Refilling and resetting Epson Ink Cartridges

Basics

Epson Inkjets cartridges are called "Ink Tanks" meaning they do not have a printhead fitted - All modern - current models are to this design where the printheads are built inside the machine and not easily removed for replacement.

Epson inkjet cartridges can be classed into three main groups

(1) Ink Tanks with sponges

(2) Ink Tanks with sponges and a Chip

(3) Ink Tanks with no sponge inside but with a chip

Preparation

(If you are filling an Epson cartridge you will need to seal the ink outlet holes in the bottom of the cartridge with the tape or re-fit the plastic clip that was originally supplied

For good results, use specific inks designed to match Epson inks.

Always prepare an area that could tolerate a spillage e.g. spread out a newspaper and have some paper towels available.

Refill Methods

Refill Epson T29 cartridges click here

Theory

In the early Epson categories the black and colour cartridges are very simple being little more than sponge-filled plastic containers. The black has a single chamber and the colour cartridges is three or five chambered. We will deal with the refilling method for this type first.

BLACK CARTRIDGES	Method	COLOUR CARTRIDGES
	Fill the syringe with 15 ml. of black ink to fill the black cartridge. Push needle through the label into the sponge, (position indicated) slowly inject ink into the cartridge until the sponge is full.		For the colour cartridges fill a syringe with 6ml. of color ink. Push needle through the label into the sponge of the colour you are filling. Slowly inject ink into the cartridge until the sponge is full.
		Wash syringe thoroughly between filling with each colour or contamination will result

Q
My Epson SX515W is printing very faint. I have been away teaching in USA for 5 weeks. Is it a cartridge fault or should I clean the heads?

Alex
If it is faint on print - only the head clean will fix it. It is not a cartridge fault. There is a heavy head clean on Epson printers which uses a lot of ink and it is not recommended that you do it more than twice in quick succession.

Leave the printer 20 mins before doing it again if not fixed.

It will use up the cartridges very quickly though and unfortunately is not selective to one part of the head and so uses up ink from all 4 carts. So you may have to replace all 4 cartridges quicker than you thought, simply by doing head cleans!

Epson printers are famous for this type of problem if left unused for a few weeks.

Every time you switch it on/off it does a mini clean and it is a good idea to do this at least once a week.

Always switch the printer off completely when not in use as this puts the head into the "park" position. This is the best position to stop the heads from drying out

There is stuff on the web by people who say you can save ink if you don't switch the Epson off overnight. This also can cause problems due to drying out of the heads and then you have to use even more ink to correct it, so it can be false economy