Inkjet Cartridge Tips

Cartridge Tip #1

Always place inkjet cartridges upright. After receiving a shipment of cartridges, place the cartridges in an upright position for a couple of hours before installing them. This allows the ink to evenly distribute throughout the cartridge and function correctly in your machine.

Cartridge Tip #2

Remove the printhead tape and vent hole tape on your new cartridge before installation. It's sounds like common sense but many people do forget this. After installing the cartridge in your machine, follow the instructions to run the printhead cleaning cycling twice to ensure a good flow on ink.

Cartridge Tip #3

Fixing lines in print, faint colors or missing colors If you have a problem with lines appearing in print, or colors are either faint or missing, (HP & Lexmark Cartridges Only) try this. Place 3 centimeters of hot water into a paper cup and place the upright cartridge in the cup so the small copper bottom printhead is in the water. Leave it for 30 seonds then dry the cartridge with paper towel. Re-install the cartridge as above.

Cartridge Tip #4

If you still feel you should be getting a greater depth of color and more even ink flow, try using a graphics program and printing out 3 large color boxes: blue, red and yellow. By making the printer print these colors at the highest resolution possible, the cartridge pushes the ink out at a large volume and thereafter a good flow will be achieved.

Cartridge Tip #5

Place your cartridge in an upright position on several layers of clean paper towel and push the cartridge down while at the same time rock it back and forth. You should see small black particle spots on the towel afterwards that are dried particles which may be stopping the ink flow correctly. Making the towel damp with hot water may help also.

Cartridge Tip #6

If after installing your printer, the lights on your machine keep blinking, check to see that you have removed all the protective tape from the cartridge. Wipe the cartridge with a damp paper towel and also the parts inside the printer where the cartridge touches Reset the printer by switching off and unplugging, then waiting two minutes before switching on again.

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