How to refill the HP 57 tricolor ink cartridge

The HP 57 tricolor ink cartridge has very high page yield and photographic print quality, and it works with water-based or dyed inks. If you need more information regarding this ink type, please read the following post.

With this ink cartridge, as many other HP ones, you will need to refill it as very slowly in order to do it properly, and to help fill the sponge inside the cartridge completely.

The HP 57 ink cartridge is compatible with the following printer models:

HP deskjet  portable 450cbi; HP deskjet 5550, 5551 and 5552; HP officejet 6110; HP photosmart 100, 130, 230, 7150, 7350 and 7550, and HP multifuntion psc 2105, 2108, 2110, 2115,and 2150 y 2210.
When it’s brand new, it yields up to 500 pages. If you refill it using the procedure described ahead, it can still print 380 pages, approximately.

Procedure to refill the HP 57 tricolor ink cartridge:

Before we begin refilling the cartridge, we recommend you do this on a flat, easy-to-clean surface. You could also use a piece of wood as support. If you don’t have any of these at hand, then you can just use a piece of black cloth. You won’t be able to notice the ink that may fall on it while refilling this cartridge.

Step #1:
First, remove the label from the ink cartridge. As you may already know, these cartridge have one label on the very top of them, which indicated the cartridge number and color. Some people choose to take it off and get rid of it, but we recommend you take it off and keep it somewhere safe to put it back on the cartridge later.

In this way, you can keep the ink from drying up faster that it should, and you will help the sponge inside the cartridge last longer.

Step #2:
Fill the three syringes with 5ml of ink each; we recommend you only add this much ink to it. We also suggest you remove all the air that may be inside the syringe, just to avoid injecting air into the cartridge along with the ink. Please take a look at the following picture.

syringe with ink

Step #3:
Now you may inject the amount of ink we mentioned earlier into the cartridge. Please remember to add the ink as slowly as possible to help the sponge inside the cartridge to absorb all the ink. Ifyou look at the following picture, you’ll be able to see where each color is found in the HP 57 tricolor ink cartridge.

place where you put the colors

Step #4:
Once you’ve filled  the ink cartridge completely, we recommend you put the label back on it exactly as it used to be. This label, as well as the canals on the top of the cartridge, make the perfect match to help the cartridge take as much air as it needs to make the ink drop.

If you need help with this procedure, please contact us by posting a comment in the section below this post.
Now place the cartridge back in the printer and have it print several test sheets with it.

Notes:
Let the ink cartridge rest for a few moments before making it print, This will allow the sponge inside the cartridge absorb all the ink. If you want, you could also shake  the cartridge a bit,m print head facing downwards, to make the ink drop even more.

If the ink cartridge has any problems when you install it, such as blinking, then please execute the following steps on your printer.

1. Take the ink cartridge out and clean the contacts on it.
2. Clean the contacts on the printer as well, exactly where they come in contact with the ones in the cartridge.
3. If this still doesn’t solve the problem, then leave the cartridge out of the printer for 2 hours and then put it back in it after the time has passed.
4. If none of these solutions work for you, just contact us by posting a comment in the section below this post.