Printer Supplies. News, Facts & Articles.

Buying A New Printer? Beware!

2005-06-13T11:53:00.000-07:00

From time to time most of us need to purchase a new printer. This is not however the easy task it may appear to be. Do we really know what we are looking for?
Your printer should be selected to suit your requirements for the best possible value and results.

Which Printer Should I buy?
The first thing to ascertain is the cost of replacement ink cartridges or toners. Epson, Canon and Brother compatible inkjet cartridges are inexpensive and produce outstanding results. Remanufactured toner cartridges are the cheapest option for laser printers.
Do not be drawn into buying a printer with rebates and other cash back incentives without checking exactly why they appear to be such a good deal.

General Text & Graphic Printing.
Look for a well made, competitively priced printer with good dpi, (Dots Per Inch), capability. For general printing either the Canon i560 or the Epson Stylus C66 are good choices.
These printers will produce good results and the replacement compatible cartridges are cheap.

Precise Text & Photo Printing including All-In-Ones.
With the continued success of the digital camera, photo printing is becoming ever more popular. Some printers are now designed with digital imagery in mind. The updated range of Canon Pixma printers give superb results.
All-In-One printers are particularly appealing because they offer a built in scanner as well as a copier and sometimes a fax. The Epson CX4600 is a fast, quiet all-in-one and the photo printing quality is very good. Separate ink tanks for individual colours and black save on ink usage and once again the replacement inkjet cartridges are inexpensive.

Large Scale Text & Colour Printing.
Regular or large scale text printing requires a Laser Printer. These printers use toner cartridges and not inkjet cartridges. Toner is a pigmented powder that when heated melts and becomes ink. Most print in black only but an increasing number are now being manufactured as colour printers. Laser toner cartridges are more expensive than inkjets but in some cases will print up to 25,000 pages of text as opposed to around 600 for the average inkjet. Laser printers are fast and economical. Colour laser printers produce truly exceptional results but are expensive.
The Hewlett Packard Laserjet 1020 is an affordable monochrome printer. The HP 2500 Series laserjets are outstanding.

For help or advice please feel free to email us at info@compatcartridges.com
You can also view our website at: http://www.compatcartridges.com/

Happy Printing!

Cleaning The Printer Head.

2005-06-04T17:42:00.000-07:00

A customer of mine phoned me recently explaining that her printer, a Canon i560, was printing the wrong colours. As luck would have it, I had to pass her office that afternoon so I called in to investigate.
The cure was easy enough but as far as she was aware had never been carried out.

I simply performed a head cleaning cycle! The result; Perfect image and text printing.

If the colours are wrong or the print becomes faint or washed out it is almost always the result of a dirty printer head. Head Cleaning is a crucial operation that should be carried out at least once a month under normal usage especially on Epson and Canon printers.

How To Clean The Printer Head On An Inkjet Printer.

1) Click on Start and go to Settings. Click on Printers and Faxes and then double click on the printer or fax machine you wish to work on.
2) Click on Printer or Fax at the top left and then on to Properties from the drop down menu.
3) Click on Printing Preferences. In the new window that opens click on Maintenance. Click on the operation you wish to perform; in this case Head Cleaning and follow the on-screen instructions.

Some Points To Remember.

Performing the head cleaning operation uses some ink. Some newer printers have a deep cleaning cycle in addition to the normal clean. This should only be used when absolutely necessary as a lot of ink is used.
Head cleaning can only be carried out if your cartridges have enough ink remaining. If you receive the message ‘Ink is low, cannot carry out cleaning’, you should replace the cartridge and then carry out a head cleaning cycle.

If you require further advice please go to: info@compatcartridges.com
We’ll always do our very best to help.

To visit our website go to: http://www.compatcartridges.com/

Running Low On Ink - Time To Get A New Printer!

2005-06-03T05:09:00.000-07:00

This is the scenario being faced by millions around the world today. You need to replace your printer ink cartridges but the cost is only a few dollars less than buying a brand new printer which of course comes with brand new cartridges.

Why?
Manufacturers make very little profit from the sale of their printers. The profit is made on the replacement ink cartridges. Once you have the printer you have to buy ink in order to print. If you use your printer a lot, the cost can be considerable.

A Brief Explanation.
Broadly speaking there are two types of inkjet printers. The first uses true cartridges. Companies such as Hewlett Packard and Lexmark use this system. Cartridges consist of a tank of ink, a head (The copper coloured metal strip) and sometimes a chip that gives back data on the levels of ink. The cartridges for this system, as owners know only too well, are expensive.
The other system as employed by companies such as Epson, Canon and Brother, uses headless cartridges. This means that when you buy a cartridge for these types you actually get a tank of ink and sometimes a chip but the printer head stays within the printer. Replacements are marginally less expensive for these types of printers. Neither system has any significant print quality advantages. Another point worth remembering is that print quality is measured by Dpi, (Dots per inch), and the printing media and not simply by the ink used.
Laser printers work on an entirely different system utilizing a large cartridge containing toner and not ink. Toner is a powder containing heat sensitive pigment. Most, though not all, laser printers are used to print text and therefore use only black. Replacements are expensive but some are capable of printing up to 25,000 pages of text from one cartridge.

What Can You Do?
For owners of Epson, Canon and Brother Printers one answer is to use compatible cartridges. These are inexpensive and carry superb guarantees as to their quality. Most will last at least as long as the originals. For Hewlett Packard and Lexmark owners there are remanufactured cartridges. Owing to the patents on these cartridges it is illegal to manufacture compatibles.
You could always try refilling the originals but this can be messy and sometimes leaks can occur resulting in permanent printer damage.

In Conclusion.
Before you purchase a new printer find out the cost of replacement cartridges. You’ll be amazed at how much they vary. Look for a printer that uses tanks of ink and best of all one that uses separate tanks for black and each colour. In so doing when you need to replace a cartridge, say yellow, you need only replace this one colour and not the whole colour cartridge.
A cheap printer laden with incentives such as rebates, does not always pay in the long run. Discount ink cartridges or compatibles will always save you money with no loss of print quality.

Keep that printer doing what it does best, Printing!

For more information on this subject visit http://www.compatcartridges.com/ and click on: The Facts. You can also email us at: info@compatcartridges.com for advice.