Sorry if this sounds like a stupid question, but can I use a black ink
refill in my coulour cartridge? I have an HP deskjet 3520, and only
received a colour ink cartridge (even though there is space for a
seperate al black cartridge) with the purchase. I have a home ink
refilling kit, and would like to use that instead of paying ~$33US for
a new cartridge. Thanks for the help.

sjmcarter@gmail.com wrote:
you must buy one anyway. If you refill color one with black, then you'll get
some strange greyish color... also color one doesn't go into black one,
since color cart has 3 heads while black one have only one. Try to get some
third party cart, comes cheaper and then refill.

First, most HP blacks are pigment based,
and so they could quickly clog a cartridge
designed for dye based inks.

Assuming you have a dye based photo
black, there still might be some chemical
reaction between the color and black inks.

But if you got an empty color cartridge,
the most you can lose is the cost of the
refill. Even if it works (which is a very tall
order in itself) it probably won't get you
what you expect, but it may actually work
to some degree.

<sjmcarter@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1110436157.481714.261670@g14g2000cwa.googlegr oups.com...

<sjmcarter@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1110436157.481714.261670@g14g2000cwa.googlegr oups.com...
The #27 black cartridge has a list price of $17.99 US, see
http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/us/en...800-79805.html.
HP's black ink will react with the color ink on the paper to keep sharp black
to color transitions, such as when printing a spreadsheet with colored cells or
highlighted text. If you were to put HP black ink into the color cartridge you
would cause this reaction in the cartridge, clogging the printhead and
contaminating the service station and thus ruining future good color
cartridges. Your home ink may or may not have these properties. It sounds
like a rather poor idea to me....

Regards,
Bob Headrick, not speaking for my employer HP