Jan 07 2009
5 Interesting Facts About Printer Cartridges You Didn’t Know
Modern printers are a marvel of technology. For the cost of a few hundred dollars, the typical user can create printed material that rivals the quality of a professional printing service. What makes this possible is the modern ink head and ink cartridge. If you’re considering buying a new printer anytime soon, here are some interesting facts about printer cartridges I bet you didn’t know. Printer cartridges are profitable, not the printers
Since print cartridges are very expensive to refill, they constitute the main source of profit for printer companies. A good inkjet printer, such as the HP DeskJet D1560 costs less than a hundred dollars. The ink needed to make the printer function costs thirty dollars per cartridge. It’s easy to see that in a very short time the money spent on ink will exceed the cost of the printer itself.
Refills can save you money
Print cartridges and be manually refilled or purchased from a discount source at a fraction of the brand name price. Many companies have sprung up offering refill kits that permit reusing the print cartridges at less than half the price. Generic brand cartridges offer similar savings.
Trade in your empty printer cartridges
The costs of purchasing new printer cartridges can be offset by selling the empty print cartridges. Companies such as Staples and Office Depot will offer a cash discount in the form of store credit for any empty print cartridges bought into the store. Many companies, which can be found by performing a quick internet search, offer cash for empty printer cartridges.
Inkjet printers have amazing technology
The inkjet printer works by placing small drops of ink on the paper that are less than the diameter of the human hair. This can be done up to 5000 times per second depending on the resolution of the printer. Inkjet printers have always been high definition with print resolution up to 1440×720 dpi. This means that an off the shelf color inkjet and provide a photorealistic image similar to a HDTV monitor.
Your printer cartridges can dry up
Inside of every print cartridge is a print head. Inside of every print head is a foam sponge. Do not leave your print cartridge outside the printer for very long because the foam sponge inside the print head can dry out and become hard. Once the foam head inside the print head has dried up and harden the print cartridge becomes useless. It is better to refill or replace the print cartridge before it becomes dried and useless if you fail to do so the microscopic holes in the print cartridge become clogged and the print cartridge becomes useless.
