling inks - I find removing these types of ink very difficult to clean up.

After the cartridges are topped up - there's one last important thing that has to be done - get rid of the excess air in the catridge. I have a pretty neat tool that came with the kit I've bought from Ink plaza (http://inkplaza.com.ph/). The kit comes with the ink, the cleaning solution, the suction tool and miscellaneous items like gloves, napkins, etc. It costs around 300-400 pesos and I highly recommend it because of the suction tool. You could buy inks from CD-r King once you have the tools.

The cartridge fits in the suction tool snugly and a syringe sucks out the air. I tried refilling a cartridge without sucking out the excess air and I had a hard time priming the cartridge/printer. Don't refill HP inks without using a suction tool. CD-r king kits have their own suction tool but I find them more difficult to use.

Tape the sticker/label back in place and you're done! Print quality is decent if not the same as genuine inks (at least for me) :)

Yes! You Can Refill your own printer cartridges! :)