How to refill the HP 17 tricolor ink cartridge

By now, I’m sure you can imagine how many pages an ink cartridge that contains 8ml of ink per color can yield.

All of this is possible with the HP 17 tricolor ink cartridges. As all ink cartridges that are way past their primes, these can be a bit pricer than the modern modern models, but you can still get good deals and high printing quality from them.

This is why we recommend you take great care of all the ink cartridges, since they are the ones that will make your printer stand out. Please read the following post to learn why you you should keep your old printer around.

We always recommend you know exactly what kind of ink your cartridge uses. If you can’t find the generic ink HP, canon or lexmark use on them, please refer to dyed or pigmented inks depending on what you need. This HP 17 tricolor ink cartridge, for example, uses dyed inks, not pigmented ones. Dyed inks can be found much more easily than pigmented ones.

If you want to learn the basic differences between dyed and pigmented inks, please read the following post. If you have any other question regarding this topic, please contact us by leaving a comment in the section below this post.

Ingredients you’ll need to refill your HP 17 tricolor ink cartridge:

1. Three (3) colored inks.
2. Three (3) syringes, one for each color. You must not use the same syringe for more than one ink color.
3. You will also need the plugs shown in the picture ahead. If you can’t find them, use hot silicone to cover them after you’re done. Don’t use harsh or tough silicone, since you should be able to remove it in the future to keep refilling your ink cartridge.

Procedure for refilling HP 17 tricolor ink cartridges:

Warning: Do not be led astray by the colors written on the front side of the ink cartridge. These are not the actual colors used on them. The following picture will tell you exactly what to ignore.

Step #1:
First of all, we highly recommend you place the ink cartridge on a piece of dark cloth you don’t mind staining with ink. This piece of cloth should be resting on a flat surface that you can clean easily.

Step #2:
Remove all the plugs on the top of your ink cartridge. You can do this by pushing them down into the cartridge itself, just like we’re about to show you,  This will not affect the cartridges’ overall functioning at all. Please look at the next picture.

where are the colors of the cartridge

Step #3:

At this moment, you will need to identify and locate where all the different ink colors are in the cartridge. Do not use the labels on the ink cartridges as guidance, because messing the order up can render your ink cartridge useless. Learn how to do this properly by reading the following post: as knowing where the colors of the cartridge are.

This picture shows where all the different ink colors are on your ink cartridge, and how to place it properly on your printer. If you need more help with this, please contact us.

three colors

Step #4:

You can now inject all the ink into your cartridge. Please identify each ink color correctly and add only 8ml of ink per color. We recommend you use a syringe with a relatively large needle, since these ink cartridges are bit deeper than most.

Remember to spread the ink all over the ink cartridge when you’re injecting it, and apply it in different places. You must add at least 3ml of ink to the very bottom of the cartridge, and can apply the rest on your way out. Please do this as slowly and as delicately as possible so the ink cartridge gets all the ink it needs.

If the syringe you’re using is filled with air bubbles, we don’t recommend you inject the last few milliliters of ink to your HP ink cartridge.

Step #5:

Now, you can seal the entire ink cartridge with silicone, like we said earlier. This is an easy substitute for proper ink cartridge plugs unless, of course, you refill ink cartridges for a living and can buy lots of them at once. Please add but one little spot of silicone to each spot so it can be removed easily in the future.

again sealing the top holes

We recommend you perform this exact same procedure on all HP 17 ink cartridges, since their ink has a certain component that can dry itself up way faster when air is able to enter the cartridges. Blocking the airflow just like this will keep our ink cartridges safe.

Step #6:

Please leave the ink cartridge to rest for a few hours, allowing the ink to spread inside it. Also, we suggest you have the printer clean the cartridges multiple times, using its own system to do it.

This will assure your ink cartridges reach high quality standards. Learn how to print test sheets by reading this post.