Korean Job Discussion Forums

[IT'S JUST ME]

Hi:

I have an Epson TX113 that has four slim inket cartridges.

Is it possible to get them refilled at an office supply store or is the only option to purchase replacement cartridges?

Thanx

[SeoulnPepe]

I've only seen the refill kits on Gmarket. However, you may find something at Yongsan (the building that's specific to computers--not the iPark one).

[Hamlet]

I use an Epson Stylus CX 4900. It also uses 4 slim ink cartridges. I buy them on Auction for 1500 won each. It's not as cheap as a refill kit in the long run probably, but it's pretty cheap and less of a hassle/mess.

[Hindsight]

I tried a bunch of those 1500 won cartridges off gmarket. My color shifted, apparently because the blue cartridge was off, perhaps too light. Also, one of the yellow cartridges didn't work. If the blue cartridge color had been correct, it would have been fine. But the color shifted to brown on photos.

I ordered the refillable cartridges used for CISS systems. You can get a CISS system for a CX2900 pretty cheap, but it doesn't look like the tubes would fit under the lid without propping it up. These cartridges are semi-transparent, have auto reset chips, and come with 100ml of ink.

I had trouble figuring out how to get them to work; the illustration and instructions didn't match the cartridges. Apparently the key is to push the bottle nipple into the cartridge fill hole (after removing the plug) and squeezing the ink in, to push it into the cartridge. Then put the plug back in. Use disposable gloves cause it is messy.

Also, use the SSC service utility to monitor the ink levels.

I'm using the T0751 series ink on a CX2905. This is a great system. It's not the waterproof ink, but this is good because the nozzles don't clog if not used for months. I had lots of trouble with this on the fancier Epsons. With glossy paper, the quality is truly photo quality. I need a magnifying glass to appreciate all the detail.

Another tip: If you processed your photo to fine tune color, etc., don't use the "photo enhance" setting. This is for amateurs who print straight from jpegs that are less than perfect, or for printing photos on plain paper. If you want a more precise photo print on glossy paper, set the printer to RGB.

I'm finding my laptop screen doesn't match the print color, which is not unusual. I think most laptop screens favor blue to varying degrees. I'm not an expert on calibrating the screen/printer, but I printed a picture with a variety of colors and then tweaked the printer settings for magenta, yellow and cyan and brightness, and got a much better match pretty easily.

With a hundred sheets of glossy paper bought online plus this bulk ink, and you can make some knockout prints cheap. The Epson system is good because of the individual tanks, which can be refilled easily; the tanks don't have the nozzles, which are fixed. The image color and resolution is actually better than what I'm seeing on screen. Pros are saying the old CRT monitors were actually better for editing photos than most LCDs. But a good external LCD monitor will probably be better than the LCD on a relatively cheap laptop.

Oh, I would have written a product review on gmarket, but they only give you a day or two, or less to post a review -- not enough time to actually use the product. With the refillable cartridges, a day after I received them the option of posting a review was gone. So these gmarket reviews are just pretend reviews. And I had a thing or two to say, such as that the ink bottles weren't sealed fully, so there was ink seeping through the box when I got it.

[cmr]

You can get cartridges refilled at Emart, Homeplus and probably other stores as well. I can't tell you how much they charge, though, because they couldn't refill mine; seems my printer can't accept refilled cartridges or something like that, so I never did it.

[Hindsight]

A friend says he gets his refilled at the local computer shop.

Refilling most cartridges yourself can be a bit tricky, so this is an option worth considering.

Here's an important tip:

With the newer waterproof ink, you must not let the cartridge sit around empty. The ink will dry up and refilling it won't get it working.

So refill promptly.

My Epson ink, the T0751 series, doesn't seem to have this problem. I have not had any clogging problems, even when I haven't used the printer for months. But I had lots of problems with Epsons with waterproof ink in the past.

If you can work out a system for keeping your color printer in cheap ink, and get some glossy paper through gmarket, you can have a lot of fun printing your photos without going broke.

[cj1976]

Ink cartridges are quite expensive in the long run - especially over here. i set up a system on my old Canon inkjet like this:
http://www.continuous-ink-systems.co.uk/

I know that's for a UK website, but you can get the same here. Go to Yongsan or Technomart and buy the kit. It was a little fiddly to set up and I made a real mess with the ink, but it's all good now. The ink lasts for an age, and is much more cost-efficient.