There are times when offices, schools, and businesses require more than the standard-sized printing. Posters, blueprints, banners, signages, proposals, presentations, and spreadsheets to name a few need high-quality printers to be recognized. And without the ink cartridge, our printers won’t be able to satisfy our printing needs.
An ink cartridge is a primary component of inkjet printers where the liquid ink is kept. From here, the ink is dispensed onto paper producing printed text or images. Ink cartridges come in various colors normally black, cyan, magenta, and yellow as sources of the colors we print. Cartridges are replaceable when consumed already and take note that each cartridge is designed for a specific printer model. As an example, the HP 7740 ink cartridge is designed for the HP Office Jet Pro 7740 Wide Format All-in-One Printer. Frequent use can quickly drain your ink cartridges, but if you want to get the most out of your HP 7740 ink cartridge, here are some strategies:
Optimize Print Settings
For casual printing, you can set the “Print Properties” to “Draft” mode which uses less ink while printing in a slightly lower quality. Also to avoid wasting colored ink, select the “Grayscale” option when printing documents that don’t really need color distinction. For standard documents, choose “Plain Paper” in the setting because selecting the wrong paper type can cause your printer to use more ink than necessary. Be sure to select the appropriate paper type you need. You can also save ink by scaling down images especially when printing drafts only. Also, before hitting “Print”, review your document, do you really need to print everything on it?
Print in Batches
By printing multiple documents at once, you reduce the number of times the printer cleans its heads and eventually minimize ink waste.
Printer and Cartridge Maintenance
Dust, debris, or dried ink on print heads may force you to reprint documents because they can produce poor-quality output. To prevent this ink wastage, clean the print heads regularly, HP 7740 has an automatic printhead cleaning feature that you just have to activate.
Proper Ink Cartridge Storage
Storing properly your extra cartridges is essential to preserve their quality and longevity. Store them in a cool, dark place because excessive heat and direct sunlight will cause them to dry out. Avoid unboxing ink cartridges unless you’re ready to install them in the printer. Their exposure to air can cause premature drying thus shortening their lifespan.
Update Your Printer Firmware
HP usually releases firmware updates, grab them to improve the performance of your printer and optimize ink use. You will surely benefit from these enhancements so regularly check updates by visiting HP’s support page or using the HP Smart app.
Use Genuine HP Ink Cartridge
Select only genuine HP ink cartridges to avoid inferior print quality, clogging, and wasted ink. You can also avail of the HP Instant Ink subscription service where your printer orders new cartridges when it detects low ink levels. Change only the cartridges when they’re truly empty by viewing the on-screen display of current ink levels.
These are just simple tips and tricks, but following them will significantly extend the lifespan of your HP 7740 ink cartridges.