5 Things You Probably Didn’t Know About Printer Ink And Cartridges

by Nematoda

Printer ink and cartridges aren’t subjects which you usually give much thought to, are they? Well, maybe you should, because they are more interesting than you think in a number of ways. The following points are a few of the most unusual and intriguing facts about these essential printing components which you probably don’t know.

Empty or Not?

When you printer cartridge says that it is low or empty it probably isn’t as empty as you think. This is an advance warning and research has shown that it could still be up to 45% full. One reason given for this is that using a completely empty cartridge could cause damage to your printer. Knowing when to change is a difficult question but most users err on the side of caution and change the cartridge rather than risk using it on empty. If you aren’t sure then a quick check online should reveal how much your specific model has left over when it starts to give you this warning.

Few Colours Are Used

The colour ink you use probably only contains 3 colours. Yellow, cyan and magenta are most commonly found colours which are used. When you use the colour cartridge to print off something like text which should really be black then it will come out as a sort of dark brown instead of true black. This will use up more ink than printing with black ink would have done, so it is a good idea to keep both cartridges topped up if you have a machine which contains two.

You Can Eat the Ink (Well, Some of It)

There are some enterprising firms which now offer edible printing ink. This is ideal for printing off messages for birthday cakes, while some creative restaurants have started printing their menus with edible ink so that the meals on it can be sampled. Edible ink can be found for most makes and models of printer these days and it comes in a variety of tasty flavours as well. Of course, eating print ink which isn’t designed to be edible isn’t a smart move at all.

It Is One of the Planet’s Most Valuable Liquids

You might be surprised to discover that printer ink is among the planet’s most valuable liquids. A single cartridge might not be all that expensive to buy but you need to bear in mind that it only contains a very small amount of the stuff in it. It has been calculated that a gallon of printer ink costs round about £3,000.

The Cartridges Can Be Recycled

To help cut down on your printing costs and to make a difference to the planet as well you can use recycled toner cartridges. You can find these online from firms such as Toners4Less and Epigem. A switch to using this kind of approach could help you feel that you are making this part of your life a whole lot greener.

Source : http://www.gizmocrazed.com