It's a well known fact that printer companies make their profits by demanding strict ink cartridge requirements at outrageous prices. Ink can quickly run out, especially if you print a lot or have one of those annoying printers that self clean every 24 hours. Even if you don't print that often, new ink cartridges are still very expensive. Why spend all that money when you can get a compatible ink refill kit for a fraction of the price? That's when the Nukote ink refill kit comes in handy. The Nukote refill kit allows you to refill ink while still using your old ink cartridge. Rather than pay up to $30 for one new ink cartridge, this kit can refill your old cartridge up to six times and save you money. The only question is, are you prepared to take the risk of damaging your printer, ink cartridge and probably create a huge mess?
In the past I've always purchased new ink cartridges but found that method to be costly. Then I turned to refilled remanufactured cartridges but found that I didn't save much money there either. As a last result I found this refill kit and after doing the math I will save $110 by refilling my own ink. New ink cartridges for my printer are $20 each in retail stores, and this Nukote refill kit was only $10 total. Since I can refill my ink almost six times, that means I'm paying $10 for a refill kit instead of $120 for six new cartridges. With that kind of savings I just had to give it a shot.
After opening the box I noticed a bunch of tools and thought, holy crap what's all this. Upon reading the directions I discovered that the process for my particular cartridge was rather easy. The first step involved drilling a larger hole into the existing vent hole. Then, you're directed to slowly squeeze ink from the refill bottle into the hole until the cartridge is full. After about 30 minutes the cartridge should be ready to use.
In my experience, ink leaked out afterwards. They said it's normal but constant bleeding seems like a waste of ink, although the directions didn't really specify exactly how much ink to dispense. I think I may have overfilled the cartridge so I won't be so liberal next time around. After letting it set overnight, I used the moistened towelettes to clean up everything and reinstalled the cartridge with no additional issues.
The directions for other types of cartridges seemed to be much more involved. In some instances you may need to replace the needle, push air into the cartridge with a syringe, reseal any holes with adhesive stickers and use other tools along the way. Luckily my cartridge was a breeze but I'd hate to try it out on any other cartridge because it sounds very messy and difficult.
So far the ink quality doesn't seem any different than the default ink that comes in a new cartridge. If anything it may be slightly more watery and thus ink may bleed alittle more than usual on the paper but it hasn't been a serious issue yet. Even if the ink doesn't last as long as a new cartridge, the fact that I get six refills for $110 less than factory retail is a good enough reason to continue using this product.
I would only recommend the Nukote black ink refill kit to those adventurous types that are confident with their hands and aren't afraid to work with small tools in small places. The process can be messy and if you aren't careful the end result could be a broken ink cartridge. Nukote does a great job of including all the tools you need for the job but the instruction booklet isn't very specific about things and covers several different model types so finding the directions for you model can be a bit awkward. You can pick up the Nukote refill kit at Walmart or Target for around $10 and provides enough ink to refill the average ink cartridge 4-6 times. Just make sure you check for ink cartridge compatibility and always use common sense of buyer beware. The savings in cost is worth it and if this system works for you, you'll probably be hooked. Otherwise, be prepared to purchase a brand new cartridge just in case you break the old one.
Two black ink refill bottles (39 mil of ink per refill)
Cartridge template
Drill Tool
Adhesive Stickers
Syringe
Moistened Towelettes
Dry Cloth
Push pin
Metal balls
Large clip
Replacement needle
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