Bloody Printers

Most of you probably know that in the dim and distant past I worked in I.T. Occasionally I still miss those days, which is probably why I'm still such a huge computer nerd when I'm at home (well, that and the fact that I don't have a life). But one thing I certainly don't miss from those days is buggering about with printers.

Printers were the bane of my existence. It's as if they speak a whole different language to computers. Trying to get a computer and printer to communicate with each other could often be a complete nightmare. Many a time I would shout "But the bloody thing is right there!  Don't you see it?" when a computer would quite calmly pop up a 'Printer not found' message.

Thankfully in these days of the e-web and intermail and such, printers aren't the essential partner to a computer that they once were. I still have a printer, but it's no longer permanently set up, I just hook it up when I need it. Thankfully that's very infrequently.

The other thing that irks me about printers is the cost of the ink, which I think gram for gram is quite possibly the most expensive substance in the known universe. I loathe spending a fortune on printer cartridges, so recently I decided to purchase a printer cartridge refill kit. These are the kits that come with little bottles of ink and a syringe that you use to fill up your empty cartridge. You also get a load of little rubber bungs to plug up the hole in your cartridge once you've finished filling. I just bought a black kit (as I only ever print text) and it cost me about a fiver.

Initial results were disappointing, and I ended up with baby-poo coloured prints. But after some trial and error I ended up with really good print quality. Here are my three tips:

• It's a messy job! Fill your cartridge over the sink and wear rubber gloves (seriously, you'll need them).
• This is really messy, but fill the cartridge until ink starts coming out of the print head. That way you'll know the print head isn't blocked and that the ink has a clear path down to it. My baby-poo prints were the result of me not filling up the cartridge enough and the ink not getting down to the print head properly.
• Putting the little rubber bung in the hole in your cartridge is a major pain in the ass. To make it easier, use a pair of pliers to squash the tip of the rubber bung. That way you'll find it will go in a hell of a lot easier and it'll save you a load of time (and possibly some swearing).

Overall, the process is a bit of a faff. But then you are doing something that isn't meant to be easy or convenient, printer manufacturers have made sure of that. They practically give their printers away in the hopes of making money from you by selling you their overpriced cartridges.

Yes, it's messy and inconvenient, but you can get good results. And if you're on a tight budget then you'll definitely save yourself some money. But if you prefer convenience and not going to all this hassle, then you're probably better off buying an own brand or remanufactured cartridge from your local supermarket.