Today, we’ll review how to refill an Epson cartridge. Before we start, I need to review some information, beginning with the cartridge. Looking at the front of it, you’ll see an electronic component called an ink chip. This chip allows for communication between the cartridge and your Epson printer.

The ink chip is what the printer uses to keep track of how many pages have been printed. It then uses this information as part of the process for calculating how much ink it thinks should be left in the cartridge. The first thing we need to know is how to reset that page counter back to zero because if you let the printer’s ink counter think the cartridge is empty, it will send it a kill signal, thus rendering it useless. Without resetting the ink chip, the printer will not recognize the cartridge’s new ink level after you’ve refilled it.

Reset the Cartridge Ink Levels

Since we want the printer to think the cartridge’s page count is zero after refilling it, we need to fix it with a resetter. If you don't have one, you can order the resetter from my website, BCHTechnologies.com. We have a video or two on my YouTube channel about how to use this resetter, but I’ll still summarize the process here.

Essentially, all you have to do is line everything up correctly. Once you’ve received the resetter, use the printer’s “cartridge reset” function to remove the cartridge from the printer safely. Then you’ll locate the contact pins on both the cartridge and the resetter. Position the cartridge so all the contact pins are lined up correctly, and wait for the light on top to turn green. This indicates that the page counter has been reset successfully.

How to Unclog the Printhead

The second thing you should know before you get started is how to unclog the printhead. I have a seemingly endless amount of videos regarding how to do this on my YouTube channel, since there are equally as many ways that you could go about doing this process.

There are two ways to go about this that are a bit easier than the others, though. The first is to order some BCH brand cleaning solution and let the printhead soak in that for a while to break up any clogs or dried-on ink.

The second method is to use the special adapter we sell, specifically designed to remove air bubbles that may have developed during the refilling process. You can find this adapter under the refill tools section of the accessories tab on my site. We also sell some plastic needles.

When you get the adapter, you must attach it to the front of the syringe and then push it inside the cartridge to refill it. Use it to draw out excess air. You could also use a normal syringe and needle to do this process. It may take a bit more effort, but it should work out just as well in the end.

Examine the Cartridge

Now, let’s take a look at the cartridge’s design. On top of the ink outlet is the one-way damper. This damper makes it so that the ink can only flow one way- out of the cartridge and not backward into it. If you try to inject ink into the cartridge via the outlet, this will prevent it from getting into the cartridge, which means it won’t work.

Some people will suggest using a 20 mL syringe to inject a bunch of air into the cartridge until you rupture the damper’s membrane, which would allow the ink to flow backward into the cartridge. Despite the fact that they say to use a 20 mL syringe, you’ll receive the same result with almost any syringe size.

I tried to use a 10 mL syringe to give this method a try. I didn’t think it would work but was willing to be proven wrong. Maybe I would be pleasantly surprised. Well, I wasn’t. Rather than causing a small rupture in the damper’s membrane like they claimed it would, the cartridge exploded and got ink everywhere. I do not recommend trying this at home.

Other Methods

Since that is very clearly not the best solution, let’s go over some less violent methods. Our goal is to add ink into the cartridge without causing any additional issues or damage (like making it explode ink everywhere).

We’ll start by removing the cartridge cover. You should be able to easily identify the three main parts: the ink chip on the front, and the outlet and window both on the bottom. After removing the cartridge cover, you’ll also be able to see that there are three individual chambers underneath.

When you add ink to the small upper chamber, you’ll see that it flows into the chamber on the left-hand side of the cartridge. However, the cartridge also needs some ink in the third, larger chamber on the bottom if you want it to work properly. The window underneath the cartridge allows the printer to look into that third, larger chamber and decide whether or not the cartridge is empty.

We provided a video version of this tutorial on my YouTube channel. In this demonstration, we took the cartridge cover off of the transparent cartridge. We decided to use the transparent one because we figured that it would give our viewers a better visual of the process.

For your typical refill, you don’t have to use a transparent cartridge or remove the cartridge cover unless you want to. That being said, we do have a few videos about how to make a transparent cartridge as well if that’s something that you’d be interested in.

Refill the Cartridge

To refill your Epson ink cartridge, you’ll need some supplies. This will include a drill (a small hand drill will do the trick, and is actually the better option), some paper towels and a pair of gloves for mess protection, a needle and syringe (or a squeeze bottle), and, obviously, the ink. You can use any size of drill for this, I recommend using smaller drills because you can easily cover smaller drill holes with a piece of tape or some hot glue after the refill.

Still, Epson’s ink cartridges always have an air vent on top of them, so it doesn’t matter if you make the seal air-tight. If you don’t have a drill, you could probably get away with “drilling” a hole in the cartridge with the tip of a pair of scissors. It doesn’t matter as long as the hole you make goes all the way through the plastic. If you’d rather use a drill but don’t have one, we also sell 3 mm drills on our website.

Next, we will use a needle and syringe to get 10 mL of ink and inject it into the hole we drilled in the top of that cartridge. Alternatively, you could order a squeeze bottle of ink from our site and add ⅓ of the bottle into the cartridge. The squeeze bottles we sell come with 30 mL of ink, so they should last you quite a while. If you’re following along with the video, you’ll see the ink flow naturally from the top chamber to the chamber on the left.

Use your thumb to squeeze gently and apply pressure to the larger section. Doing this should allow the air to move up, and ink can move into that chamber. This way, the ink will cover the window and register as not empty when your printer tries to scan it.

Not Removing the Cover

If you don’t want to take the cover off your cartridge during the refill process, that’s okay. Epson’s cartridge covers are soft enough that you can still squeeze it. You can add more ink after that if you’d like. Epson usually says it can hold up to 12 mL, but I find that anywhere from 10- 15 mL works.

The ink is drawn from the outlet for consumption during the printing process. The chamber on the left will be the first to become emptied of ink. When that happens, it will be up to the top chamber to provide ink to the big chamber. The little window on the bottom of the cartridge will always stay covered with ink unless the cartridge is completely empty. All this to say, you don’t have to fill all four cartridges up for this to work.

URLs:

0:32- Overview

2:47- The Wrong Way

4:02- Cartridge Anatomy

4:54- The Right Way