Inkcarts.com Blog

Posts Tagged ‘printer ink cartridges’

Printer inks are essential to anyone who does any computing, be it at the office or at home. While environmentalists do stress the importance of paperless computing in the interests of saving the planet’s resources, there are times when it is absolutely necessary to print out documents. Naturally, you would need printer ink for that.

Environmental consciousness aside, it would not hurt to save on printer ink and learn to use it wisely. Using printer ink cartridges wisely can yield a little savings, and saving a little money on printer ink can go a long way.

How can you make the most out of your printer ink? Here are six tips.

1. Use your printer’s draft print mode. Certainly isnt’ the best quality setting in your printer, but if the document is not important and the result is very much readable, go for it. Draft print mode uses less ink.
2. Back-to-back printing. This is more for saving paper rather than saving printer ink, but printing back-to-back saves money nonetheless.
3. Use smaller font. Again, this is mostly for saving paper than printer ink, but as long as the document is still easy to read, it is fine.
4. Do not print images unless you have to. Printing images uses up a lot of printer ink.
5. Use all your ink. Even if your printer says you have run out of ink, more likely than not, there is still some left in the cartridge. Go use it all up.
6. Buy compatible or remanufactured cartridges. Some people are iffy on ink refills, but if you are willing to try, you can go for that to save money on printer ink.

With the sometimes exorbitant price tagged onto printer ink cartridges, it is no wonder that a lot of people would rather buy a new printer instead of a new cartridge.  Often times, it is more economical just throw the old printer away!

But then again, disposing of old printers that one does not use anymore can be another nightmare altogether.  Not all recycling centers take them, and it is always a shame to throw away old printers when they have been hardly used.

Not a lot of people know this, but if you want to cut around the costs of buying new printer ink and save a little money in the process, sometimes all you need to do is to know how to use your printer and take care of it.

Draft Print Mode

One neat trick that you can use when printing out documents is to use the draft printing mode on your machine.  Printing in draft mode makes your machine churn out documents a lot faster and uses a lot less ink than normal mode.

To do this, you would need to open the control panel of your computer and go to the printer folder.  Once you have opened that, click on the icon of your printer and select the settings.  From there, you can choose the option to print in draft mode.

Turn It Off

Another trick that you can use with your printer in order to save printer ink is to turn the machine on only when you are using it.  In other words, never leave your machine on when not in use.

Not only does leaving the printer on consume electricity unnecessarily, but it also leaves the heat on the printer ink cartridges.  The heat on the cartridges will cause the ink to clog the printer heads, and that is never a good thing as it damages your machine.

Test Print Every Week

You should also conduct a test print on your machine at least once every week.  This will make sure that the printer ink cartridges installed in your machine will not dry up, especially when you do not use your printer that often.

While it does save up on power when you do not use your machine that often, it does not necessarily mean that you can save up on printer ink.  The ink dries up when not in use, and this can clog up your printer head in a really nasty way.

Store the Machine Properly

Let us say that you got tired of the machine you are using and decided to buy a new one.  But then again, you are not entirely convinced about throwing out your old printer, and thus, you decide to put it in a box and keep it in storage.  This is good because you will never know when you would need an extra printer.

Before you store away your machine, you have to take out the printer ink cartridges first.  Whatever ink that is left inside the cartridges will dry up in storage after not being used and will, again, clog up your printer head.

Taking care of your printer can take you and your printer ink a long way.  So What are you waiting for?

Best Business Card Ever! (I don't recommend you use this for your actual business!

Business cards are useful tools for marketing your business.  In a single glance, your business card will be able to tell people not just who you are and how they can get in touch with you, but also give them an idea of what your business is all about.  It is a very handy way of conveying to people that your business exists, especially when the time comes when they need your services.

The design of your business card is crucial to the business image that you want to project.  Most people usually entrust the printing of their business cards to professional designers, but there is no reason why you cannot go ahead and create your own cards.  All you need to be able to do that is a computer, a trusty printer, page layout software, a few supplies and a little creativity.

The Elements of a Proper Business Card

Before you go about printing your own business cards, you have to make sure that you understand the elements of a card’s design and how each element should work.  The basic elements of a business card are as follows:

1. Name.  This would be your name.  It should be the first or the second most prominent element that anyone would see on your card.  Your job title should be in smaller font underneath it.
2. Business name.  The name of your business, along with your own name, would be either the first or the second most noticeable element on your card.
3. Business address.  You would naturally want your potential clients to know where your office is.
4. Contact numbers.  Generally, these would be your office number and mobile number.  Some people also put their home numbers here, but that would be entirely your choice.
5. Email address and website URL.  It is important for clients to know how they can reach you via the Internet.  And if you have a website, it would certainly help your business to promote it through your calling cards.
6. Logo.  Your business logo not only provides a graphical element to your business cards but also helps make your business more identifiable.
7. Tagline.  This would be a short phrase describing what your business is all about and what services you provide.

Designing Your Own Business Cards

Making your own design for your business cards and printing them out later are not as hard as it seems.  The first thing you should do is to sketch on paper what you want your cards to look like.  Take note that your design should reflect what your business is.  If you are in the construction business, pictures of teddy bears and flowers would not look good on your cards.

Once you are satisfied with your sketch, recreate the sketch using your page layout software.  You can use the built-in wizard or templates that come with your software.

After you have suitably laid out the elements of your business card, start printing them.  Make sure that you use card-stock paper; cards printed on thin paper would suggest that your business is less than professional.  Also, cut the edges evenly.

Printing your own business cards is not that difficult at all.  You just need the right card stock, printer ink cartridges and just a little creativity to get it done.

Here are a couple more entries from our customers about creative ways they use their printers.

Lexmark 5200
My printer is a Lexmark 5200 inkjet color printer. I am an artist and I use it for a lot of creative purposes.

I make hand-made wedding invitations and I use it to print out the texts on specialty papers and they come out really neat and look like professionally done.

I also make Christmas cards and i use it to print the texts inside the card which look really good, too. It prints so very good that.

I also use it to print my own business cards on store bought glossy business card sheets and they come out like they’ve been ordered from the shop.

Lyn’s Note: Take a look at our selection of Lexmark Printer Ink Cartridges

HP Deskjet F4140

When it comes to my computer, One of the best parts of the HP Deskjet F4140 is it’s scanner. The F4140 is one of the finest printer/ scanner I have used. This is the third printer I have purchase and now I have no reason to look for another one. With the Deskjet F4140 I am able to copy items, take my photo’s and use photo paper to create my own picture’s and save me some money on developing.

We recently asked some of our friends and customers to tell us about the most creative ways they use their printers. We were overwhelmed at the number of great responses we received. Beginning today, I will be posting a series of tips from our users to help others get their creative juices flowing and find new and exciting ways to use their printers!

If you would like to share your tips and creative ideas, send me an email. My address is lyn @ inkcarts.com. I will send you a coupon for use on your next order for your efforts! Here is a really nice creative way one of our customers uses their printer. . .

I use an Epson CX 5000. I am a music teacher and to motivate a violin student, I asked her if she wanted to make a CD that she could give to her friends and relatives for Christmas. She was seven at the time.

Over a couple of months, we recorded the music. Then I created an insert for the CD with pictures of all the participants (her grandmother and great-grandmother played music with her for the CD) and a little biographical statement that the student wrote. I printed it out on glossy paper and it looked very much like a professionally-printed CD insert. I also created a sticker to go on the CD that had a picture of the student and the tracks printed on it. It was a circular sticker designed for CD’s, so the CD itself looked pretty good.

We made 30 copies and she was able to give it to her friends. This was a highly motivating project for her–she worked really hard on her music and the result sounded and looked good because of the capabilities of the Epson inkjet printer.

Name Withheld

Lyn’s Note: That is a FANTASTIC use of your printer. But I’m even more impressed at your skill and talents motivating your students! This world could use a few more just like you! Thank You for sharing your creativity with us.

P. S. Many of the Epson models will print directly on a printable cd. Off the top of my head, the Epson Stylus Photo R280, Photo 1400, The Photo RX595 and the Photo RX680 will all print directly on a CD/DVD. I’m sure there are a few more.