How to refill edible ink cartridges

• Always use same ink that you already have in edible printer . Contact manufacturer to make sure edible ink refills are compatible with your edible printer . Do not use generic inks from market places , in most case they are toxic , unhealthy inks smuggled in states even if you buy them on Amazon or Ebay ... you are not buying from Amazon , you are buying from unknown place hidden behind seller name without any certification info .
  
• Make sure cartridges you have are refillable with ARC chip , otherwise your cartridges will not be recognized by printer after refilling
  
• Do not refill cartridges inside printer . Remove it ( this will reset your chip ) and safely refill it on desk ( refilling is messy job )
• Use original cartridge clip / cap that came with it to prevent leaking .
• Start refill only when ink holding sponge is completely dry
  
• Insert ink very ,very slowly ...if you have bubbles in cartridge they will get sucked in print head and block color channels
  
• DO NOT OVERFILL !!
  
• Never refill same cartridge more than 4 to 5 times to prevent contamination and bacteria build up ( just get new set and be safe )
• Use separate syringes for different colors , even smallest drop will contaminate print channels forever   
  
• Take your time , it's not competition ..
• Great , you just saved about $5.00 considering time you spent on refilling , detergent used to remove stain from your fingers and refilling kit cost .
  
• Congratulation , it's done .

Now you should get ready for troubleshooting , here is what could get wrong :

1. Edible inks used for refill were not compatible with inks already used in cartridge ( cartridges bought from one company and edible inks from another ) . When two different ink formulation get mixed up they will form new molecules and coagulate . This will result in fast drying and print head clogging . Your edible printer in this case is probably permanently damaged . You can try cleaning solution , however most cleaning solutions are formulated to unclog only edible ink from particular company thus mixed inks will be almost impossible to remove completely .... get ready for new printer...
2. In refilling process air bubbles were introduced to print head . You need to perform multiple deep cleaning procedures until bubble break and air got pushed out from print head ( this will result in wasting enormous amount of edible ink )
3. Printed images have wrong hue , to dark or wrong colors ... probably contamination of yellow , cyan or magenta channel ...must use cleaning solution multiple times until issue is solved .
   
4. Ink spots , smudges or blotches ? ...Your refillable ink cartridges are overfilled and can't hold ink pressure properly . Only remedy is to get new set because saturation in sponge or cartridge itself is not reversible . Pressure chamber is corrupted .
   

 Now you probably wonder when you going to finish this cake order you have for tomorrow ? Did you really save anything , is it your time valuable or not . For majority cake decorators edible ink cost concern is not valid . Edible ink cost per printed sheet ( used ink only ) is around $0.25 -$0.35 per icing sheet  considering number of frosting sheets printed . This is by far cheapest ingredient cost in your cake per square inch and most effective .
Make sure you understand pros and cons of refilling edible ink cartridges before you order this bottles , it could save you a lot of nerves and time .