New Way to make your Ink Cartridges Last longer!
This new system is for the Lexmark Z11, Z22, Z31, Z32 and similar printers using cartridges with the numbers 12A1980, 12A1985, 12A1970, 12A1975 etc.  The ideas of this page can be adapted to many other printer cartridges both black and color and to other printer manufactures as well.

Almost everyone has a printer these days that uses an ink cartridge.  Bubble Jet and similar printers work well and produce wonderful text and images, but we all know the one and only problem associated with these type of printers.

The ink cartridges cost too much!

Some cartridges cost as much as two thirds the price of a new, on-sale printer.  This is ridiculous, and as far as I am concerned, a consumer rip-off!

The most popular way of alleviating this problem is to refill the cartridge.  This is a messy, inconvenient and far from reliable process.  Some cartridges are not well suited to be refilled, requiring the top to be pried off.   Even with  monitoring ink levels with software, color cartridges often run out of ink in at least one of the three colors. Refilling color cartridges helps but the problem arises when one of the colors runs out of ink.

Monitoring ink levels with software is just fancy guessing! Some people thing using software to know how much ink is in the cartridge is the way to go.  If you take out the color cartridge and put in a black cartridge then replace the color cartridge there is no reliable way the software knows how much ink of each color is left in the cartridge!  If you refill and rotate cartridges, monitoring ink levels with software is a guess at best. When you refill how does the software really know how full the cartridge really is????

 

Important

This has been my experience using the Lexmark Z11 and Z22 color cartridges.
If the cartridge runs out of ink and the printer continues to print for a page or two the cartridge becomes defective!  Even when refilling the color that ran out, the cartridges no longer works for that color and must be replaced!!

My research indicates Lexmark (and probably others) ink cartridges work well and are refillable but if you run out of ink and print for a page or two without ink the cartridge fails.  I do not know if this is an intentional design feature but this has happened to me and other people many times. 

When you run out of ink, usually printing a multiple page document and the printer keeps printing for a page or two the cartridge will be ruined and you will have to buy a new one.

Below is a quote from a web site that deals with cartridges!

Why you should not run a cartridge dry?

Do not let your cartridge dry out or run a cartridge dry:

The biggest problem is letting your cartridge dry out or running it when it has run out of ink. HP, Lexmark, Brother, Olivetti, Canon, Xerox, Okidata, Compaq cartridges that have an integral print head have a tendency to burn out when there is no ink in the cartridge chamber (like running your car with no oil in the motor). At the first sign of print quality becoming poor REFILL. Another way to know when it is time to refill the cartridge will get lighter take out once in a while if it feels light refill or refill when you feel that you have printed to the point you feel it will be running out..

Those silly suggestions for knowing how full or empty your cartridges is: SUCK!

What is the best way of knowing how much ink you have in each of the three color chambers?


The Solution to this Problem!


After extensive research and exhaustive experimentation I have developed an accessory to be added to the cartridge so you can tell the ink levels of each of the three colors in a color cartridge or the level of black ink in a black cartridge.

Advantages to YOU!

These cartridges are what cost too much money!!Allows for easy and accurate monitoring of ink levels. You will be able to SEE the ink levels!!!

They print OK but don't last very long!Gives you more control over your cartridge so you will keep your cartridge from going empty.

Refilling works but if they go dry it can ruin the cartridge.Keeping the cartridge from going dry will allow your cartridge to last much longer!!

It would sure be nice if I really knew how much ink was in these little expensive boxes.Allows much easier, less messy refilling of the cartridge.

With the Myers Sight Glass I can rest assured that my ink levels are OK and my cartridge will last longer.  It saves me money and time!  It works for me and it will work for you too! It is durable and reusable!  No modification of the printer is required.

Below is information about installing this accessory and how it works

The accessory is called: the Myers cartridge sight glass.  (named after Me)  It is attached to the cartridge and allows you to see how much ink is in the cartridge.   Below is an image of the cartridge sight glass. 

This sight glass is made of plexiglas.  The side with the three groves is glued to the front of the cartridge.  The directions on this page will explain how you can see the ink levels on your cartridge.

 

The Myers cartridge sight glass is made of plexiglas and is about the size of the front of the cartridge.  To install the sight glass follow the two steps.

Yes, that's right, go ahead and drill three holes in the front of your cartridge.  One hole for each color! Step 1 

Remove sticker on front of cartridge.
Carefully drill three small holes into your color cartridge as shown.

Each hole is for each of the three color chambers.

This shows the Myers Sight Glass glued to the cartridge! Step 2

Carefully glue the sight glass onto the cartridge. 
Silicone based glue works well.
The three slots go against the cartridge creating three small chambers.
Make sure you carefully glue the surface of the sight glass between the three slots!

The open end of each sight glass chamber is towards the upper end of the cartridge.

Ink filling instructions

The sight glass lets you know how much ink is in your cartridge.  You do not have to rely on your own guessing or the guessing of printer software to know how much ink is in your cartridge.

After glue is completely dry fill each sight glass chamber
with the appropriate color of ink.  The Plexiglas sight glass
allows you to know when the cartridge is full.  The image
above gives you an idea as to how this works.  Do not
overfill or get the wrong color ink in the wrong hole!! 
I put a small piece of duct tape over the top of the sight
glass with a very small hole for each color ink.  This keeps
the ink from splashing out when the cartridge moves
during printing and keeps ink from drying out.

Top is shown removed for clarity but the top of
the cartridge does NOT have to be removed.

No more running out of ink!!

You will be able to tell when the ink is getting low for each color.  It works nice!

Here you can see the levels of the ink are lower
after use. You know it will soon be time to fill
the cartridge.  You will also know when each
color is full by the level of ink in the sight glass.

 It works very well!!
There is a sight glass made for Black
ink cartridges too. 

No more running out of ink!!

As ink is used while printing ink in the three sight glass chambers soak into the sponge through the 3 small holes you drilled in the cartridge.  I have used this system for some time and my cartridges never run out of ink and never run dry in any of the three colors.  This allows my cartridges to last much longer!  This has saved me money and made me a happy camper!

You too can save money with this simple system

I want you to try out this setup on your printer. Go ahead and make a sight glass and let me know how it goes!  Simply make a sight glass out of plastic or Plexiglas, drill the three small holes in the color cartridge (one hole for black cartridge) glue it on and save money!!!!  Power to the people and all that!!  It is quite delicate work and requires a steady hand.  A drill press is handy.   Making the slots in the Plexiglas piece is delicate work too.  Also you need to design you sight glass so that it does not interfere with the movement of the cartridge in the printer.

I have done all of these things and have a number of Myers Sight Glass accessories already made.  Instead of designing and making your own sight glass, you can save your precious time and effort and simply order this new innovation from me!   Now that's convenient!!

I am charging $8.00 each for either color or black cartridge.  This includes the Myers Sight Glass, detailed instructions and template for holes.  Every thing you need but the glue for 8 Dollars and I'll pay the postage to send it!!  Now that is a very good deal!

8 Bucks for a small piece of Plexiglas!!!  That's ridiculous!!   If you think that's ridiculous, go buy a cartridge!!  I'll tell you what I'll do.   1 Myers sight glass for 8 bucks, or 2 for 15 dollars and I still pay the shipping. Why not get one for the color cartridge and one for the black cartridge. This includes the instructions and template.

We take cash (don't send cash through the mail unless you want to), money orders, personal checks are great, and PayPal account: sightglass@thepump.org. (start an account with them and save 5 bucks! wow!) International orders are great. The check must be in USA funds.

Check out our

Order form            Links page            Frequently Asked Questions                  or Email me.

.......... Copy the order form below and print it out in your word processor. Send it in and you will be saving money...........

Fill in your address or the address you want the Myers Sight Glass and instructions sent.   These make great gifts!!

Email address: ___________________________________

Name: _________________________________________

Address: _______________________________________  Apt: ________

City: ______________________  State: _________  Country: ____________    Zip Code:____________  
                                                                  (International orders are OK. We still pay postage)

_________ Number of sight glass for color cartridge

_________ Number of sight glass for black cartridge

8 Dollars each or 2 for $15            But wait: there's MORE!

Special Promotion: Order 4 of any combination for 25 dollars.   This is cheaper than ONE color cartridge! 
Your time to make these things is worth more than that!!

Send your order to:

Myers Sight Glass offer
361 N. Folsom St.
Coquille, OR 97423

................. Copy form and print it out in your word processor. Send it in and you will be saving money..................

Related links

Email with questions reports, ideas, or comments.

Read our Frequently Asked Questions

If you run the cartridge dry, it will fry!!! Technical site describing how a cartridge is destroyed when run dry

This site let's you now how well they love the customer!!! Planed obsolescence for Lexmark cartridges

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