My heritage is one part Jewish and three parts Scottish, so this is a subject dear to my miserable little heart. Printers are so cheap as to be almost disposable with each set of cartridges, however for those who do a lot of printing, it is the cost of cartridges that breaks the bank.
Recently I was asked to help a well known 92 year old Jamestown identity with the printing of a book. During the printing of the Proof Copy his printer ran out of ink. (Yes,... he has his own computer and uses it every day). It was at this stage that we learned that a set of original manufacturers cartridges would cost $93 and the cheapest after market replacements about $60. The cartridges are larger than normal, (20 ml) but still it was going to be a very expensive ongoing exercise for a pensioner of limited means.
This started my quest for cheap reliable printing.
With many of us getting into digital photography, we find that it would be nice to print copies of our photos to send to auntie Ivy or perhaps visiting friends. There are many reasonably cheap services available from Chemist shops, Supermarkets and photographic printing shops these days, generally these cost from 10 cents on special to 50 cents per print and this is very good value, however it is not always available and sometimes inconvenient, so I set about to find the cheapest possible setup for home use. I'm heavily into Genealogy (Family Trees) and a copy of just one branch of my family takes more than a ream of paper. I don't often have to print it out, but often find myself posting off 80-100 pages to this one, and that, so printing is high on my list of priorities.
This was done 12 months or more ago so there may be slight changes in he prices, but I have no doubt that it is still close to the mark.
(1) Buy a lower end priced printer that uses cartridges that do NOT have the print heads attached. (About $110)
(2) Check on somewhere like Ebay to see if there is an after market CISS* unit available, *CISS"=
Continuous
Ink
Supply
System.
I ended up buying an Epson C87Plus for $117 and a CISS off Ebay for $58 delivered to my door. The CISS came pre loaded with 60ml of each colour of Ink, which equates to 6 sets of 4 Cartridges or 24 individual cartridges that would have cost from $13 to $22 each. (Most cartridges hold approximately 10mls of ink) Or a total of $312 - $528. At this stage we can start to see the advantages.
Here's what the CISS looks like when fitted to the printer.
Then,.. should you wish to have spare ink on hand, you must locate a cheap supply of Bulk ink. I found a seller who sells ink for $11.50 per 100ml (10 regular cartridges worth, or $30 for 500ml. At this price, the cost would work out to $0.60 per regular cartridge, which would otherwise cost you $13-$22.
Another advantage, especially for anyone who does long print runs, is that the reservoirs on the CISS may be filled without stopping the printer. They are merely tipped onto their back, the silicone rubber filling caps removed one at a time and the ink transferred to the reservoir with a large syringe and needle. I bought four 35ml syringes and 12gauge canulas (Big thick needles) from the local Veterinary Clinic for $5. Actually he didn't know what to charge me and I said , "How about $5"? We both went away happy. I then took the canulas back home where I carefully ground the points off them to avoid the possibility of giving myself a monster tattoo.
WARNING,
Always be very careful handling loaded syringes, accidental injection could be fatal.
Printer ink may contain things like ethylene glycol and/or isopropyl alcohol, which would do you no good at all, not to mention that it would hurt like hell and leave your body with a nasty tattoo that wouldn't impress the girls at the beach very much.
