I admit the title of this post is a bit cryptic, but bear with me. If you own an inkjet printer, the short video referenced here is worth a look. In case you’re wondering why your printer may be running out of ink quicker than you think it should or maybe just plain not working, take a look as the author rips apart his own printer; this may be why. While I’m not sure that this really applies to all inkjets, I’ll bet it’s true of many.
Thanks for featuring this.
You’re right to wonder whether this really does apply to *all* inkjets – I’ll freely admit that this one was a particularly nasty example of the phenomenon, and some brands/technologies are probably worse offenders than others, however, it is true that all inkjets perform some kind of cleaning, and that they can only do it by squirting ink through the jets.
Printers where the print head is part of the cartridge – not the printer – are probably not quite so susceptible to this, as they don’t need to invest so much effort in keeping the print head clean (because it is replaced when the cartridge runs out).
Great blog – I’ve linked back to you from my site.
I have previously advocated for universal inket replacements… cartridges should be as interchangeable as batteries, memory cards, or 35mm film. There should be an inkjet cartridge that is the equivalent of the old 6v battery with the two springs on the top that holds half a gallon of the ink.
Someone, somewhere, is going to come up with “Cheaper to run” brand of printer where the business model is charge a bit more the printers, and sell the ink at a normal profit margin, in cartridges that don’t run out after 20 pages.
Some potentially new technology that will change this entire little scam… uh… I mean paradigm. Zero Ink (Zink) paper is made with heat-reactive crystals embedded in it that changes color when heat is applied to it. Some more info here: http://www.coolest-gadgets.com/20080124/zero-ink-printing-technology/
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