subject: HP Ink – For Your HP Inkjet Printer [print this page] There are several options available when buying ink for your HP printer. Original HP ink cartridges are the most expensive option but often guarantee superior results that save you time, money, and paper. Third party options for HP ink refills include ink cartridge refill kits, remanufactured cartridges, and generic cartridges made by other manufacturers. Remanufactured ink cartridges are empty originals that have been factory cleaned, filled to maximum capacity, and print tested in the factory for quality. Some cartridge stores have machines that automatically refill empty cartridges others use the hand filled syringe technique. Keep in mind that all inks are not of the same formula and quality. Make sure your cartridge refill dealer uses the best quality HP inks.
HP ink cartridges are not difficult to refill at home with cartridge refill kits. Black is the easiest to refill, colour cartridges employ the same techniques, in most case you just have three colour chambers to refil, those being cyan, magenta and yellow. HP consumer inkjet printers use a thermal inkjet. The ink reservoir contains partitions. Each partition has a heating element with a resistor, or a tiny metal plate. When the printer gives a signal to the heating element, a tiny current flows through the metal of the heating element, making it warm, and the ink that surrounds the heated place vaporizes into a tiny air bubble inside the nozzle. The ink droplet is forced out of the cartridge nozzle onto the paper.
The best printing results when the flow of ink is smooth. This can be interrupted if the ink starts to dry on the cartridge print heads. Low ink levels can cause this, or too much time between printing uses. The printer software comes with a cleaning process option that cleans the heads in the case you have long spans of time between printing. Each HP ink cartridge contains a specific precision print head within the cartridge. Some other brands such as Epson usually install the precision print heads directly into the printer. This generally makes the cartridges less expensive to buy, as when you replace the cartridge you are solely replacing the ink tank and not .
