Inkjet printers are relatively cheap. That’s because it’s the inkjet printer cartridges that will burn a hole in your pocket. It’s the old razor-razorblade business model.
Depending on how often you use your printer, you could be changing cartridges as often as every week. You could save your old cartridges and get them refilled, and just buy a new one if it gets busted… or you could just print your own. 3D-print, I mean.
Frankly, it’s about time someone did this!
InkFactory recently used a 3D printer to print an inkjet cartridge. A standard ink bladder was installed, and voila! That’s a ton of money saved minus the mess and the hassles that usually come with most ink cartridge refill kits. Of course, there is the matter of the amount of time it takes to print the cartridge shell itself.
They used a MakerBot Replicator 2 to print the cloned Kodak inkjet cartridge, which is relatively simple in design. Cartridges for other printers might be more complex, but I think it’s only a matter of time before they get the 3D-printed treatment.
Now all we need is a 3D printer that prints 3D printer parts. Oh wait, we already have one.
[via Softpedia]
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